Artsville off to a flying start

The first of the 'Artsville' series is an in-depth look at dance company Black Grace.

Over the past few weeks, Saturday nights on TV One have been dominated by fruitloops and weirdos in the Robson Green pseudo-psycho series Wire in the Blood.

You might find a few weirdos in its replacement, or even the odd loon or two, but Artsville the documentary series is sure to be better for your mental well-being.

The concept for Artsville has been put together by Television New Zealand's first arts commissioner, Philippa Mossman, who understands that the struggles and triumphs of the artist's life cannot be potted together in once-over-lightly segments.

The format for the series varies, according to the subjects, with lingering treatment of some, and bright little snippets for others, such as the poetry readings.

The opening episode on Saturday, a special two-hour debut, is an in-depth study of the remarkable past decade of dance troupe Black Grace, with archival footage, interviews, scenes from the Jacob's Pillow dance festival in the United States - and some startling meltdown scoldings from founder Neil Ieremia. Boy, he is one tough guy when his dancers aren't giving him what he wants.

Sydney International Piano Competition winner, Aucklander John Chen, is also on camera on Saturday, doing what he does best, playing, not talking.

Christchurch painter Tony de Latour lets rip in a revealing and rare interview, and poet Murray Edmond is literally the leaning man in an amusing sequence filmed by Michael Reihana.

Watch carefully, and you'll also spot former Auckland arthouse operator Charley Gray, the legend, in the Edmond clip.

Later episodes will look at the mind-blowing Japanese Mediarena show at Govett Brewster, sculptor Denis O'Connor, the first documentary about Denis Glover, Simon O'Neill's stint as understudy to Placido Domingo at New York's Met, and profiles of David McPhail, Gareth Farr, Stanley Palmer, Rick Bryant, Judy Millar and cinematographer Alun Bollinger.

Each episode opens with a different, ingenious title sequence, devised by Wellington's Sticky Pictures, with the theme music specially written by Trinity Roots.

Goodbye, Robson Green.

On screen

*What: Artsville
*Where and when: TV One, Sat 9.05pm