Carmen at the Aotea Centre

By BERNADETTE RAE

The choreography of Didy Veldman, creator of this sexy, South American Carmen, is sensuous and snaky, exuberant and explosive, passionate and piquant and the dancers of the Royal New Zealand Ballet step right up to its mark.

Veldman, whose youth and feminine gender make her a rare specimen in the upper echelons of international choreography, was said to be pleased with the way our dancers took to her gutsy style.

And they look as though they love every liberated moment of it.

Larissa Wright, in bare feet, sparkly little crop top and blue jeans, is a sensational Carmen, flirty and flighty and severely delinquent.

She is supremely well-matched by the tall, handsome and athletically lithe Graham Fletcher, as Jose. But the whole cast is right in there, every beat of the way, swinging hips, sunnies and cellphones in great style.

Megan Futcher makes a marvellous Micaela, with a quirky and quaint vocabulary of moves. Richard Longbottom stands out, literally, as the Chief of Police.

Nadine Tyson and Pieter Symonds, friends of Carmen - and who take the lead role in alternate casts - are both gorgeous, despite their dubious street smarts.

The story of Carmen may be a classic, but this is a fast and furious telling. Modernised and modified it may be, but the dramatics remain clear, concise and completely engaging - at least until the point where Carmen obsesses into the eye of a gun, when the psychology becomes just a little complicated.

But the real joy of this ballet is in seeing the disciplined and supremely able bodies of classically trained dancers whip and wheel to a contemporary tune.

An appreciative audience responded with spontaneous appreciation, not just at curtain fall, but with gasps of surprise and awe and warm chuckles at the generous sprinkling of choreographic humour throughout.

On the subject of music, all the familiar icons of Bizet's score are there, with the Toreador's song a triumph in raunchy guitar: in Veldman's version the bullfighter Escamillo (go, Geordan Wilcox) is reassigned as rock star.

The Auckland Philharmonia play under the extraordinary baton of Gavin Sutherland during the Auckland season.