Performance: New Works 2000

Herald Theatre
Review: Bernadette Rae


Black Grace continues to look - and sound - fantastic.

They have always been virile, volatile and distinctly talented. But their new status as a full-time professional company has given them a distinct polish, a sharp edge, a new depth of developed talent and an artistic maturity.

Hot on the heels of their performance with the NZSO, in Otara and Porirua, over the past two weeks comes this bristling programme of new works, designed to showcase the company's range of choreographic ability as well as its physical form.

So works designed by dancers Taiaroa Royal, Taane Mete, Sam Fuataga and Moss Patterson line up beside those of master choreographer and company founder, Neil Ieremia.

And everyone, including the more junior members Sean Macdonald and Tamihana Paurini, performs at full stretch.

In a little over an hour the company covers the expanse of ground between their traditional Polynesian heritage and the drag-queen circuit, from street cred breakdance to contact improvisation, from contemporary abstract dance to the touchingly personal narrative of Fuataga's Up In Glory, danced by Macdonald to Fuataga's beautifully sung gospel song and prayer in praise of his father.

There is Ieremia's rhythmic composition for Black Grace's great singing voices, Minoi, in traditional Samoan form and a second showing of his new work Method.

There is Patterson's Koru, based on childhood memories of rafter patterns in the home marae.

There is Royal's svelte and saucy salsa, Understand the Circumstance, performed with Mete, and Mete's magical choreography Imperfection, with Paurini, Fuataga and Patterson, embodying his particular state of grace.

It is an amazingly eclectic mix, delivered with huge style, sincerity and humour and there are personal explanations and lots of spoken credits, delivered by the choreographers, which gives the audience a new perspective on Black Grace's varied personalities and lends the evening a down-home charm.

New Works is a great chance to see Black Grace in its present phase of evolution and to get a real sense of its modus operandi: creative, caring, cooperative and, justifiably, proud.