Limbs magic potent as ever

By BERNADETTE RAE

MAIDMENT THEATRE, Auckland - They burst into being with a special incandescence in 1977. And Mary Jane O'Reilly, long time artistic director of the original Limbs, has plucked her 14-item retrospective from those early days.

That, she said, is because that was when it was the most fun.

And the fun has not dated. A lot of what has subsequently come to pass in the New Zealand dance scene can be relegated to run-of-the mill in comparison.

The old Limbs magic is still there.

Reptile, from 1977, choreographed by O'Reilly, is witty and smart, with a fine sense of the comic. Complicated Legs Dance in a Pair of Jeans and Sneakers still hits the slapstick high. Shona McCullagh choreographed her mad Helga and Heinz a little later, in 1988, but the piece still glows.

Mark Baldwin's Melting Moments, set to Dvorak's divine American Quartet, with six dancers painting a visual representation of the music is a sensuous poem to the human need for physical contact. The piece is a showcase for exacting, contemporary technique.

Games and Poi and Perhaps Can, choreographed by O'Reilly, still captivate in that old breath-catching way.

The jazziness of the old Limbs comes through in Girl U Want, a high speed Shark Attack and the finale piece, Eno.

Douglas Wright's Knee Dance is instantly recognisable as a foretaste of what he went on to achieve, even though the dancers seemed to struggle with this more than any other piece in the programme, perhaps because Wright's work demands that much more.

Mostly the young performers step up to the mark pretty well.

The standout performances come from Shona Wilson, who danced with Limbs from 1979 to 1988, for her sheer beauty and power, her understanding and technique, and from Paora Taurima, a second year dance student at Unitec, making his professional debut but definitely a star in the making.

Oh for a future, Paora, as giddily good as this celebrated past.