Parmenter choreographs masterpiece for NZ farewell

By NIGEL GEARING

The first choreography from Michael Parmenter in almost five years will be the last time New Zealanders will see his work for some time. Stravinsky's Svadebka, or as Parmenter translates it Little Peasant Wedding, builds on his 1999 works Jerusalem and Seven Deadly Sins.

"They fuelled my palate," he says. "They moved me more into narrative. My preference is to work with the human voice and dance. I am attracted to vocal music and I feel the natural development is towards directing opera. While I want to carry on working in New Zealand, unfortunately there just aren't the opportunities to pursue that option here."

Parmenter was in Germany and Britain this year exploring this new direction when he was asked by the Unitec Bachelor of Performance and Screen Arts Contemporary Dancing Major to be guest choreographer for the graduating students of the three-year dance programme.

With 12 female and three male dancers he had to select a 20-minute choreography that would suit them. His favourite, Svadebka, was tried, other music experimented with, then with only seven weeks for rehearsals, Parmenter finally returned to the work he has loved for years and performed while in Australia.

"Stravinsky created masterpieces and this was his best." The story is one where "formal social rituals check an underlying primal energy which, if released, might prove disruptive. In that sense it is very like a Shakespearean comedy.

"It's not staged in Russia, although there is a folk element in the story. I want to see passion on stage. I feel connected to these dancers because they don't suffer from post-modern cynicism and want to dance, not intellectualise."

The roles present a change for some of the graduates. "It has a stronger narrative than some are used to. To create a character and inhabit a world can be difficult because you can't just dance the steps. It's a bit like a dance opera."

On top of their daily two hours of Svadebka rehearsal, all graduating students have created their own choreographies, which will be performed by their peers, making Nu'anced a four-day feast of emerging talent and a gruelling, six-day-a-week commitment for the likes of 23-year-old Alix Bromley, who left Christchurch for this training. She plays the mother of the groom in Svadebka.

"I work through to nine at night," she says. Her work, Internal Assassins, is a seven-minute choreography using the talents of five graduates. "Even though we have done 21 rehearsals, it still isn't enough. You have to keep trying to move forward creatively and not fall back into old tricks."

Parmenter has not seen any of their original works, although he is aware their input has been huge.

"We are training all these dancers, but there are so few opportunities for them to work professionally in New Zealand. Apart from Footnote, there are no professional dance companies."

The inevitable result will be that some will head overseas. Bromley is going to Melbourne where she says she can do professional classes every day.

Parmenter says those who stay in New Zealand have been equipped with management and production skills, but adds that they need to be able to "get into professional companies and get dancing".

Dance

*What: Nu'anced

*Where and when: Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall, December 2-5, 8pm