New Zealand School of Dance Turns Forty!

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New Zealand School of Dance students Jaslyn Reader and Oliver Humphries will be performing in the 40th Anniversary Graduation Season this November at the Opera House. Photo credit: Neil Mackenzie

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New Zealand School of Dance students Daniel Caddy and Champa Maciel will be performing in the 40th Anniversary Graduation Season this November at the Opera House. Photo credit: Neil Mackenzie

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2007

NEW ZEALAND SCHOOL OF DANCE TURNS FORTY!

This November, the New Zealand School of Dance celebrates its 40th Anniversary with three performances of classical ballet and cutting-edge contemporary choreography, featuring renowned guest artists.

Students of the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD) will be joined onstage at The Opera House by artists from leading contemporary dance companies Black Grace and Footnote Dance, and NZSD alumni Jane Casson (The Australian Ballet), and Craig Davidson (Royal Ballet of Flanders).

“The 40th Anniversary of our national dance school will be a fantastic opportunity to reflect upon our rich history as well as celebrating our vision for the future.” says Garry Trinder, director of New Zealand School of Dance. “The performance programme is an eclectic mix of audience favourites and fresh new works.”

Some of the world’s best-loved ballets will feature in the 40th Anniversary Graduation Season. Excerpts from August Bournonville’s La Sylphide and the Balcony Pas de Deux from Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet will be performed alongside the First Pas de Trois from Agon – the famous collaboration between choreographer George Balanchine and the composer Igor Stravinsky. The inclusion of Agon coincides with Stravinsky's 125th birthday and the golden jubilee of the ballet’s world premiere. The Final Movement from another Balanchine ballet, Theme and Variations, choreographed to a grand score by Tchaikovsky, provides another opportunity to demonstrate the talent of NZSD students.

The Graduation Season also showcases the work of Australasia’s finest contemporary choreographers in a selection of dramatic, powerful works. Audiences will be uplifted by the pure humanity of The Bach, choreographed by acclaimed New Zealander Michael Parmenter to an Easter cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. An upbeat, energetic contemporary piece by Garry Stewart (Director of Australian Dance Theatre), entitled Currently Under Investigation utilizes “a classical technique within a charged, contemporary context”. Fellow Australian Leigh Warren’s Never Mind the Bindies aims to draw the audience into a hypnotic web of ritual, and pushes the dancers to the parameters of physicality.

These special performances sit within an entire weekend (Friday 9 – Sunday 11 November) designed to mark the School’s anniversary in style. The events include film screenings at the New Zealand Film Archive, tours of Te Whaea: National Dance & Drama Centre, forums, displays of historic NZSD photographs in the Wellington Public Library, a reunion afternoon and a Parliament-hosted luncheon.

The New Zealand School of Dance was established in 1967 in an old cinema on Marion Street, Wellington, primarily to provide dancers for the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Originally called the National School of Ballet, the School changed its name to the New Zealand School of Dance in 1982 to reflect on the wider training programme, which includes both classical ballet and contemporary dance.

ENDS

New Zealand School of Dance 40th Anniversary
Graduation Season – the Opera House, Wellington
9 & 10 November 2007
Tickets available from Ticketek.

www.nzschoolofdance.co.nz

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