Ross Brown
Header image and above: NZDC artist Stella Clarkson and RNZB principal Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson.
Who are we? It’s an inquiry that many a nation has been on, one that needs to be revisited on a regular basis as the global environment changes. Without pondering this question, national identities stagnate and before long, you’re promoting a vision of the past that has no relevance to your nation’s citizens, especially youth who may see a place differently from those in power.
To call the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s collaboration with the New Zealand Dance Company (NZDC) ‘groundbreaking’ is no exaggeration as the country’s two premier dance institutions explore this very question in relation to Aotearoa New Zealand in Home, Land & Sea, in a season running from July 24 to August 9.
The titular ballet, a world première, has been choreographed by NZDC artistic director Moss Te Ururangi Patterson (Ngāti Tūwharetoa), with six dancers from each company, promising ‘a unique artistic dialogue that transcends traditional dance boundaries,’ says the RNZB. It says that Patterson sees the work as a response to Aotearoa’s history, its ‘evolving national identity, and the ongoing search for belonging.’
Patterson says, ‘We’re not creating a nostalgic version of the past or a tidy vision of the future. Home, Land & Sea is being built as a space for reflection and resistance—a place where the audience can sit with complexity, with connection and with hope. The result will be a deeply human work that moves between the personal and the political, the ancestral and the imagined. Home, Land & Sea will invite audiences to consider what it means to feel at home in this place. It will ask where we have come from, where we are going, and how we might find strength, connection and hope in one another?’
Shayne P. Carter (Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer, and a New Zealand Music Hall of Fame member) created the score.
‘Joining the collective forces of our two distinctive companies is all about kotahitanga, about unity and togetherness, which we are so committed to,’ says RNZB artistic director Ty King-Wall. ‘It is brilliant for RNZB to be building further the creative partnership we’ve established with Moss over the years, and to be elevating that to another level through this project with NZDC. Both in the studio and on stage, this will be such a wonderful opportunity for learning, sharing, and contemplation.’
The second world première is Chrysalis, by RNZB choreographer-in-residence Shaun James Kelly, exploring metamorphosis and personal transformation set to the music of Philip Glass. ‘I feel that this work is relevant right now,’ says Kelly. ‘Chrysalis is about themes of friendship, connections, relationships and self-discovery—something that we can all relate to. It plays on something that could happen in a moment, in a passing on the street. It’s modern in its look but choreographically is based on the beautiful and fluid moments of classical ballet, keeping the tradition alive for generations to come.’
UK-born New Zealand fashion designer Rory William Docherty created the costumes.
Stephen Baynes’ The Way Alone is the third ballet in this season, which originally premièred in New Zealand as part of the RNZB’s Tutus on Tour. Baynes says, ‘The ballet is fundamentally an expression of Tchaikovsky’s music and especially the Romanticism which is at the heart of his æsthetic.’
King-Wall says, ‘This season embodies all that we value at RNZB—artistic risk-taking, cultural connection and dance that really speaks to the contemporary New Zealand experience. We’re creating a space where the work that we do pushes our boundaries, opens our minds, and defies expectations on what ballet is and what it can be.’
The tour dates for Home, Land & Sea are: St James Theatre, Wellington, July 24–26; Aotea Centre, Auckland, July 31–August 2; and Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch, August 8–9.
Ross Brown
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