Tertiary Colours

Tertiary Colours, 30th September-1st October, Tapac Theatre

By Cat Ruka


Tempo Auckland’s Festival of Dance 2009 kicked off tonight with it’s first show Tertiary Colours, showcasing 7 works from 5 of Auckland’s leading tertiary dance institutions. A fine idea in my opinion to begin the Tapac season with the future’s talent!

The programme begins with the University of Auckland’s ‘Woven’ choreographed by Juanita Jelleyman. Woven demonstrates a threading together of Maori, Pacific and contemporary movement, resulting in a subtle and clean vocabulary neatly interpreted by 9 female dancers. Crisp formations roll and dive into one another, fitting together like an M.C Escher puzzle painting. Also representing the University of Auckland for the evening is Juanita Jelleyman and Ai Fuji-Nelson’s duet entitled ‘Whisper’, a delicate interplay that explores the dynamics and relations between two females.

‘Hokkai Bayashi’ is a solo piece performed by Pamela Sidhu (East Auckland Performing Arts School), whose physical prowess is well suited to the athletic and technical balletic style of choreographer Patrick Sunderhauf. Sidhu performs each moment of this piece with an attacking precision, mirroring the fierce drumming music that accompanies her.

Dancers from the Apollo Theatre School perform 2 pieces for the evening, ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ from the musical ‘Fosse’ and ‘Latin Fever’. Both pieces are executed with high doses of energy and strong commitment to movement, and a genuine sense of enjoyment and pleasure that only fresh young bodies can achieve!

Human Scenery is a modern ballet piece choreographed for 13 dancers from the Auckland University of Technology. Choreographer Phillipa Pidgeon does well to manage this number of young dancers on stage, who although at times seem to drop away from the performed moment, still do well to maintain the general form of the piece.

Those Left, choreographed by Shona McCullagh and performed by 11 female Unitec dancers is a dark and brooding choreography set to an amazingly emotive piece of music by Gorecki. Having already seen this piece performed in 2008 I had a fair idea of what to expect, and I would like to congratulate these young dancers on interpreting this challenging choreography with passion and heart.

I commend all of these young dancers on their obvious professionalism and dedication to movement, and look forward to seeing them grow through the years to come. Great start to Tempo! Hugs.