Black Grace: Conjuring Exquisite Dances from Ancient Bones – San Diego Story 29/04/19, 5�25 PM

Black Grace: Conjuring exquisite dances from ancient bones – San Diego Story 29/04/19, 525 PM

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SAN DANCE REVIEWS "Best Entertainment Web Site DIEGO in San Diego" Black Grace: Conjuring exquisite dances - San Diego Press Club STORY 4th year in a row! Reviewing San Diego's from ancient bones Professional Performing and Exhibition Arts Kris Eitland 0 Comment April 15, 2017 Every Performance Tells a Story

SanDiegoStory.com is a free arts magazine providing reviews & news on professional Calling someone black in Neil Ieremia’s New Zealand neighborhood theater, music, dance and galleries in San Diego. We cannot exist without your meant they were daring and brave, though few men connected with support. A suggested contribution can be the word grace. He combined the words to name his dance company made via our secure page Black Grace, which conjured exquisite modern dances from ancient bones at the Spreckels Theatre April 8. Story Behind the Photo

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Wendy rouse on Sandiegostory is a Ringo Starr Gets By with Help Black Grace celebrates Paci!c, Maori, and New Zealand culture. Image from All-Starr Friends at Harrah’s; We Get High on vibrant forum on live courtesy LJMS performance in San Variety, Nostalgia

Diego County. Sparked Ieremia is Samoan and his choreography fuses contemporary, hip- Wendy rouse on Jumping for Joy in High Heels with by re"ections from hop, and haka, an ancient Maori war dance known for its intense foot Jo!rey Ballet seasoned critics in stomping and full-voiced shouting. theater, music, dance, The program of !ve dances, presented by La Jolla Music Society, and performance art, opened with Minoi, a vigorous work based on a Samoan nursery the site invites rhyme. Yet this was a powerful, masculine dance. discussion on the arts and their meaning in A line of bare-chested men mesmerized with ah-lu-ee-loy our lives. vocalizations. Deep and overlapping, they chanted like monks.

Each time they stretched into deep second position with muscled legs, viewers had to breathe along with them. SANDIEGOSTORY LINKS The excitement kept building as they snapped !ngers, clapped hands, 'The Phantom Of and stamped feet. They became drum machines and lighting by Mark The Empire': You Burlace moved our focus from group to soloist. Guessed It, Musical http://www.sandiegostory.com/black-grace-conjuring-exquisite-dances-from-ancient-bones/ Page 1 of 5 Black Grace: Conjuring exquisite dances from ancient bones – San Diego Story 29/04/19, 525 PM

And Star Wars When Black Grace exploded onto New Zealand stages in 1995, they Combined were an all-male troupe of Paci!c Islander and Maori men. Today, Free Email women o#er welcome balance and outstanding technique. State of the Arts: Five Updates Takeaways from SD Women dressed in sundresses scooped and grabbed the air with Regional Arts & cupped hands, as if grabbing a pesky "y in Pati Pati, a ritual dance Get Our Weekly Newsletter Culture Coalition’s with traditional Paci!c vocabulary. The men joined to evoke Media Arts Panel First Name alternating pistons of a machine. Three rose up, three pulsed

"Behind"Behind TheThe downward. Lighting turned red and golden, and the playful clap- Your Email Scenes: ‘Hot Guys stomping kept chugging until the lights faded. The dance created the

Dancing’" KPBS, illusion of dancers traveling into a sunset, and the crowd loved it. Subscribe Now January 9, 2014 Black Grace has evolved from a group of Ieremia’s friends into New

Zealand’s treasured dance troupe. His new work, Crying Men – We respect your privacy. "Eh?"Eh? SanSan DiegoDiego Excerpt (premiere 2017), explored the challenges and expectations for pubs Club “real men,” beyond playing rugby. Saratoga" Duluth

Tribune, July 31, 2012 A man appeared near the stage edge in a pool of light until a howling sound sent chills and forced him to hide in darkness. To our le$, a SEARCH THE STORY man struggled to carry another man who fell and contorted at his feet, foreshadowing a heartfelt dance of pain and death, war and loss. Search There were moments when we could hear the men singing, “Looking for whales,” which cast a lost at sea narrative.

Ieremia’s vocabulary is intensely athletic, yet graceful. It is rare to TRENDING TOPICS witness a troupe of men and women so physically !t and turned out at the same time. Black Grace sold out at Jacobs Pillow Festival more play drama Jahja Ling Mozart than 10 years ago, and has been touring internationally ever since. Tchaikovsky musical San Diego Opera They are dance rock stars in New Zealand. Mother Mother was dance review Moxie Theatre Beethoven originally choreographed for a music video for the band Fat Freddy’s Drop. It’s a tribute to Ieremia’s mother who reminds him to be Diversionary Theatre San Diego Symphony

humble and grateful. San Diego Repertory Theatre J.S. Bach

The score was jazzy and limbs were angular. Women and men broke La Jolla Music Society into twos and threes against a black background and dry ice added a city street vibe. They ran and rolled and hopped over each other, and their leaps into hip-hop forms were a thrilling mash up of old and new.

A woman in fringy white "ew again and again into the arms of her friends, and tumbled downward, a controlled fall similar to a ballet !sh dive. YouTube can’t compare with watching the troupe live, but give it a go.

The La Jolla Music Society crowd likes to mingle and sip wine at shows, and this one o#ered a long intermission before the !nale set to Vivaldi and The Lord’s Prayer, in Samoan.

Side lights illuminated dancers kicking and spinning in the 40 minute work As Night Falls – Abridged. They were always running across the stage le$ and right to leave a trio behind, as seen in many ballets. In joyful fashion, they slapped their behinds and spiraled to the ground. Travel trunks served as the backdrop. Costumes were gauzy blue and at times the dancers moved like little trains chugging backwards.

Ieremia says his process began with dark news stories, broken bodies and natural disasters. But he was determined to create some light from the darkness. He succeeded, especially in weaves, low rolls, and http://www.sandiegostory.com/black-grace-conjuring-exquisite-dances-from-ancient-bones/ Page 2 of 5 Black Grace: Conjuring exquisite dances from ancient bones – San Diego Story 29/04/19, 525 PM

daring tosses.

In program notes he describes a structure like the layout of a broadsheet newspaper. One can imagine the squiggles, patterns, and imagery of his early notes.

Dancers of Black Grace are commanding performers with fascinating hard-to-spell names.

They moved with precision and heart, and while the movement was contemporary and daring, they channeled the ancients.

Dancers climbed onto each other and arched backward into supporting arms without fear. They linked arms across shoulders. As drums rumbled, they took turns to show o# in the center, which is a shared tradition.

They were a family, a tribe, a community. They charged forward into an invisible wall, got knocked to the ground, but kept walking forward. As the sound of violins !lled the theater, they repeated their last step ball changes and we shared their joy.

Presented by La Jolla Music Society. Dance Series. http://ljms.org/directory/listing/program-black-grace

San Diegans experienced South Paci!c dance last year at the International Fringe Festival. I wrote about 1918, presented by Moana of New Zealand.

Kris Eitland

Kris Eitland covers dance and theater for Sandiegostory.com and freelances for other publications, including the Union Tribune and Dance Teacher Magazine. She grew up performing many dance styles and continued intensive modern dance and choreography at the Univ. of Minnesota, Duluth, and San Diego State Univ. She also holds a journalism degree from SDSU. Her career includes stints in commercial and public radio news production. Eitland has won numerous Excellence in Journalism awards for criticism and reporting from the San Diego Press Club. She has served on the Press Club board since 2011 and is a past president. She is a co-founder of Sandiegostory.com. She has a

http://www.sandiegostory.com/black-grace-conjuring-exquisite-dances-from-ancient-bones/ Page 3 of 5 Black Grace: Conjuring exquisite dances from ancient bones – San Diego Story 29/04/19, 525 PM

passion for the arts, throwing parties with dancing and singing, and cruising the Paci!c in her family's vintage trawler. She trains dogs, skis, and loves seasonal trips to her home state of Minnesota.