(view from our hotel in Hong Kong!)

FOOTNOTE IS HOME FOR AWHILE! - following recent tours that have taken us to Oamaru, Cromwell, Dunedin, Winton, Alexandra, Hamilton, Howick, Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Hong Kong, Brisbane & Beaudesert!

Footnote Dance has really taken Made in New Zealand 2008 to a wide and wonderful audience.  As we go forward to start work on a new season with Claire O’Neil (who is a new mum to the gorgeous Georgia Rose!) Here is a look back at the international sector of the year so far:

Dancing a Cultural Crossover
Footnote Dance is a national treasure in New Zealand with a passion to develop, nurture and present contemporary dance made by New Zealand choreographers to New Zealand music. This commitment found a new dimension in June as the company headed first to Brisbane and then Hong Kong. Taking works from their recent 2008Made In New Zealand tour, the Footnote brand of Kiwi dance was packed into bags and bubble wrap (huge for the Mandatory rack and the raakau sticks!) and we left glorious Wellington weather for a fortnight of unanticipated rain in both Australia and Hong Kong!

Landing in Brisbane it was straight to the Queensland University of Technology at Kelvin Grove to lead a workshop for the third year graduating students. Based on phrases and vocabulary from That Feel Good Factor (chor. Deirdre Tarrant) this resulted in some intricate and humorous dance sequences. We performed That Feel Good Factor, Kakushi Aji (chor. Sarah Knox) and Whippersnapper (chor. Sarah Foster) at QUT then drove out to Kooralbyn late on a stormy night. The next morning we gave a performance of That Feel Good Factor and facilitated related workshops for students from the Special Learning Unit at Beaudesert High School – a heart - warming and rewarding morning with many magic moments of real community dance. We spent the afternoon working with students in the Performing Arts Programme, performing and work-shopping repertoire from Te Mana (Merenia Gray) and Whippersnapper (Sarah Foster).

Anita Hunziker, a current Footnote dancer, attended this High School and it was a real homecoming for her and great for us to see Footnote posters covering a number of years on the studio walls. A full day at St Mary’s Primary School and again That Feel Good Factor provided the start point for both performance and work-shopping experiences. Back in Brisbane we all attended a thought provoking Mathinna (Bangarra Dance) and then it was off to Hong Kong where we landed in the worst rain since 1884! Goldfish in plastic bags floating down the streets were reported!

A week spent in a Residency at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts followed. This had a special focus as New Zealand choreographer Raewyn Hill, is currently Artist in Residence there and she completed a new trio for Footnote. Titled Nest with music by David Long, this work will be seen back home as part of our Footnote Forte Season later this year.

The value of exchange lies in so many experiences of other arts and other practitioners and this time spent in Hong Kong saw a sharing of classes and a diverse range of arts interface activities. Dancers from the CCDC Company joined classes and we watched them rehearse, Tricolour, a triple bill programme by the Hong Kong Ballet was a highlight and kindly our tickets were a gift from local dance lover, Veryan Bradshaw. New Zealand Consulate-General Julian Ludbrook and his wife Joanna held a reception for us at their residence high on the Peak. It was a clear evening and we danced a short section of Whippersnapper there as well! The last day came fast and the informal showing was a real sharing of dance by the thirty plus dancers who had worked together all week. Footnote performed Te Mana as an opener followed by the results of the residency workshops. The enclosed and fluid qualities of Hill’s Nest contrasted with the unison and power of faculty tutor, Yi Lo’s work. Our thanks to Dr Anita Donaldson and to Jaime Redfern for hosting us and making the programme and to Raewyn Hill for being there and making it work! Huge thanks also to the Footnote Dance Board, to Creative New Zealand and to the Asia New Zealand Foundation who all enabled this project to proceed.

Dance is a universal language and communication through movement gives us challenge, inspiration and identity. An idea conceived a year ago by Footnote Director, Deirdre Tarrant and Raewyn Hill, took our Aotearoa identity out to reach an international audience and industry and all those who took part have great memories as well as new dance in their bodies. We are already onto extending cultural connections that have arisen from this visit!

For more on our visit to Hong Kong click here 

Deirdre Tarrant