New Zealand Dance Company enjoys groundbreaking international success through 2018

Marking their second international tour of the year, The New Zealand Dance Company (NZDC) is set to close 2018 with a whirlwind tour of Belgium and Luxembourg with their riveting triple-bill Time.

Consisting of three works that each speak to a different perspective on the concept of time, Artistic Director Shona McCullagh has curated a programme to explore contrasting speeds, dystopian futures and the link of our present to the past. Highly acclaimed choreographers from across the global NZDC whanau have given their artistic voice to this breath-taking concept, with New Zealander Ross McCormack, Korean KIM Jae Duk and Australian Stephanie Lake contributing to the programme.

Invited to make their debut at the prestigious December Dance International Festival, NZDC will visit the Concertgebouw in Bruges to open their tour, before making their way to La Louvière, also in Belgium and finishing at the prestigious Théâtre de la Ville in Luxembourg.

NZDC Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Shona McCullagh explains “I am thrilled that we have a second opportunity to take the Company back to Europe this year to share a spectacular Asian-Pacific programme from three distinct and power house choreographers.”

A testament to the continued growth and development of NZDC, completing two international tours in a single year is a landmark moment in the history of the Company, a tribute to their excellence and acclaim both at home and abroad. The Time tour caps off an extraordinary 2018 that has included a four-centre national tour of their celebrated Lumina programme in addition to their Paris and Liverpool debuts, and standing ovations at their NZ Festival and Auckland Arts Festival co-production of Michael Parmenter's OrphEus - a dance opera.

Opening the December tour programme is KIM Jae Duk’s Sigan. Performed by a quartet of dancers in a work that allows their technical skill to shine, Sigan delicately balances the dual themes of meditation and attack in a performance typified by dynamism. A score created by Jae Duk himself marries a contemporary composition with traditional Korean instruments with sharp swift movements juxtaposed by moments of fluidity.

One of the country’s finest and internationally acclaimed dance artists, Ross McCormack (New Zealand Arts Laureate), offers Matter – a powerful work with a futuristic vision cloaked in mythology, questions of purpose, indecision, and the human obsession with order. Set in a surreal world of poles, sound design by Jason Wright and lighting design by Jo Kilgour add to the multidisciplinary approach, ultimately creating an atmosphere that transports audiences through space and time.

Renowned Australian choreographer Stephanie Lake has created a surreal hive of buzzing activity with If Never Was Now to close the programme. Reflecting the beauty and brutality of the natural world, the work was first commissioned and presented by Dancenorth Australia.. She leads the powerful collaborative work, with the score by Robin Fox reflects our ever-increasing digital world complemented by bespoke design with costuming by Andrew Treloar and lighting by Ben Shaw pushing the storytelling further.

Time will see eight of NZDC’s impressive dancers take to the stage. Full-time dancers Carl Tolentino, Chrissy Kokiri, Katie Rudd, and Xin Ji who all travelled to Europe for the Lumina tour in April will lead the Company, joined by Lucy Lynch, Emily Adams, and recent New Zealand School of Dance graduates Chris Clegg, Sebastian Geilings and Christina Guieb making their debut performances with NZDC.

Several international presenters will attend NZDC’s performances to discuss a return to Europe in 2020.

For more information go www.nzdc.org.nz /time/

Images for the New Zealand Dance Company's Time. Courtesy of the New Zealand Dance Company.