Black Grace Embraced by North America

Media Release –
Tuesday 12th March 2013

Black Grace Embraced by North America

Having reached the halfway point of their highly anticipated five-and-a-half week tour of North America, Black Grace have already received critical plaudits ahead of their performance at Vancouver Playhouse next week, as part of the Vancouver International Dance Festival.

‘...the troupe wowed the opening night audience at Meany Hall with its movement vocabulary and powerhouse dancers….’ – Seattlepi.com

New Zealand’s most celebrated contemporary dance company opened this prestigious tour in Oregon performing for the first time in Portland at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Enthusiastically received the company enjoyed packed houses and a sell out school show of over 2700 kids.

The group have gone on to perform in Seattle, Williamstown, Pittsburgh and Richmond to equally strong acclaim from audience and reviewers alike. This year, Black Grace are proud to be included in season programmes alongside major international companies such as Paul Taylor Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group and Akram Khan Company.

The company’s debut showing at the Byham Theatre in Pittsburgh was also a success:

"Ieremia's choreography is extremely vigorous and fast, full of pride and group assertion. And while the energy is staggering, the creativity of movements, their natural flow from one to another and Ieremia's sense of form is no less arresting." - Mark Kanny, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

With four more dates, including two dates in Canada, Black Grace can once more attest their North American tour being categorically a success.

The North American tour also proves how vital the continual international touring Black Grace undertakes has become. With their amazing artistry – and what it offers to the wider dance community outside of New Zealand – the Company have earned the well-deserved reputation as pioneers of NZ contemporary dance.

Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer Neil Ieremia is delighted with the response so far. ‘This is the fifth time we have toured to America and we are thrilled that this distinctively Pacific and proudly New Zealand work is being so eagerly embraced’ says Ieremia.

Black Grace’s return to New Zealand includes four festival performances – at the Festival of Colour in Wanaka and Queenstown and the Southland Festival of the Arts in Invercargill, April, followed by the Taranaki International Arts Festival (August) and then the Christchurch Arts Festival (September). The company will also be working with a select group of Southland’s young people as part of their Invercargill performance.

For more information on Black Grace, visit their website - www.blackgrace.co.nz

ENDS

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