Provocative New Douglas Wright Work to Premiere in April

Provocative New Douglas Wright Work to Premiere in April

* Auckland * Wanaka * Dunedin * Nelson

“an important work in divining and inspiring a New Zealand culture” – National Business Review (rapt)

ACCLAIMED NEW ZEALAND CHOREOGRAPHER DOUGLAS WRIGHT explores the search for ecstasy in human culture in his new full-length work The Kiss Inside which has its world premiere in April.

The Kiss Inside opens at Auckland’s SKYCITY Theatre on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 April, followed by one night only performances in Wanaka (as part of the Festival of Colour), Dunedin and Nelson.

The first full-length work since Wright’s acclaimed 2011 piece rapt (which was performed in Auckland and The Netherlands), The Kiss Inside is a kinetic meditation on the search for ecstasy in our human culture. Religion, sex, drugs, extreme physical exertion, sado-masochism and of course dance itself are all explored in this succulent work through the surreal dance language for which Wright has become renowned.

In it, Wright digs deeply into the workings of the human psyche and lays bare motive and outcome in startling provocative images and exquisite and sometimes frenzied movement.

With a soundtrack including classical Sufi music, Patti Smith and J.S Bach, the work will be performed by five dancers – Sarah Jayne Howard, Tara Soh, Luke Hanna, Craig Bary and Simone Lapka.

“These five dancers each have an exceptionally rare charisma and are at the very peak of their craft,” Wright says. “I’ve loved working with them – watching them dance inspires me.”

The Kiss Inside marks a continuation of a 15-year choreographer-dancer collaboration with Melbourne-based dancer Sarah-Jayne Howard. “She is my muse and she’s a joy to work with. Sarah-Jayne also introduced me to Tara Soh and it’s been a pleasure to discover her as a dancer.”

Wright adds that the music for The Kiss Inside has been a new experience. “I’m used to using one style of music, but in this we have woven different music together as a mosaic to create a soundscape for a dance language that is very primal. I really have loved making this work – it’s filled with little shocks as if touching a live wire by accident.

The Kiss Inside is commissioned by the New Zealand Festival.

The Kiss Inside has its world premiere season at SKYCITY Theatre in Auckland on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 April, followed by performances in Wanaka, Dunedin and Nelson. The Wanaka performance is part of the Festival of Colour on Tuesday 21 April; in Dunedin The Kiss Inside will be performed onFriday 24 April at the Regent Theatre and in Nelson, at the Theatre Royal on Tuesday 28 April. Tickets for the Auckland performance are available through Ticketmaster 0800 111 999 or www.ticketmaster.co.nz; for the Wanaka performance through www.festivalofcolour.co.nz; and for Dunedin and Nelson through Ticketdirect 0800 224 224 or www.ticketdirect.co.nz

“explosive, lyrical and distinctively Wright's own” – NZ Herald (rapt)

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ENDS
Downloadable high resolution images are available here
For more information or to arrange interviews with Douglas Wright or dancers, please contact:
Sally Woodfield | SWPR | M: 021 868 020 | E: sally@swpr.co.nz

AUCKLAND: SKYCITY Theatre| Thursday 16 & Friday 17 April 8pm | Book tickets at Ticketmaster 0800 111 999 www.ticketmaster.co.nz
WANAKA: Lake Wanaka Centre | Tuesday 21 April 8pm | Book tickets at www.festivalofcolour.co.nz
DUNEDIN: Regent Theatre | Friday 24 April 8pm | Book tickets at TicketDirect 0800 4 TICKETS (484 253) www.ticketdirect.co.nz
NELSON: Theatre Royal | Tuesday 28 April 8pm | Book tickets at TicketDirect 0800 4 TICKETS (484 253)www.ticketdirect.co.nz

Douglas Wright
Born in Tuakau, South Auckland in 1956, Douglas danced with Limbs Dance Company of New Zealand (1980-1983), the Paul Taylor Company of New York (1983-87) and DV8 Physical Theatre of London (1988) before forming the Douglas Wright Dance Company in Auckland in 1989.
Over his 25-year career Douglas Wright has created more than 30 works including Knee Dance, Faun Variations, Hey Paris, How on Earth, Gloria, Elegy, Forever, Buried Venus, halo, Arc, Inland and Black Milk. When Forever had its European premiere in Switzerland, it was hailed as “an overwhelming contemporary contribution to the history of our life and times”.
In 2002, he choreographed Inland, which premiered at the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts and then toured New Zealand. Critic Jennifer Shennan wrote of the work: “Douglas Wright’s choreographic imagination has yielded a profound work of dark humour and breathtakingly brilliant dancing”.
The Douglas Wright Dance Company toured throughout New Zealand, and to Australia and Europe. His work has been performed by other dance companies including Australia Dance Theatre, Sydney Dance Company and the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and supported by Creative New Zealand.
In 2000 Douglas was one of five inaugural Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureates and in 2003 was the subject of a feature-length documentary film, Haunting Douglas, directed by Leanne Pooley. His acclaimed 2004 book Ghost Dance (Penguin) is part love story, part memoir, a deeply felt meditation on the art of performance, on absence and on life itself. As in the best of Douglas Wright's dance-theatre work, light and dark are interwoven in deft, mysterious combinations.
The 2006 season of Black Milk was accompanied by the publication of a new book – Terra Incognito(Penguin). In the same year Douglas presented wounded cloud and other works, his debut exhibition of painting and sculpture, at Stanbeth Gallery in Auckland.
In September 2007 Douglas’ first book of poetry laughing mirror (Steele Roberts) was published. Laughing mirror was subsequently chosen by the New Zealand Listener as one of the Best Books of 2007. His last dance creation was a 15minute piece created for Taiaroa Royal and Taane Mete featured in the workTama Ma. And in November 2009 the Black Milk book was published (Craig Potton Publishing) documenting the creation and performance of this work, it features the exquisite photography of John Savage accompanied by text from Wright and writer Leonard Wilcox.
Significantly, in 2009 Ghost Dance was included in the book 50 Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read edited by Richard Canning and foreword from renowned literary critic Harold Bloom. This volume contains 50 essays by critics, public figures, and authors illuminating Douglas’ writing alongside literary giants Wilde, Woolf, Proust and Ginsberg to name but a few.

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