WOW choreographer to perform at Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival

Media Release 20.09.16

WOW choreographer to perform at Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival

Highly acclaimed WOW choreographer Ross McCormack is bringing a stunning piece of contemporary dance/theatre to this year’s Harcourts Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival.

The highly acclaimed Triumphs and Other Alternatives has enjoyed sell out shows and standing ovations since it premiered in Wellington in April 2015.

The work, which collides sculpture with gutsy performance to create an original and visceral new style of dance theatre, is a “must-see” performance, says Festival Director Pitsch Leiser. “This is a highly innovative and breathtakingly beautiful work,” says Leiser. “We are very fortunate to be bringing this performance to Hawke’s Bay.”

Lead performer and choreographer McCormack, has recently been announced as Principal Choreographer for this year’s World of Wearable Arts. This will be McCormack’s second year with WOW, cementing his reputation as one of the country’s leading choreographers. McCormack has choreographed numerous works for New Zealand and Australian companies, including the 2014 New Zealand Festival of the Arts and the 2016 45th Hong Kong Arts Festival. He is also the recipient of the 2016/17 Creative New Zealand Choreographic Fellowship.

Before returning to New Zealand, McCormack enjoyed a stellar international performance career as a member of Belgium’s renowned Les Ballets C de la B Company for ten years. He recently returned to New Zealand and established Muscle Mouth – a multifaceted company specialising in new forms of visual dance theatre and performance installation.

Triumphs and Other Alternatives represents a new way of presenting dance, design and storytelling. Set within a very literal world onstage – the artist’s workshop, the show opens up the curiosity surrounding the artistic process, how artists make their work and what drives them. The design is incredibly powerful and the movement highly virtuosic, complete with a real set, body paint, and no reliance on technology such as audiovisual.

Triumphs and Other Alternatives is the company’s second full-length performance work in New Zealand. Performing alongside McCormack are dancers Emily Adams and Xin Ji. Triumphs and Other Alternatives also features original light design by Natasha James and sound design by sonic artist Jason Wright.

“Choreographer Ross McCormack's Triumphs and Other Alternatives certainly lives up to its name. It is a triumph. ...One can see why he had such a stellar career for 10 years with Les Ballets C de la B. His stage presence is magnetic.” Dominion Post, April 2015

Triumphs and Other Alternatives

Napier Municipal Theatre

Wednesday 12 October, 7.30pm

Bookings at www.hbaf.co.nz

ENDS

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