" ... engaging and powerful"

August 24, 2005 performance, reviewed by Connell McGrath

In the slang of the first people of New Zealand, 'black' means bravest or most daring. Black Grace is one of New Zealand's leading contemporary dance groups. It has very strong appeal in its homeland, and is gaining recognition internationally. Jacob's Pillow has been their first United States venue. They performed at the Pillow in 2004 and were so popular that they returned this year to close the festival.

Black Grace was created by choreographer Neil Ieremia in the late 1990s. Ieremia draws on the male, warlike dance traditions of the first people of the South Sea Islands for the core of his work, but he also works to expand his group's repertoire to include Western-style dance practices. The group consists of eight male dancers, and this performance includes three female guest dancers as well. The performance at Jacob's Pillow was made up of eight short works many of them excerpted from longer works. The evening had the feeling of a sampler.

Ieremia's strongest work is when he stays close to island dance traditions. The first three pieces drew strongly from that tradition. Traditional Challenge/Hand Game (1995—excerpted from Relentless) is set on seven male dancers that begin seated cross-legged on the stage singing a song by Ieremia (that sounds a lot like a traditional Maori or Samoan hymn) called "Brothers Tell Me Why?" The dancers rise and begin a vigorous hand slapping accompanied by very forceful chants and exclamations. This is both exuberant, aggressive and joyful.

The next piece Fa'a Ulutao (2003—excerpted from Surface) is also in this tradition. The music credit reads Te Vaka, "Pate Mo Tou Agaga". The dancers are again seated this time in chairs, and they again use hand slaps to their own bodies and to each other's hands. It seemed like a pre-battle ritual. It is followed by Minoi (1999) to music arranged by Mr. Ieremia called "Minoi Minoi" based on a traditional Samoan song and on counting songs from Sesame Street. According to liner notes, it is the signature work of Neil Ieremia. This was perhaps the most powerful work of the evening, relying on simplicity, personal experience and tradition.

Also of note among the evening's pieces is the 2005 work called Open Letter set on two female dancers, this evening danced by Abby Crowther and Desirée Westerlund. Music by Terry Riley and the Kronos Quartet "Requiem for Adam". In this work, he has his dancers executing forceful, aggressive movements, though with little similarity to the earlier stamping and machismo. The central idea of this work seems to be cause-effect-cause. The dancers repeatedly fall on each other, caught by the other and pushed off to fall again. Maybe it would best be called the falling dance. It was well suited to the Kronos Quartet music, and had a very contemporary and original feel. This was Mr. Ieremia's best foray into other styles and away from his own tradition.

Generally, Black Grace's work is more powerful the closer it stays to the island traditions. Two works set to the music of Bach's Brandenburg concertos were an unsuccessful mix of ballet, modern and some island traditional dance. Somewhat more successful was Human Language set to the music of Chico Hamilton (especially his exciting, fast-paced "Conquistador"). Mr. Ieremia made this work in 2002, and it had a high entertainment value. It includes the entire core troop as well as the three female guest dancers.

The evening suffered from Mr. Ieremia's desire to showcase such a broad range of work. Samplers are never as powerful as one or two longer works that show a complete idea. Even so, Black Grace is engaging and powerful. Their exuberance is infectious.

Black Grace
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