Dive in with both feet

How our national ballet, contemporary dancers and an eminent rock musician found common ground in a new work.

- SARAH CATHERALL

As he approaches his 50th birthday, choreographer Moss Te Ururangi Patterson (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Rāhiri) is still pushing boundaries. In his latest creation, Home, Land and Sea, the artistic director of the New Zealand Dance Company is doing something that hasn't been done before in local dance: six contemporary dancers from his company join six ballet dancers from the Royal New Zealand Ballet to perform his piece. As he puts it, the choreography will be a challenge for each group, but he's excited about the potential magic.

“The New Zealand style of contemporary dance is very athletic, it's very grounded, it’s very circular, and it’s very bold. Ballet has quite a different aesthetic; it's elevated, it's off the ground, it's very symmetrical and has an inherent beauty to it. We are bringing two distinct styles together to realise something else. “The unknown future is this: What if there is a middle space we've never explored, which could symbolise the next stage of dance in this country?”

While dance companies can and do collaborate, it is unprecedented to bring the two nationally focused companies together, especially when they are typically rivals for ticket sales. But Patterson is friends with the RNZB artistic director, Ty King-Wall, and he hopes their collaboration is symbolic of what he'd like to see happening more in New Zealand - socially, politically, and in the arts.