Royal New Zealand Ballet Brings 'A PASSING CLOUD' to The Marlowe Theatre Tonight

The world-renowned Royal New Zealand Ballet make their Canterbury debut this month.

The mixed bill at The Marlowe Theatre sees the European premiere of three new dances alongside a piece from 2011, and the staging of a classic ballet.

Inspired by, or associated with, New Zealand, A Passing Cloud is a programme of four works, including the premieres. The Anatomy Of A Passing Cloud is choreographed by the London-based Venezuelan Javier de Frutos, who won the Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer in 2007.

He created The Anatomy Of A Passing Cloud for Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2013 to mark the company's 60th anniversary. He intended the work as a gift to New Zealand and explores Pasifika imagery and culture through dance and music. It is a celebration of the region and its vibrant colours and music

Leading New Zealand choreographers Andrew Simmons and Neil Ieremia present pieces inspired by their homeland's contribution to the First World War in this Anzac centenary year: Dear Horizon and Passchendaele respectively.

Dear Horizon takes place in the half light of no-man's land. With a soaring score by Gareth Farr, incorporating a virtuoso solo cello alongside the brass band, the mood is of quiet desperation and the inevitability of parting and loss.

The Battle of Passchendaele in October 1917 was New Zealand's worst wartime loss of life, with more than 800 men killed in a single day. Passchendaele, inspired by Warrant Officer Dwayne Bloomfield's epic tone poem of the same name, is a 12-minute explosion of energy and raw emotion. Neil Ieremia is a Samoan New Zealander and this work incorporates the flavour of that well-known prelude to battle that is closely associated with New Zealand and other Pacific nations on the sports field, the haka.

Completing the mixed bill programme is Greek dancer and choreographer Andonis Foniadakis's Selon desir (According To Desire), created for Geneva Ballet in 2004. This work uses mass movement to explore the contrast between heavenly inspiration and earthy energy, and is set to the opening choruses from Bach's St Matthew Passion and St John Passion.

The staging of the timeless classic Giselle is produced by two superstars of the ballet world, Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg (former principal dancers of American Ballet Theatre and The Royal Ballet, respectively). Against the backdrop of a haunted Rhineland forest, deceit, love and jealousy combine in this most beautiful and romantic of ballets.

The Royal New Zealand Ballet go from The Marlowe to perform A Passing Cloud at London's Royal Opera House. See them in Canterbury from today 10 to Saturday 14 November (7.30pm, with 2.30pm matinees on Wednesday and Saturday). Tickets, priced from £20.50 to £43 (discounts available, booking fee applies), are from the Box Office on 01227 787787 or at marlowetheatre.com.

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