Black Grace notes

Craig Smith | The New Mexican

3/27/2008 - 3/28/08

When Aspen Santa Fe Ballet presents the acclaimed New Zealand troupe Black Grace at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, April 1, it should be anything but an April Fool for dance aficionados. Founded in 1995 by Neil Ieremia, a New Zealander of Samoan descent, the six-member male ensemble has toured extensively in its own country and in Australia, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the U.S., and it has also performed in Japan. The group's appearance at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts in 2007 was the subject of the PBS documentary Black Grace: From Cannon's Creek to Jacob's Pillow.

For the current tour, Black Grace and four female guest dancers present a program of short works by Ieremia. Some are stand-alone originals. Others are excerpted from larger pieces. Besides Santa Fe and Aspen, Colorado, the tour takes in Boston; Seattle; Nashville; Washington, D.C.; Palm Desert, California; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Norfolk, Virginia; and the Canadian cities of Ottawa and Toronto.

Pasatiempo reached the affable, articulate Ieremia by phone in Auckland, New Zealand, one recent afternoon, though it was actually the morning of the next day for him.


Pasatiempo: Why did you found Black Grace?

Neil Ieremia: Basically, the motivation was to give voice to some Pacific Islands stories, things that affected my island community in particular. It had a male presence, which I felt at that point was lacking in New Zealand and other islands, too. Most New Zealand dance, prior to 1995, was largely done by European women living in New Zealand and a few European males.

There was some indigenous dancing — an indigenous company was around awhile. But otherwise, it was all modern dance and ballet. I wanted to make it something I could identify with.

Pasa: When did you start to study dance?

Ieremia: I started martial arts first, when I was 11, as a way of keeping fit and staying out of trouble. I grew up in a fairly tough place, Porirua City. It is 20 minutes north of the capital on [New Zealand's] North Island. It is a strong, Pacific Island-Maori kind of community. You needed to know how to defend yourself if you got into trouble. You didn't suffer slights lightly. And Christianity and religion play a very big part in Pacific Island culture, particularly Samoan culture. To avoid boredom in church on Sunday, I got engaged in music, dance, etcetera. I was 13.

The music video was born in that period. We started getting Michael Jackson videos, Thriller, etcetera. It was perceived as cool. A big break-dancing tradition made its way to our shores. It certainly influenced me. But I made my way haphazardly, formulated my own training to improve my dance. I had never seen a dance performance. I had no formal training in classical or modern technique. I mucked about with my own dancing.

Pasa: When did you begin formal study?

Ieremia: At age 19, I was offered the opportunity to train in dance in Auckland. At the time, I had a job in a bank, a very good job in a bank. I told my parents I was going. My mother cried. My father didn't talk to me for two weeks till I left.

It was a wrench. I was tossed into this whole other world. I felt completely out of place, a fish out of water. I spent every day feeling inadequate and extremely uncool. I had to learn. I put in the extra time to learn as much as I could. My second year there, I was offered a job with the Douglas Wright Dance Company, at the time our leading contemporary-dance company. I mainly kept training through that and freelance work and my own means. Then I started Black Grace.

Pasa: Tell me about your conservatory training.

Ieremia: It was both ballet and modern. I still remember the first time I walked into a ballet class and got ticked out for wearing the wrong attire. And then they all spoke in French! I'm still coming to grips with the English language and I have to learn French. ... I think they must have considered me a waste of space. Though the first time the [female] teacher touches your inner thigh, encouraging you in your turnout, it's really something for a young male.

The school had other things. It tried, while you majored in dance, to give you a well-rounded experience. I had all kinds of things like music and theater and the arts and drama class. And choreography.

Pasa: How stable is Black Grace now, after more than a decade?

Ieremia: It's as stable as you can be in New Zealand. There are a few core members who I've worked with regularly. The last few years, I have [had] one original dancer working with me and replenished the others. I also had a young female trainee. I trained her as part of my dance-development project through an urban youth program. She has multiple skills in areas of the organization and has stayed on.

Pasa: Does the name Black Grace have any cultural reference?

Ieremia: It's not a reference to skin color. Pre-1986, we used "black" as a reference to someone in our group of friends who was particularly brave or courageous — the young men who wouldn't take the bullying. We'd say, 'You're black.' Grace is a quality I've always lacked. I've aspired to be graceful, not only in my dance, but my life also. That's why I chose it.

Right now we have one male Australian dancer. The others are of Maori, Pacific Island, or New Zealand descent.

Pasa: How do you feel now as an established but still-rising choreographer?

Ieremia: Three to five years ago, I discovered I have this amazing freedom to do what I want. I don't have to be bound by tradition. I don't have to be bound by Samoan dance. People refer to me as a New Zealand-born, Samoan-descent choreographer. I thought, why not just choreographer?

I've taken a long time to come to understand my background and bring it together. I'm always creating myself. To give you an example, we're bringing Minoi, a piece about the whole experience of identity. It's a fusion of traditional Samoan dance, fa'ataupati [slap dance], and Western contemporary dance and modern dance, performed to live chant and body percussion. I choreographed it in 1999 for the New Zealand Symphony. It was based on Bach's music and images of childhood in terms of rugby, wrestling matches, and what have you.

Pasa: What about the sense of male community through dance?

Ieremia: As a Samoan, dance and singing is very much part of that traditional culture. It's practiced every day. It's not looked on as a valid career choice. Traditionally, the male idea in New Zealand is of a big sporting bloke who runs around the farm, catches cows, and puts them on his shoulders! One of the things I wanted to do, and feel I have done, is challenge that stereotype of the New Zealand-Pacific Island male. I wanted to get a community of male dancers who would be proficient in traditional cultural language, not necessarily spoken language, but a value system — but also move on to make it relevant to the current environment.

We were just at WOMADelaide, the Australian dance and music festival. We performed for over 10,000 people seated around a tiny little stage. We did a shortened version of the program we're bringing to the U.S.

At the end, the audience erupted. They were on their feet. It was incredible. Australia isn't really familiar with my work as such, and this was over 10,000 people at two 40-minute shows. To get that kind of reception was truly humbling.

details
Black Grace, presented by Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1
Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St.
$20-$58, 988-1234