Auckland Arts Festival; Week 3 Highlights

Auckland Arts Festival Week Three Highlights
Lady Sings the Bluse
Ladi6, Hollie Smith, Whirimako Black, Annie Crummer, Julia Deans and Ria Hall (New Zealand)
Paradiso Spiegeltent, Aotea Square

March 18

It's been one hundred years since her birth and still Billie Holiday's legacy endures. On this special night, some of Aotearoa's finest female vocalists will perform songs by the Lady and by other legendary vocalists she inspired. Join Ladi6, Hollie Smith, Whirimako Black, Annie Crummer, Julia Deans and Ria Hall singing the songs that have shaped, and continue to shape, generations.

White

Catherine Wheels Theatre Company, Created by Andy Manley (United Kingdom)
Loft Q theatre
March 17 - 22

I think little kids and adults would like this show. People who like bright colours and happiness would love this show. That's just about everybody – Seven-year-old critic Bill Blake – Time Out Sydney

Playful and highly visual, White is a perfect first-time theatre treat created for kids from ages two to four. The White world is full of birdsong and birdhouses. It gleams, dazzles and shines in the night because everything is bright, ordered and ... white! Two friends look after the birdhouses and make sure the eggs stay safe. But high up in the trees, all is not white. Colour appears. First red ... then yellow ... then blue ... What will the friends do?

Hailing from Scotland, internationally-acclaimed children's theatre company Catherine Wheels are storytellers extraordinaire, able to touch hearts, ignite imaginations and spark the minds of our youngest audience members. 

Brodsky Quartet
Concert Chamber
March 19

A spirit so transformational you felt they were actually improving the world – The Strad

Many people consider Bartók's six string quartets to be the greatest of all time. In this concert you're treated to No. 5 – and, in true Brodsky Quartet style, there is a twist! During relaxed introductions, the quartet guides you through Bartók's eerie depictions of Night Music – the nocturnal sounds of nature. They also perform some musical gems from Bartok's fellow composers who were profoundly influenced by his lonely melodies.

The Brodsky Quartet has a natural curiosity and insatiable desire to explore and have fun. This gives the players a rich and varied musical existence, propelling them to a place at the forefront of the international chamber music scene.

iTMOi (in the mind of igor)
Akram Khan Company (UK)
ASB Theatre
March 18 - 19

From Akram Khan, choreographer of a major section of the spectacular London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, comes iTMOi (in the mind of igor), a dance work that goes for gold.

Imaginative and intelligent, iTMOi (in the mind of igor) is Khan's latest full-length ensemble piece – a mind-blowing dance work that showcases his choreographic genius and the groundbreaking vision of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and his most famous ballet, The Rite of Spring. 

When it was first performed in 1913, The Rite of Spring, with its disruptive music and outrageous design, sent shock waves through the audience. Khan's iTMOi lures us into Stravinsky's complex mind, a mind that transformed the shape of classical music and turned the world on its head.

Akram Khan's company of dancers mixes modern dance and traditional Kathak to produce indescribable movements shot through with an original vitality. Inspired by Stravinsky's original, a group of extraordinary composers, including Nitin Sawhney, have created pulsating sounds new to the ear, giving this mythical work its rich and delicate poetry.