Te Radar: the new star of the ballet world

The Tower Season of Tutus on Tour
The Royal New Zealand Ballet
St James Theatre, Wellington
Until October 26
New Zealand tour until December 4
(see venues below)

Te Radar would probably look sensational in a blue tutu but for the latest Tower Tutus on Tour season he has had to make do with a bright blue suit and hat. Fortunately Te Radar isn’t dancing (although he may well have those talents as well as his many others) but he is on stage as the narrator for the ballet company’s production of Peter and the Wolf.

Peter and the Wolf is the major piece in this tour of works, which provides one of the best ballet performances for children for many years. As well as the engaging Peter and Wolf, the company has included five short pieces which make for an entertaining and educational evening.

The five short pieces are all duets and include Charlie from the dance work Frenzy featuring music by Split Enz along with two new works – Little Improvisation by Anthony Tudor and Through to You by Andrew Simmons. There are also two works from the classical repertoire - a duo from Flower Festival at Genzano by the Danish choreographer Bournoville and one from Petipa’s Don Quixote.

With Peter and the Wolf, choreographers Catherine Eddy and Brendan Bradshaw have used the Prokofiev score and a tight narrative, along with striking costumes, to create a comic- book version of the story. Some of the dancers had to combine mime and acting as well as dance in portraying their roles.  Bronte Kelly in her cute yellow duck suit provided a great comic routine, which had the audience chuckling. Katherine Grange provided a cabaret act as a slinky Cat Woman while Adriana Harper with aviator goggles and grand plumage was a feisty Bird.

The setting is a surreal mixture of child’s bedroom and the woods, pond and bathroom, trees and bunk bed. The hunters are replaced by four soldiers, large scale versions of modern day plastic toy soldiers with rifles.

The Wolf, danced by Paul Mathews was superbly wolverine while Kohei Iwamoto as Peter made energetic use of the stage.

It was all held together by Te Radar with his relaxed approach and skillful timing.

With six works in the programme it was never going to have the same integrity as previous Tutus on Tour but it did provide the audiences with an opportunity to see the talent and skills of several of the company’s dancers and the five short works provided something of a primer on the pas de deux. There was the refined classicism of Bournoville and the standard classic style of the Russian ballet with the Petipa work, which contrasted with the more contemporary styles of the other works providing an appreciation of how dance has developed over the past 150 years.

The stand-out work of the evening was Through to You by Andrew Simmons with dancers Abigail Boyle and Paul Mathews. While the two classic works and Charlie were duets for lovers, the Simmons work was more complex with the couple’s dancing replicating planetary movements as they passed in and out of the light and dark of the stage. The dance is about action and attraction combined with a physicality and sensuality to make it the most interesting and innovative work on the programme. They danced as though folded into the music rather than dancing along to its minimalist rhythms, with Boyle’s arching body like a rotating planet and Paul Mathews a searing comet.

The company has been divided into two groups who will tour New Zealand visiting 49 centres over the next six weeks. Te Radar will be on stage narrating Peter and the Wolf in several of the centres including Auckland, Ashburton, Oamaru. Twizel,  Dunedin and Timaru. At the other venues a recording of Te Radar and Orchestra Wellington will provide the narration and music.

Wellington, St James Theatre , October 23 - 26
Hamilton, Founders Theatre, October 25
Auckland, Q Theatre, October 26 - 27
Takapuna, Bruce Mason Centre, October 30 - 31
New Plymouth, New Plymouth Girls High School, November 8
Napier, Napier Municipal Theatre, November  13
Hastings, Hawkes Bay Opera House, November 14
Palmerston North, Regent on Broadway, November 16
Christchurch, Aurora Centre, November 23
Dunedin, Regent Theatre, November 29
Invercargill, Civic Theatre, December 1

Also: Akaroa, Alexandra, Ashburton, Blenheim, Carterton, Dannevirke, Dargaville, Gore, Green Bay, Auckland, Greymouth, Hawera, Kaikoura, Kaitaia, Kerikeri, Manukau*, Nelson*, Oamaru*, Papakura, Paraparaumu, Putaruru, Queenstown. Rotorua, Stewart Island (a reduced production), Taihape, Taupo, Tauranga, Te Anau, Thames, Timaru, Twizel, Waipawa, Wairoa, Wanaka, Westport, Whakatane, Whangarei, Whanganui

*Special shows for schools also available

John Daly-Peoples has a relative on the board of the RNZB