Dancers grace Q’town

In an artistic coup for Queenstown’s Te Atamira arts and cultural centre, it’s hosting renowned contemporary dance company Black Grace next weekend for two performances and four community workshops.

Founded in 1995 by Arts Foundation laureate Neil Ieremia, ONZM, the company’s celebrated for its fusion of traditional Pacific and modern dance styles.

It’s giving performances at Te Atamira on November 4 and 5 at 7pm each day — tickets $45 waged, $35 unwaged.

There’ll also be workshops for trained adults and teachers at 10am each day and for different-aged tamariki at 1pm each day.

The workshops will focus on contemporary dance techniques and the movement aesthetics unique to Black Grace.

It’s the company’s first Queenstown visit in almost a decade.

‘‘Sharing our work with communities throughout Aotearoa is important to the ethos of Black Grace, so we are grateful to Te Atamira for arranging these opportunities to engage with the Queenstown community,’’ Ieremia says.

Te Atamira director Olivia Egerton adds: ‘‘Neil Ieremia is renowned for drawing on his Samoan and New Zealand roots to create innovative dance works.

‘‘Te Atamira’s vision is to connect the community with leading artists and high-quality arts presentations.’’

She says they’re hugely grateful to local dance enthusiasts Lizanne and Julian Knights, through their Mountain Arts Projects, and The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi donors for making this visit possible.

Those two parties will be behind several other performances by Arts Foundation laureates over the next year, Egerton adds.

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