Right now, we're in the midst of the Otago Festival of Arts. The festival, established in 1999, happens every two years, and according to their website, "there are two simple 'catch phrases' which encapsulate what this Festival is all about - Otago Festival of the Arts ; "celebrating the excellent and the extra-ordinary" " a boutique festival in a boutique city.
As soon as the program came out, I was excited. We bought tickets to two shows - The Dhol Foundation and Back of the Bus, - and I volunteered to usher and was assigned to 6 performances and 5 different shows. I've seen 4 different shows so far, and they have all been AMAZING! Here's a bit about the each one, the ones I've seen already and the ones I'll be seeing.
A fusion of world drumming (mainly Punjabi, African, and Celtic) featuring the dhol drum with an energy level of about one million. Click here to see a YouTube video of them. They were incredible.
To quote the festival's website, "Le Sud is a rollicking political satire that warmly pokes fun at three cultures, two islands and one country. Le Sud assumes that the French successfully colonised the South Island in 1839, with South Zealand or Le Sud becoming an independent Frenchspeaking nation. Today Le Sud is a prosperous socialist country where people work only 30 hours a week, enjoy long wine-fuelled lunches and the popular Prime Minister, Francois Duvauchelle, is a renowned womaniser. The English-speaking citizens of the North Island are far less happy. North Zealanders work long hours for little reward, their free-market experiment ended in disaster, and race relations are at rock bottom." Even though I know I only understood about 1/3 to 1/2 of the jokes because I wasn't a Kiwi or longtime resident, it was HILARIOUS.
These three guitarists must be double-jointed and wizards. I don't understand how fingers can move that fast! They put on an incredible show filled with a fusion (seems to be the popular thing to do nowadays) of jazz, world music, movie themes, traditional, and contemporary. I'm about to go and download at least one of their albums, if not all three. If you're a fan of Rodrigo y Gabriela (thanks, Sonia! for introducing me to them), you will love MG3. Click here for a YouTube video of these amazing musicians.
The picture in the brochure sold me on this one. The best description is the one on the website: "Come ride on a bus with the Java Dance Company on a character based dance tour of Dunedin city. On the moving bus dancers propel themselves along the aisles, spill onto the audience and hang from the roof." That's exactly what happened! The dancers were mixed in with the crowd as we were waiting to get on the bus, and they just started dancing! They had danced on the bus, at a shop, in a house, and in a bar by the time the ride was over, and we (the audience) just followed them wherever they went. It was so cool!! Here are a few of my pics...sorry that some are blurry, but the bus was moving.
A cabaret show featuring Helen Medlyn. According to the festival's website, she "will play four women (who) embrace the restlessness, transience and welcome anonymity of the pensione for different reasons. Telling their stories - the glamour girl, the call girl, the proprietress, and the murderess - reveal the heated passions that lie under their cool exteriors. Our cabaret divas unpack suitcases of strong, sophisticated, seedy and sexy songs. And all imbued with a whiff of Europe, a touch of class…and maybe just a glimpse of trash."
"...A poetic dance experience inspired by the true life story of Rona Williamson, a kuia of Ngai Tahu whanui....Growing up in the care of her Great-Aunt in the small seaside town of Kaka Point, (Rona) enters a magical landscape where bodies inhabit a world of seaweed and stone, where a fantail echoes death, and the moon guides the young girl and her Aunt through the struggles and phases of their lives..." It will feature a live score of traditional Maori instruments.
Heat is a New Zealand play, best described on the festival's website. "In the confines of their tiny hut, which is a tightly packed survival capsule, a husband and wife team (a physicist and a biologist) hunkers down to winter over in the frozen immensity of the Antarctic. One is observing breeding patterns among Emperor penguins; the other is intent on climate change. They are accompanied only by occasional internet and radio contact, the amazing beauty of the Antarctic world, each another and the penguins."
Music, theatre, dance, and most of it for free? Score!
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