Choros: new works for the 2009 Wellington Fringe Festival
The fabulous Crows Feet Dance Collective celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2009. The Crows will perform two new works in the Wellington Fringe Festival, 27 February - 1 March 2009.
Choros - a wild, sensuous, Bacchic revel
Forget the graceful white tunics and ivy-crowned curls. Instead, bizarre Furies ooze and hound their way into your vision, more like a flock of Gollums than graceful nymphs. The Crows go wild dancing to View From Olympus by acclaimed New Zealand composer, John Psathas.
Director Jan Bolwell has had a lifelong obsession with ancient Greek literature, and has seized the chance to reinterpret Euripides' The Bacchae. The cult of Dionysus originated in Asia, so the Crows do drunk and disorderly with a distinctly Persian flavour. Designer Jane Ferguson heightens the ecstasy with Eastern colours and motifs.
Leaving home - a nineteenth century Scottish bride
In strong contrast to Choros, Leaving Home pays tribute to Bolwell's great, great, great grandmother. Jane Broadfoot left Scotland in 1843 as a newly married young woman. It was a long journey in every way from her home to New Zealand. The Crows interpret her story dancing to the sound of Kilt, the wonderfully evocative music of renowned Wellington composer, David Downes.
"I keep returning to my Celtic roots, which become more important as I grow older," says Bolwell.
Meet the remarkable Crows
Crows Feet Dance Collective is an all-women contemporary dance group based in Wellington, New Zealand. Beyond those bare facts, we are a bundle of paradoxes.
- Members are 35 to 67 years old.
- Some are super dancers and some … well, not so experienced.
- We include 6 dancing grandmothers.
- Most of us have full-time jobs — yet we perform a new work in public at least once a year.
Jan Bolwell’s choreography makes the most of our talents, and we have many admirers.
