Crows Feet shows

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Crows Feet Dance Collective attacks the culinary arts in a hilarious new dance work. Be amazed and delighted as the Crows dance their way from pastry to cupcakes, inspired by words of wisdom from "Nigella" who expects that by the end you will be weeping with gratitude.

Expressions Arts & Entertainment Centre, 836 Fergusson Drive Upper Hutt

Friday 26 February 8pm Saturday 27 February 3pm Sunday 28 February 3pm

Bookings: 04 527 2168 or www.expressions.org.nz  (open 10am to 4pm Tuesday to Sunday)

 Who says middle aged women can't be ballerinas?

Dear God Degas is based upon the famous ballet paintings of Degas performed to the music of Ligeti. The Crows had particular delight in dressing as nineteenth century ballerinas, and there was some disappointment when others were cast instead as the mothers of the ballerinas.

Director Jan Bolwell danced to role of the ballet master, who can be seen standing in the wings, or conducting class in the studio in the Degas paintings.

 Going for Baroque performed to Handel's Water Music. Living on the edge of Wellington's beautiful harbour, the Crows have taken images from their immediate surroundings and transformed them into a series of dances. You may catch the odd glimpse of a traditional dance step, but mostly it is a witty, irreverant interpretation of Handel's famous score by sprightly dancers of a certain age. In the hands of guest percussionist Andreas Lepper, water coolers and running taps are also given a starring role.

 A dance about the life of Isadora Duncan. 

Jan Bolwell said of the dance:

"I am indebted to the work of American solo dancer Annabelle Gamson, who has spent a lifetime studying the dances of Isadora Duncan."

Leaving Home is a narrative dance that explores the pain, effort and ultimately the freedom of emigration. It is Jan Bolwell’s tribute to her great, great, great grandmother Jane Broadfoot, who left Scotland as a young bride in 1843.

"This show is about one of New Zealand women's most important and enduring icons, the New Zealand Woman's Weekly. I picked up the 70th anniversary publication on the magazine and I thought - what a great idea for a dance show. Meg Bailey, a member of the dance group who works at the National Library, took us into the bowels of the building where we spent hours pouring over old copies of the Woman's Weekly."

Choros was the main dance in our tenth anniversary show, performed at the 2009 Wellington Fringe Festival. audience dazed, delighted and disconcerted. Choros is a sensuous Bacchanalian revel danced to View From Olympus by acclaimed New Zealand composer, John Psathas.

Leaving Home was the other work in four performances at the Wellington Performing Arts Centre from 27 February to 1 March 2009.

Crows Feet Dance Collective performed Requiem in Dunedin as part of the Fringe Festival 2008.

Requiem celebrates the memory of Jan Bolwell’s sister Fiona, who died of cancer in 2006.

The emotional power of this dance was obvious during its first season in September 2007, at Wellington Fringe performances in February-March 2008, and in Dunedin Fringe Festival in April 2008.