Arts Festival: Raise a glass to a great show

Choreographer Sacha Copland was taken under the wing of a legendary French winemaker to devise her latest work. Photo/Tom Hoyle

Being introduced to the mysteries of winemaking by a legendary French vintner was an extraordinary start to Sacha Copland's latest contemporary dance show, The Wine Project.

"Because I was taking a show to Edinburgh, I decided to organise a three-week residency at a vineyard in France, which appalled my French friends. They said 'you just can't bowl up to winemakers' but my Kiwi brain said 'why not', and amazingly I was taken under the wing of Vincent Dauvissat, a renowned winemaker in the Chablis region, southeast of Paris."

A tasting of sublime grand crus, being lectured on the importance of terroir (soil) and a wine barrel as a choreography prop were just some of Dauvissat's inputs to The Wine Project.

Performed by Wellington-based Java Dance Company, the show includes three dancers and two musicians, although Sacha says the dancers occasionally sing and the musicians sometimes dance. The Wine Project's music has been inspired by wine-growing regions, with the performers workshopping among the vines in Wairarapa.

"I did a lot of research into flavours," Sacha says, "including a public installation where people were blindfolded, had a sip of wine and were asked to describe it.

"We got the fruit-type comments but also things like 'rolling down banks of grass' or 'sitting on the couch with my partner', which blew me away."

Sacha, who has had an interest in The Wine Project since a degustation festival in Dijon, recently realised she thinks like an actor when developing work.

"I use movement to express ideas and that means using not only the body, but the face too. I believe dancers should be able to express ideas, play characters and interact with the audience."

The Wine Project is staged in the round, which means, she says, audience members will experience scents too. s"We go through heaps of cinnamon and lots of grapes during each show."

The Wine Project dancer Emma Coppersmith surrounded by the scents and tastes of wine. Photo/Tom Hoyle

Java's last Tauranga work was the quirky Back of the Bus, where audience members boarded a bus for a mystery tour of the city without knowing who the performers were, a hit at the 2013 festival. "I do play on the idea of people not knowing what's going to happen next," Sacha says.

"It's about building something special for the audience - just like the magic that happens when a grape becomes wine."

Tickets
The Wine Project performs at 8.30pm at the Pacific Crystal Palace on Thursday, October 29 as part of the Tauranga Arts Festival. Tickets from Baycourt or ticketek.co.nz with a TECT card-holder discount until October 7 (conditions apply). Programmes available or go to taurangafestival.co.nz.