A return to the joy of dance

After a 16-year hiatus, Mary-Jane O'Reilly comes back to dancing with a new-found confidence. Photo / Steven McNicholl

When does a dancer know it is time to stop dancing? Time can be inexorably cruel on performers, but not always. One of New Zealand's best-loved choreographers and dancers has rediscovered the joy of being on stage again.

Tomorrow evening at the Trinity Cathedral, Mary-Jane O'Reilly, co-founder of Limbs and director of the Tempo Dance Festival, will perform with Bach Musica in the third concert of this year's series. The event is singular. Until very recently, it has been 16 years since O'Reilly has performed in public.

Tomorrow's programme features J. S. Bach's Suite No 2 in B minor and Duruflé's Requiem. But it is the third item that intrigues - one half of stor Piazzolla's Four Seasons. A new-found love of tango and an admiration for Piazzolla's music persuaded O'Reilly to dance again. "The essence of tango comes through in his music. It's luscious and then it gets edgy," she says.

Given the choice of which two seasons she wanted to dance to, she opted for Otono Poteno and Invierno Poteno - Autumn and Winter.

This is a witty and imaginative collaboration. It gives O'Reilly the chance to introduce a new dimension to her choreography, beyond her trademark fusion of ballet and contemporary, and although Piazzolla might appear outside Bach Musica's traditional repertoire, his music is steeped in baroque.

From a childhood in New York, both jazz and J. S. Bach significantly influenced his development of nuevo tango for which he is famous.

Remembering the almost casual brilliance of O'Reilly at her best, there is something heart-stopping about the prospect of watching her perform as a "mature" dancer. It is only in the last year that she has discovered she can still dance at all - what her body is capable of. 1994 was the watershed year for O'Reilly. "I was 44, dancing full out and choreographing material which assumed my body was still 30. On the second night of a show called Dust in the Air I wrenched my neck really badly. The injury didn't heal. That was my brick wall; my body wouldn't do it any more."

She stopped dancing completely and focused instead on choreography and administration. If injury were not bad enough, in 1998 she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. "Then I really did have to admit defeat. I even had to stop choreographing, I was in too much pain."

With typical resilience and determination she went on to teach at Auckland University and in 2006 took up the position of director of Tempo Dance Festival. "By 2008 it was almost 10 years since I'd got arthritis. I didn't like the long-term effects of the heavy steroids I was taking so I weaned myself off them within five years. The arthritis is now either in abeyance or I've just learned to manage the pain."

In that context, it would seem fanciful to contemplate O'Reilly performing again. Something fairly ordinary provided the catalyst. Three years ago, a friend offered to teach salsa to O'Reilly and her husband of 36 years.

"No bad thing for a marriage!" laughs O'Reilly. It was a revelation. "I found I might not be able to fling myself to the floor, or leap through the air any more, but I could still move. And when I danced I didn't feel pain."

She came to accept there might be a place for the older dancer on stage. As if to prove it, in 2007, at Tempo, the original dancers from Limbs - all "mature" by now - performed their famous piece from 1982, Talking Heads, to a storming reception.

O'Reilly set about choreographing again. "I workshopped a solo piece on my daughter, Morgana, called Witch Bitch, using her body to choreograph the dance. Then I took it back and developed it with Morgana's direction." Performing again was not without its risks, with a reviewer saying of one of the dancers, "her dancing days are definitely behind her".

O'Reilly need not have worried. Witch Bitch was a triumph, with a critic at Tempo writing, "this night belonged to Mary Jane O'Reilly, back in performance mode for her rivetingly sexy chair solo. She looked stunning and produced a diva-ish display to take your breath away."

The news spread fast, culminating in O'Reilly being invited to perform with Bach Musica.

In 1998, a reviewer slayed O'Reilly's work which led, suddenly, to an avalanche of criticism. It stopped her taking risks. A return to performance now is the result of a return of confidence and the pure joy of dancing. "I feel so at home on the stage. I don't get bad nerves. I am just relishing taking on a character. I secretly always wanted to be an actress and have always been very theatrical in my work."

While she can no longer leap around the stage, her talent for interpretation is coming into its own. "I'm surprising myself in the places I am going to, emotionally, that I couldn't 30 years ago. I didn't have the maturity."

O'Reilly's attitude is that she is a citizen of Auckland, contributing to the cultural life of the city. "I'm an older artist now, enjoying the privilege of working with all these amazing people."

There is a precedent to what O'Reilly is doing. In 2008, the Tempo Dance Festival witnessed a very special performance. Two backlit, unidentified dancers moved with lightness and grace in a contemporary ballet duet.

When the lights went up, there was a collective dropping of jaws - one dancer was Deborah McCulloch, ex-Limbs, in her late 40s; the other was Dorothea Ashbridge, O'Reilly's original ballet teacher, about to turn 80. The dance, choreographed by O'Reilly, was voted top performance of the festival.

PERFORMANCE
What: Bach Musica Concert Three, with Mary-Jane O'Reilly (dance), Luca Manghi (flute), Kate Spence (mezzo), William Derrick (baritone)

Where and when: Trinity Cathedral, Sunday at 5pm