Dead chickens and clean lines

Choreographer David Dawson's gorgeous A Million Kisses To My Skin. Photo / Supplied

The harpsichord - bold, dissonant, carefree and camp as you will never have heard it before - is at the heart of Christopher Hampson's new commission for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, part of the triple bill season From Here to There. Silhouette is a study in shadow and light, in black and white, like the harpsichord's keys. With its female dancers coutured in stunning tutus in the same monochromatic theme, it brings composer Francis Poulenc's Concert Champetre to visual life, and echoes the composer's dynamically opposing themes.

"Poulenc was flippant and frivolous but at the same time deeply religious and committed to Catholicism and both sides of the coin are reflected in his score," says Hampson, who has wanted to make a ballet to the work, which was written specifically for the less muted modern harpsichord, since he first heard it a decade ago.

"The music in the second movement is sublime," he says, "so I went for the most famous silhouette of all - that of Degas' dancer. Well, Poulenc is a French composer, my commission was for a tutu ballet, it's of that world, it seemed so right to do."

But if the work was inspired by the music, the title was forced by an unwitting - or witless - official in the New Zealand visa office in Britain. In knotting up some red tape that required her to read a letter of reference from the RNZB with the work's original title of Poulenc Variations, she presumed it was about dead chickens.

"Dead chuck-ins!" gasps Hampson, mimicking her Kiwi accent.

In spite of publicity material already in print, the name had to be changed and Silhouette is far more evocative of Hampson's stunning choreography, with its clear, crisp lines and lucid, multi-levelled journey from darkness into light.

In the third movement Hampson has created a tour de force duet for two men and on opening night in Dunedin audiences got their first view of an exceptional young dancer, new to the company. Paul Russell is an Australian 19-year-old who was studying at the Royal Ballet School in London and competed in last year's Royal Academy of Dance Agenee Awards in Singapore, where Hampson was coaching the finalists and semifinalists, and RNZB artistic director Gary Harris was a judge.

"He stood out immediately, he worked so conscientiously and was so consistent, I knew he would get a medal," says Hampson.

On the night, that medal turned out to be gold and it was gold for the company too, when Russell was prepared to quit school six months early for a contract. Not many 19-year-olds have the experience of a choreographer of high international status making a work specifically for them.

Hampson has also used dancers in Silhouette he has not focused on before and has high praise for Clytie Campbell, Abigail Boyle, Medhi Angot and Tonia Looker, his Degas girl.

The choreographer has been making works for the New Zealand company for almost 10 years, including the full-length Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella, ballets that have toured overseas with resounding success. He knows the company well, and is tuned into the Kiwi lifestyle. He quit smoking and began his running career here two years ago.

"Dancing came so naturally to me," he says. His long, lean legs gave him an elegant edge in his dance career, which saw him performing solo roles with the English National Ballet within four years of graduating from the Royal Ballet School, where he studied for eight years from the age of 11.

"But I have had to work to become a runner. You can't run like a penguin with a dancer's turnout. It has given me a new look at the physicality and technique of dancing - and improved my cardiovascular performance." He ran his first full marathon in Athens in November 2009.

Hampson made his first choreography at 16 and in his early 20s gave up performing dance to focus on creating it. His success as a choreographer is reflected in his schedule for this year: the world premiere of his Sextet, made for Ballet Black and the Royal Opera House; a Gala evening in Prague with Daria Klimentova; guest teaching in Hong Kong; creating a new work for the English National Ballet School; coaching dancers for the International Ballet Masterclasses in Prague; on-going work on a film project using motion capture animation and based on the story of The Nutcracker; creating a new work for the Conservatoire de Paris, to be performed next year.

In his spare time he is studying for a degree in French and music - and starting to think of the creative possibilities offered by working and "moving forward" with a consistent group of dancers.

Gary Harris completes his term as artistic director of the RNZB at the end of this year. With Hampson's serendipitous and proven relationship with the company, and his sterling credentials, he has to be a strong candidate for the job.

The second work in the triple bill programme is the meltingly beautiful Song in the Dark, a new commission from the exceptional young Christchurch-born choreographer Andrew Simmons, set to music by Philip Glass. Simmons is a former dancer with the RNZB, now based in Dresden, and this third work made for the company again illustrates his precociously developed choreographic voice. The programme is completed by David Dawson's breathtaking A Million Kisses To My Skin, a favourite from the company's repertoire.

PERFORMANCE

What: From Here To There, with the Royal NZ Ballet
Where and when: Founders Theatre, Hamilton, March 13-14; Aotea Centre, March 17-20 The music in the second movement is sublime.