Their programme for Auckland takes its title of Infinite Space from a 20-minute work that has become a signature piece for the company.
Hoy choreographed the work in 2009 to the Clarinet Concerto in A Major and the 27th Piano Concerto by Mozart. Motivated primarily by the "perfect, clean, eloquent and elegant music" but also by Greek mythology, it shows off what has become recognised as MBC's predominant style in fluid and flowing movement, with lush pas de deux and big lifts punctuating its group sections. Both men and women wear flowing white chiffon garments in the piece, to give a Greek God and Goddess effect, he says.
Hoy's choreographic "road map" is to give a physical representation of the music. "It is difficult to make choreography that can stand up to the perfection of such music," he says of the chosen Mozart in Infinite Space. "But that is what I try to do."
A professional dancer since 1998, Hoy has worked in Europe as a soloist and danced principal roles with Ballet Graz in Austria, Ballet Mainz in Germany, Schaufuss Ballet in Denmark and Carolina Ballet, before joining Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in New York.
By 2007 he was looking for a change, for new choreographic opportunities and was contemplating returning home to Australia, where he had graduated from the Australian Ballet School. At the same time Alisa Finney, who is now company director, was wanting to re-open the Melbourne Ballet Company her mother had begun in the 1960s, but which closed during the 70s.
"She felt the time was finally right, I was available, a lot of factors came together," he says. "The population was growing and there were a lot of people studying dance. Melbourne hadn't had anything new since Chunky Moves started, about 20 years previously. There seemed more room for dance in Australia " and audience numbers since have borne that prediction out."
Since 2007 the company has developed 30 registered works, and now performs to between 40 and 60 different communities around Australia each year. Hoy became Tour AD in 2011. Auditions to join the company are fiercely fought, he says.
"Our dancers have to be very good, quick and with a strong technique and good partnering skills " which gives the choreographer a lot of scope. The dancers in turn get a great physical and creative challenge and we do lots of new works so every dancer gets used a lot. It is uplifting for dancers to be in that mix."
The Auckland programme also includes Phrased Without Words, a dynamic pas de trois, choreographed by Hoy and driven by the three-quarter time signature of Arvo Part's enigmatic Spiegel im Spiegel; Lucidity, one of Hoy's newest and a hugely energetic choreography, which includes a duet by Tim Podesta, the whole a more linear and percussive challenge, set to a very contemporary electronic score by Olafur Arnalds; and Divenire, another of Hoy's "very classical" pieces, again with a Greek theme, set to the emotional and expressive music by Ludovico Einaudi.
"Divenire is an Italian word meaning to unfold, to continue to develop," says Hoy. "It is interesting to see Divenire with a similar theme to Infinite Space, but more recent, in this programme. It enables you to see the company's evolution over the last six years."
Performance
What: Infinite Space, with the Melbourne Ballet Company
Where and when: Bruce Mason Theatre, Takapuna, August 20-21
