The past few years have been tough for feisty and fabulous Raewyn Hill, the Christchurch-based dancer and choreographer who has produced some of best dance theatre we have seen over that time - White, Night, When Love Comes Calling and Angels With Dirty Feet.
Now she is retiring and this
is her swansong, complete with a very beautiful and balletic swan solo amid what otherwise is a passionate, exhausting, furious, frustrated and even gruelling work on the theme of departure - physical and psychological.
It is impossible not to see We Are Gathered Here Today as reflecting Hill's journey as a dancer, resolutely committed to remaining in New Zealand while so many others pursued far more comfortable careers elsewhere.
Here, the dancer must also be publicist, manager, rehearsal director, sponsorship manager, stage manager and her own choreographer. Here, the dancer spends more time at a computer drumming up work than in the studio, where her heart longs to be.
So Hill shows us, in this last work, images of herself dramatically filmed by Richard Bell against a series of stunning backdrops in the long hooped skirt and bonnet of a battling pioneer, plodding endlessly on and gathering an increasing stack of suitcases to be carried, juggled, stacked, and then moved on again.
Against and between these poignant views she dances live, lithe and as powerful as a she-cat through sombre reflection, insomniac nightmare, desperate shredding anger, and moments of zen-like calm.
The original music score, suitably gritty and uncomfortable, is by David Long.
There is nothing in Hill's fine performance, through a full-on solo show of 65 minutes, to indicate retirement.
The leaps, the extensions, the speed are all there in spite of her being in her mid-30s.
There is all the evidence in the world, beautifully expressed, of just how heartwrenching this contemplation of departure has been.
It is heartwrenching, too, that Auckland audiences have had too few opportunities to get to know Raewyn Hill, indomitable dancer.
And now she is on her way.
