Never-ending love story

By BERNADETTE RAE

At 50 the Royal New Zealand Ballet has come of age. And the jewel in its crown is Romeo and Juliet, that most classical tale of love and passion, blood stirred and blood spilled, of life just beginning and life tragically lost, all newly minted by whiz-kid choreographer Christopher Hampson.

There could not be a more fitting centrepiece as the company, newly acclaimed as world class, with an exceptional versatility and joyful physicality all its own, moves into a bright and certain future.

The RNZB and Hampson, introduced by artistic director Gary Harris, are a serendipitous item.

Hampson, at 30, is steeped in the classical tradition of ballet but renowned for giving it a contemporary twist.

Born in Manchester, England, and Royal Ballet School-trained, he was a junior soloist in the English National Ballet just four years out from his graduation.

Already choreographing in school, he continued to produce new works for English National Ballet workshops, soirees and galas before he was "seriously bitten by the choreographic bug" in 1999 and retired from the stage to focus on it full time, then aged a mere 27.

Even he is shocked, in retrospect, at the audacity of his move, swapping a regular pay cheque for a far from secure choreographic career.

"But there is no school to go to to learn choreography," he says. "You have to do it on the hoof. I remember thinking I would give myself a year. Then if it all went pear-shaped or I wasn't enjoying it or I missed the stage too much, I could still go back to dancing."

So far there has been no need. Hampson has been constantly in demand internationally and his Double Concerto won both the 2002 Barclays Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance and the 2002 Critics Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography (Classical). New Zealanders were privileged to see his gorgeous Saltarello, commissioned by the RNZB in 2001.

Saltarello perfectly illustrated Hampson's ability to use the full scope of the classical discipline and give it an update. Romeo and Juliet will enchant for the same qualities - and for its pivotal musicality.

"I wanted to make the story and its setting relevant to today," he says of his latest project - by far his biggest to date. "The beauty of the original story is that although it is 400 years old, all the issues it addresses are still around today: like the feuding families, the love and passion, the pursuit of political gain, the head overriding the heart and vice versa. Human nature hasn't changed."

He has set his version of the story in the latter part of the 20th century, in Italy. "No other country has got that passion," he laughs.

While the visual design is new, evoking the glamour and style of La Dolce Vita and other Italian films of the 50s and 60s, Prokofiev's score is the major source of inspiration.

"I adore it," says Hampson. "It is one of the best ballet scores ever written. To come to it as a choreographer it is just perfect. The construction of the story, the qualities of light and shade, the evolving sense of underlying doom, moments of light relief - it is all just there. Really, dissect the score and the job is half done."

Creating the steps was a process completed in seven weeks - not long, says Hampson, for a 3 1/2-hour ballet.

Craig Lord, one of the production's two Romeos, remarks on Hampson's deep understanding of the music in this creative process. "Music is important to me - people remark on my musicality," he says. "But there were moments working with Chris when I wondered what on earth he was doing, why he wanted this step on that beat. I just had to trust him and a little later I would understand why he did it that way. He was always right."

The design process was considerably longer than seven weeks, with Tracy Grant's initial concepts getting the nod from Hampson when Harris presented him with a selection of options in London, in 2001.

"Tracey's designs were right there, where I wanted, from the beginning," he says.

The two had a major brainstorming session in Auckland a year ago, laying out the most precise groundwork, linking music and settings and even the way certain costumes would move, in a hugely technical series of models, thumbnails and storyboards, exquisite works in their own right.

"There is a dark world and a light world," says Grant. The dark world encompasses the market place, outside the Capulets' house and the famous balcony. The light world takes in the chapel, Juliet's bedroom and the ballroom.

A rotating, two-sided structure allows the action to move seamlessly from one site to another. The palette of colours is largely monochromatic with flashes of colour, predominantly scarlet, symbolising young passion and blood.

"I love this visual story telling. It is gorgeous," says Grant.

"For me it is the magic," says Hampson, "and the contrast of that magic on stage with the utter vulgarity behind. All that sweat, all that swearing is vulgar and then you see those beautiful bodies moving, celebrating their youth, in such a refined and special way."

Performance

What: Romeo and Juliet

Where & when: Aotea Centre, tonight until June 29; Hamilton Founders Theatre, July 1-2; Palmerston North Regent on Broadway, July 6-7