Royal seal of approval for year of dance

Angels with Dirty Feet was a sombre study of drug addiction.

Two major overseas coups have made 2004 a year to shine in the annals of New Zealand dance. The Royal New Zealand Ballet took its beautiful Christopher Hampson-choreographed Romeo and Juliet on tour to Britain, plus a triple bill programme of Saltarello (another Hampson work), Javier De Frutos' Milagros and Mark Baldwin's FrENZy.

They danced their way through the provinces into the hallowed Sadler's Wells, collecting armfuls of accolades on the way. The tour signed and sealed the company's reputation as an enterprise of international standard.

While the glorious kiwiana of FrENZy and the seminal music by Split Enz evaded some of the British critics, they were mightily impressed by the company's contemporary flair in Milagros and totally charmed by Romeo and Juliet.

The success of Romeo and Juliet was a fitting finale for the hugely talented Jane Turner, who danced the role of Juliet as gorgeously as she has performed so many principal roles in her career.

She bowed out later in the year with a complete lack of fanfare, when her partner in Madam Butterfly Craig Lord sustained an injury in the last week of rehearsals.

Butterfly was to have been her final performance, but Turner chose not to continue with a new leading man and curtsied her goodbyes from the production's corps de ballet. But she is missed, just the same.

The second part of the coup was Black Grace Dance Company's invitation to perform at the most prestigious of all the contemporary dance festivals, Jacob's Pillow, in the Berkshire Mountains, near Boston, in the United States.

Just being invited is a triumph. But Black Grace did better than that, wowing audiences and media as illustrious as the New York Times with a programme which included Deep Far, Human Language, Fa'a Ulutao, Method, Objects and the trademark Minoi.

"One of the most interesting aspects of the wide-ranging programme was the extraordinarily close relationship the dancers established almost immediately with the audience," wrote Jennifer Dunning, in the New York Times. She compared Black Grace artistic director and guru Neil Ieremia's choreography in glowing terms to that of Paul Taylor and Mark Morris.

She said his "greatest gift" was having "spread his artistic roots in several rich pasts and grown up and out into a sunlight of his own making".

Wow! And good on her for getting it so right.

Dance companies visiting us from overseas included Paris Can Can - all right if you like that sort of thing; Bolero Flamenco, all tight pants, frenzied heels, rainbow ruffles and not too much agonising; and a classical Russian company or two. You have to watch out for these - not all are as authentic as they may seem.

And then there was Underland by the Sydney Dance Company in the hands of American choreographer Stephen Petronio, under the influence of Nick Cave.

This was a chaotic glory, and a revelation: the change of master made a huge difference to the company, which always revels in the athletically impressive, but does not always carry enough emotional weight.

Highlight of the homegrown offerings this year was Raewyn Hill's utterly brilliant Angels with Dirty Feet, which fizzed and crackled through a sombre study of drug addiction, to the haunting music of Arvo Parte. Hill is frequently named as the successor to Douglas Wright and Michael Parmenter, and this work cements those predictions.

She too has had overseas success this year, taking Sydney by storm with her When Love Comes Calling, and partaking in meaningful talks with influential people in the United States.

Angels was the pick of Tempo, Auckland's burgeoning dance festival, which also boasted a new Michael Parmenter work, Nightingale Fever, in which this most impressive of performers spoke (what richness of voice) and danced (maturely and splendidly) through a reflection on the creative process of a choreographer.

Louise Potiki-Bryant's Ngai Tahu 32, with Atamira Dance Collective was another festival highlight, engulfing the Concert Chamber in a series of dramatic and evocative images that conjured up the life stories of her ancestors, and was performed with immaculate attention to detail and nuance and with huge heart.

TAPAC, the venue in Western Springs, emerged as another star of Tempo, providing not only an ideal-sized performing space, but rehearsal facilities and technical support - vital when all dance initiatives remain project-based.

TAPAC is emerging as a new hub and home for the ever-struggling contemporary dance scene.

Another treasure this year was the sweet dance/theatre piece Meeting Karpovsky, with Sir Jon Trimmer and Helen Moulder, who is no dancer but created with her co-star an elegant and touching cameo of the ability of dance, as love and as life, to dispel sadness, depression and gloom.

Sir Jon was back in his finest form in the recent RNZB production of Coppelia, playing Dr Coppelius and almost stealing the limelight with his smart and witty characterisation - but not quite.

The whole company were charming, young, fresh, full of vigour and breathed new life into an honoured old favourite, finishing the year on just the right and light note.