What all the Commotion is about

The retrospective will include Michael Parmenter’s two signature works, Tantra and Fields of Jeopardy.

Michael Parmenter's highly productive choreographic career spans 20 years. His retrospective Commotion, named after the company that presented many of his works through the 1990s, presents just one aspect of his multifaceted works.

His big theatrical productions, such as Insolent River from the mid-80s, which required the stage to be flooded with water, and The Race, from 1992, have not been included. Neither are his later, spoken and danced works, The Long Undressing and Nightingale Fever.

The works that are represented emphasise his choreographic, rather than theatrical, work - "dance in its purest form", he says - and include the piece he considers his best, The Dark Forest.

"Once I had settled on that, and knew I needed nine dancers, it was just a small step up to do the final big scene, The Golden Builders from Jerusalem, which needs 12 dancers," he says. "Once I had 12 it was only two more so I could do Svedebka.

"I was determined to include that if I could. That has only ever been performed by a student cast, so it is virtually a new work."

Svedebka, set to Stravinsky's Les Noces, was first performed by Unitec performing arts graduates in 2004 to critical acclaim.

With just two more dancers, The Bach, originally titled Sect (2001), set to music by Bach, became a possibility. The programme will include his two signature works, Tantra and Fields of Jeopardy.

The new Commotion company needs 19 dancers because some could only perform in certain pieces and not others. About half the dancers have worked with Parmenter before.

A key acquisition is Britain's Tim Fletcher, who will dance in The Dark Forest, a role that was Parmenter's own.

"I needed a certain look, someone young enough to play the son convincingly and someone who looked quite fragile - most men in the company have the typical big, strong, New Zealand physique. But Tim has the right look of vulnerability and he is a really good dancer."

Helaina Keeley and Chris Jannides, Lyne Pringle and Kilda Northcott, Taane Mete, Tai Royal and Claire O'Neil are among the senior dancers. The younger generation "are stepping into some very big shoes", says Parmenter.

Roles have been learned or revised from videos of the original performances.

"I am struck by two things," Parmenter says. "First is the awesome quality we had before - especially some of the partnering work. The second is that with the new company I am seeing a lot of wonderful things that weren't there before."

While restaging works is common for companies overseas, in New Zealand there is a system of "create-perform-vanish", Parmenter says. The opportunity to stage a retrospective is a rare one and he regards it as an honour.

Parmenter considers The Dark Forest to be among his best works because the music by Anthony Wilson and the movement work together perfectly to "express this Kafka-esque world I have created".

The Dark Forest, created after the Los Angeles riots and the scapegoat beating of a truck driver, examines the psychological implications of the daughter being the scapegoat in Kafka's own repressed family.

Parmenter also values the work because it differs greatly from his other choreography.

"There is a tensile quality in the music that brings out an angular contrapuntal rhythm in the movement. Some of my choreography just rolls on ad infinitum. Lyricism is my gift. The Dark Forest brought out something very different."

Performance

* What: Commotion, a Michael Parmenter Retrospective

* Where and when: SkyCity Theatre, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2pm Saturday