Mercy: A dance for the Forgotten
Powerful, pure and evocative dance
Hobart Theatre Royal
March 22 - 23 at 8pm and March 24 at 4pm
Ulverstone Leven Theatre
March 27 - 28 at 8pm
Launceston Princess Theatre
March 30 and 31 at 8pm
Wanaka Festival of Colour, New Zealand
April 24 at 7pm
Wellington, New Zealand
April 27
Choreography and Conceptual Design by
Raewyn Hill
Artistic Director: Annie Greig
Music: Marian Vespers, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Lighting Design: Daniel Zika
Costume and Set Design: Greg Clarke
Rehearsal Director: Melanie Turner
Dancers: Floeur Alder, Derrick Amanatidis, Trisha Dunn, Malcolm McMillan, James Shannon and Tanya Voges.
This disturbingly powerful work, created by New Zealand born Raewyn Hill, is one of Tasdance's most significant works to date. This is art reflecting life and it is crafted and executed with exquisite beauty and sensitivity.
Fiona Reilly, The Examiner Saturday, March 31, 2007
Hill navigated a sensitive subject with dignity and poise finding a language of poetry in supple movement and aggressive angles.
Xenia Hanusiak, Arts Hub, Friday March 30 2007
Mercy: A dance for the forgotten observes the survival and strength of the human spirit in times of adversity. It explores the universal themes of imprisonment and death, deeply rooted in both Tasmania's convict past, with its model prison at Port Arthur and in the many repressive regimes around the world, none more infamous than Argentina in the 1970's with its detention camp La Escuelita (The Little School).
The sheer poetry of this work builds a bridge between misery and joy that challenges and disturbs but also touches the soul with its gift of light out of the darkness. Mercy: A dance for the forgotten shows how the human spirit brings us hope in times of need. And hope, like love transcends all.
Raewyn hill is one of New Zealand's foremost contemporary dance-theatre choreographers and performers. Throughout her extensive career she has received numerous awards for her choreography and dancing, and endless accolades from critcs
Featuring a fine ensemble cast of six dancers and performed to the Marian Vespers, a beautiful choral work by the Eighteenth Century Italian composer, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.
Duration: 70 minutes