Today in New Zealand International Arts Festival history: Indian Ocean (2002), Verona (2004), Don McGlashan (2006) & Giselle (2008)
A good selection today! First up is Indian Ocean, a band that appeared in Civic Square as part of the Out & About section of the Festival (which one year was run by a Canadian, to much hilarity in the office) - and second isn't from a show, it's the band Verona from the show Geographical Cure in the 2004 Festival, but at the traditional Government House reception that all artists were welcome to attend. A great bunch of people, and one of my favourite New Zealand bands.
Don McGlashan is next, from the sound check for his 2006 shows in the Festival Club; I popped in to visit while I was going from one venue to another that day, and took a few photos - this one I have as a signed copy on my desk here in Sydney, though, it's always been my favourite. Not surprisingly, both shows were sold out.
And last, but certainly not least, is Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre's Giselle, from 2008. This was the surprise of that year for me, and remains one of my favourite shows of the eight Festivals I was involved in. I've seen a few more of Michael Keegan-Dolan's shows, including a collaboration with Robert Lepage at the Royal Opera House in London a few years ago, and I'm always keen to see more! This year's Festival of course has Rian (12-15 Mar), which we saw in Sydney last year.
I was sitting just in front of the stage for much of this rehearsal, and unbeknownst to me the choreographer / director kept his eye on me, and (just before the fifth image) leaned over to his friend and said 'that photographer's about to get a shock!' - right before the guy on stage ran straight at me and jumped, then swung over my head on the rope around his waist. (Obviously, I leaned back & kept taking photos...!) They had a good laugh about that one, and told me - later.
I've gone back into the original files from this one, and found a few images I'm quite sure have never been seen before - in fact, there were a few I didn't remember seeing before myself!