Paradise Rumour by Black Grace

The Sapphire Room @Ponsonby Central. Neil Ieremia presents a preview of his bold new work Paradise Rumour...

Direct from their inaugural performance at the internationally acclaimed Biennial Festival 15, in Sharjah (UAE) BLACK GRACE is thrilled to present their bold new work, Paradise Rumour.

Paradise Rumour which is choreographed by Black Grace founding Artistic Director, Neil Ieremia (ONZM), was specially commissioned by Hoor Al Qasimi and Sharjah Art Foundation and will be performed on Wednesday, June 7 at Auckland’s SkyCity Theatre.

Tickets for this highly anticipated, one-off show will go on presale today at 9am, with public tickets available from Friday, May 19 at 9am.

Head to blackgrace.co.nz for full ticketing information.

Neil Ieremia says; “Paradise Rumour is an extension of my 2009 work Gathering Clouds, a response to an economist’s discussion paper on Pacific migration titled “Growing Pains: The valuation and cost of human capital and the impact of Pacific migration on the New Zealand economy”. The Human Rights Commission released a review of Dr. Clydesdale’s paper titled ‘Pacific Peoples in New Zealand; review of the public controversy about a discussion paper on immigration policy and the economic contribution of Pacific migrants to New Zealand’. It found that the paper was poorly researched and prejudiced, I couldn’t help but feel that the damage had already been done”.

Ieremia adds, “The provocation for Paradise Rumour, was based on the central question of, how far have we really come since then?”

Paradise Rumour bounces back and forth through time and space, starting with the arrival of the missionaries to the Pacific, and collecting memories, visions, experiences both personal and collective.

Weaving together four separate parts of the same experience within the one person, the first dancer represents hope + resistance, the second sorrow + acceptance, the third control + release, and the fourth faith + crisis.

Paradise Rumour features six performers including dancers, Demi-Jo Manalo, Rodney Tyrell and Faith Schuster. Original soundtrack by Anonymouz.

The work is also inspired by the poem Paradise Rumour by Neil Ieremia (2008);

Here come the skybreakers, god traders
renovating my culture to fit in an apartment box
with a flat screen and a flat nose
dressed in white with black book measles, muskets and blankets
Flavour said ‘fight the power’
hand vs. knife,
knife vs. gun,
gun vs. bigger gun vs. bigger bomb, vs. bigger budget vs. bigger dick, vs. nothing left
to touch, feel, eat, see, or love

I who am

Must assimilate, replicate, dislocate, shut the gate so the sheep don’t relocate
to Australia, where the tax rate is lower,
human rights is slower
I will return to her someday
Samoa
I owe her

Paradise Rumour, Wednesday, 7 June, SkyCity Theatre, Auckland
Tickets from $55*

Available from 19 May via www.ticketmaster.co.nz
blackgrace.co.nz

* booking fees will apply

Click the link below for a preview