“Snap, crackle and grace”

SMH: “Black Grace, New Zealand’s all-male company of Maori and Pacific Island dancers, is the most engaging and entertaining company to visit Sydney for years. Maybe since the last time they were here […] sources range from breakdance to the kind of contemporary work for which their fellow New Zealander, Douglas Wright, is famous, from Latin American to high-camp solos.” The Age: “For all those performing arts venue managers who think contemporary dance can’t pull the crowds, Black Grace is the answer to your prayers … The work has real integrity and an unpretentious originality.” Says artistic director Neil Ieremia; “I felt that there was a need to confront that conventional, sports-mad, beer-swilling image that exists, especially among young, black males … I think in the sort of work that we’ve done, we’ve gone a long way to breaking down those stereotypes.”