Kōrero: Ballet

Classical ballet and contemporary dance

Mary-Jane O'Reilly's dance career has spanned both classical and contemporary dance. In this 1996 Television New Zealand documentary, she talks about being a choreographer and combining the two forms. Comparing the two, she said, 'Ballet’s about sustained movement and very concerned with shape, very concerned with legs and wonderful articularity of the legs … contemporary is more the torso, and can often be more weighty and breath-oriented ...  ballet can be lots of quick change direction, pirouettes, [it's] quite virtuosic like that, whereas contemporary goes to the ground, we love the floor.’ 

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

TVNZ Television New Zealand

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Courtesy of Pinnacle Producing

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Jennifer Shennan, 'Ballet - Expansion and security, 1980s to 2000s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/video/43139/classical-ballet-and-contemporary-dance (accessed 29 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Jennifer Shennan, i tāngia i te 22 Oct 2014