For $20, today's side deal scores you a ticket to see Black Grace, a contemporary dance company from New Zealand, at Bass Concert Hall through the University of Texas's Texas Performing Arts organization on February 20 at 8 p.m.. The normal ticket price, including ticketing fee, ranges up to $44; student tickets for this event are $10. Seating will be in the orchestra section. Seats will be grouped according to the name on the Groupon, so have one person in your party buy for everybody.
Black Grace fuses contemporary dance with Pacific and Maori styles—forging a new form of movement at once tribal, thundering, energetic, and suffused with raw spirit. Having toured their homeland to sell-out crowds, the dance troupe has also wowed dance fanatics at many of the world's top dance festivals, including the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Mexico’s Cervantino Festival, and the Aichi World Expo. During their Austin performance, Black Grace will perform a three-part program of the best selections from their repertoire. The show begins with Minoi, a fusion of Samoan and western contemporary dance, followed by excerpts from Surface, a full-length piece centered around Samoan tattooing, before closing with choreographer Neil Ieremia's latest full-length opus, Gathering Clouds.
Reviews
The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and PBS have all featured the Black Grace Dance Company:
- The pieces they perform, all by the company's founder, Neil Ieremia, fuse modern and traditional Pacific Island and Maori dance forms smoothly into pieces imbued with feelings of nature and spirituality as well as gutsy humor and athletic propulsion. – Jennifer Dunning, New York Times
- …Black Grace boasts some of New Zealand's finest and most respected contemporary dancers. Predominantly Pacific Island and Maori, this company is renowned for their unique ability to combine their traditional and contemporary dance forms. These few aspects alone set this innovative company apart from any other professional dance company in New Zealand. – PBS.com
Two reviewers on NowPlayingNashville.com saw the show in Nashville, and both give it a perfect five stars:
- Energetic, powerful, graceful ... stunningly beautiful! – Jay W from Nashville, TN
