19 Feb 2018

The Piano en Pointe

From Upbeat, 1:00 pm on 19 February 2018

A ballet that has been lurking in the back of Jiri Bubenicek’s mind for over twenty years finally has its premiere this week at New Zealand Festival. Jane Campion’s 1993 film The Piano has been re-made into a ballet by Jiří and Otto Bubeníček. The brothers collaboration with Royal New Zealand Ballet is faithful to the film version, with music a key ingredient in the love story. Otto's music selection features some of Michael Nyman’s film score along with work by Debussy, Stravinsky, Schnittke, Brahms and Shostakovich. Otto's large scale projections also help bring the colonial New Zealand bush setting to life.