Black Grace Double Bill: Intense, intimate, and a masterclass in honesty through movement

For Black Grace’s 30th anniversary Double Bill at Auckland’s The Civic Theatre on Friday, the performance showcased nothing short of artistic athleticism.

The first piece, If Ever There Was A Time by Neil Ieremia ONZM, the founding artistic director, is a powerful testimony to how the past and present can collide in harmonious tension.

It premiered alongside Esplanade, a revered classic by American choreographer Paul Taylor, creating an experience that was both emotionally grounding and artistically contrasting.

This was my first Black Grace show. Ieremia opened with remarks about the early days, sharing stories of securing funding, finding a studio, and his first sell-out performance, all of which started with an all-male cast that some mistook for strippers.

Whether that’s a true story or not, Ieremia’s pride in his Pacific heritage was evident.

He recited original poetry about overcoming self-stigma and the oppression of mental and spiritual barriers to become “the navigators who will leave the shore”.

As the show prepares to head to Christchurch next week, I won’t add too many spoilers, but attendees familiar with Black Grace’s work can expect high-intensity movements and the signature style of Pacific fusion. This show, incorporated siva Sāmoa within a contemporary form.

If Ever There Was A Time felt like a journey through a series of life’s challenges, at times eerie and haunting where all I wanted was for someone to turn on the light. It was so fiercely physical that I found myself hoping the dancers could soon rest.

With each scene transition, it felt as if a magnifying glass was moving across the landscape of life’s traumas, pausing deliberately to examine its hardest truths.

Black Grace. Photo/Facebook

I feel it, I have self-deprecating thoughts, I am my own worst critic, I stress over intricate details, and if it isn’t perfect, it isn’t good enough. I overcommit all the time and run myself to the point of exhaustion, but somehow, even with no gas in the tank, I’ve still kept going.

Could this be the space Ieremia is creating for us - a moment to pause and do some internal reflection?

The choreography, while physically demanding, required incredible precision, and the dancers should be applauded for their power, vigour, and control, making those moments of relief and softness even more impactful.

The movements feel like more than dance, it is a gentle reckoning, or as Ieremia says is his “quiet revolution” - not just with global issues but also personal histories, shared grief, and communal resilience.

There is a humility in the staging, a sense that this is not just a performance, but an offering.

To be resilient enough to stay culturally grounded and strong enough not to resign to the monotony of the mind’s captivity.

Black Grace dancers are athletes. Photo/Facebook

Then came Esplanade, and with it a tribute to modern dance legacy. Black Grace has the historic distinction of being the first New Zealand company licensed to perform this work. The dancers deliver the iconic patterns of Taylor’s choreography with remarkable ease.

They embodied the transparency and tension that the piece demands, making it feel both timeless and urgent.

Although the two pieces are quite different in style, one deeply contemporary and the other rooted in classical modernism, they complement each other beautifully, creating a conversation across time.

This Double Bill is more than a celebration, it is a statement: Black Grace doesn’t just acknowledge its legacy, it renews it, inviting audiences to reflect, connect, and imagine what lies ahead.

The Black Grace Double Bill is headed to the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch on 25 and 26 November. Tickets are available here.