What is cacti by Alexander Ekman about?

Sixteen dancers stand, seemingly trapped, on oversized Scrabble tiles. While a string quartet plays, and spoken recordings give tongue-in-cheek narration of the action, the dancers run, fall, writhe and try to escape their invisible prisons; eventually – and this is the important bit – they each acquire a cactus.

Who choreographed cacti?

Interview: Alexander Ekman, Director / Choreographer, on Cacti and other things. Alexander Ekman. On 26 February 2016 Ekman’s Cacti is being both premiered by Royal New Zealand Ballet in Wellington, and revived by Sydney Dance Company (in Sydney) where it opens their 2016 season.

Where can I see Alexander Ekman’s cacti?

On 26 February 2016 Ekman’s Cacti is being both premiered by Royal New Zealand Ballet in Wellington, and revived by Sydney Dance Company (in Sydney) where it opens their 2016 season. In March Cacti can also be seen in Toronto, danced by the National Ballet of Canada and in April/May Nederlands Dans Theater 2 tour the UK with Ekman’s famous piece.

When does the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform cacti?

Late last month Ekman was in Sydney to restage it for the Sydney Dance Company and then in Wellington where the Royal New Zealand Ballet will perform Cacti for the first time on 26 February. Next month there will be another Cacti premiere when it enters the repertoire of the National Ballet of Canada. Sydney Dance Company in Cacti. © Peter Greig.

What kind of music does Alexander Ekman play?

Cacti was Ekman’s first orchestra piece, played by a string quartet on the stage. The core of the composition is the very fast fourth movement of Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor, known as Death and the Maiden, but it also includes the music of Haydn, Beethoven and Mahler.

Why are cacti the stayers of the plant world?

Cacti are the stayers of the plant world. They’re so cool they carry their water with them, stored within their stems and they come in many comic shapes, from globes to columns, barrels to pincushions and in a riotous arrangement resembling a collection of organ pipes.