Esquisses is a sweetly subversive homage to 19th century tutu tradition. Choreographer Christopher Hampson loosens ballet of its stiff corsets, launching a jet of black tutus on to the stage, diamond-detailing glinting under the lights. This is classical ballet with spark and sophistication. Hampson arranges the dancers in massed ranks, emptying and then filling the stage in a series of solos, pas de deux and ensemble pieces.
"The female dancers in their crisp black tutus, looking like startled black swans, and the men in their slinky black outfits, like phantoms, produced some superbly refined sequences ...This is one of the more intelligent and classy pieces of dance to have been seen for a long time and shows what happens when you put great choreographers, designers and dancers together." - NZ Herald
