Celebrating Sir Jon

One of NZ's best-loved dancers, Sir Jon Trimmer has inspired generations of ballet lovers with his remarkable grace and stage presence. This year - incredibly! - Sir Jon turns 80.  In honour of his lifetime of achievements and in special celebration of his birthday, Willow Productions is bringing Sir Jon and Helen Moulder to Wellington's Circa Theatre to reprise their award-winning production of Meeting Karpovsky, an extraordinary theatre work full of humour, delight, drama and surprise.

Meeting Karpovsky is the story of Sylvia, who knows all the dances and has all the moves in her head, but is afraid to step out. One day the great dancer Alexander Karpovsky - she has seen him dance 127 times - turns up mysteriously in her lonely room and breaks through her brittle cocoon. What follows is funny and enchanting, moving and heart-warming.  

On one hand, the performance is a simple story of a woman and a dancer. On the other, it is a delicate journey through shifting opposites - movement and stillness, silence and chatter, fantasy and reality, awkwardness and grace - towards the balance that comes with wisdom and the courage to face the truth. 

"Pure magic - together they are magnificent" - The Listener

"Delivers the kind of rewards that only live theatre can offer" -  New Zealand Business Review

"This beautiful piece of theatre brings together two extraordinary performers [in] a unique pas de deux that interweaves ballet and theatre seamlessly" - Theatreview

"This beautifully crafted piece of chamber theatre." - Dominion-Post 

The two week season in Circa 2 will not make enough box office to cover the full costs of the production. To make this celebratory theatre event possible, we need to bring our director/co-writer Sue Rider to Wellington from Australia to remount the work and we also need to promote the season appropriately. We are running a BOOSTED campaign for $6000 to go towards these costs.

The funds raised from this BOOSTED campaign will pay for:

- Director's fee, airfares and living expenses

- Publicity costs including graphic design, press ads, flyers, posters 

We believe it is vital to honour Sir Jon Trimmer's special anniversary by offering this rare chance to see two of New Zealand's finest senior performers reprise their award-winning work.

In the dance of life Sylvia has two left feet, but Karpovsky has arrived to tutor her in hope and grace.