Australia

Cook Is. dancers to perform in Australia

A 34-member team of dancers from the Cook Islands will take part in the Ballet of the South Pacific as part of the Cook bi-centenary celebrations in Australia.

The Cook Islanders, members of the recently formed Cook Islands National Arts Theatre, will appear with Maori and Australian aborigine groups in the show which will be put on by J. C. Williamson, the theatrical entrepreneur, and pro duced by Victor Carell.

It is largely due to the efforts of Victor Carell and his wife, dance critic Beth Dean, that the Cook Islanders will take part. They have made several visits to the Cooks in recent years and have tried to en courage traditional dancing there rather than the modem night-club form.

Legends in dance

The Ballet of the Pacific will open in Melbourne at the Comedy Theatre on March 5; in Sydney for two weeks from April 6; and later in Brisbane from May 4 to 12.

The Premier of the Cook Islands will be in Sydney to greet the Cook Islanders when they arrive from Melbourne. They are hand-picked performers and their dancing will tell legends rooted back in the distant past.

They will perform without modern gadgetry such as guitars, brassy trumpets and kerosene-tin drums that make Rarotonga dance-halls a hell for people with sensitive ears.

Help in transportation of the group has come from Air New Zea land and Ansett Airlines. It was still hoped in mid-February that the Australian authorities who are organising the Cook celebrations would weigh in with some financial help. • Preparation for the South Pacific Conference, to be held in Suva in September, has begun. Tentative dates for the conference are Sep tember 14-30 and the Suva Civic Centre is the proposed venue.