Tempo Festival of Dance 2009
Leigh Sawmill Café; Ascension Vineyard, Matakana
Oct 16-17; 24-25 | Reviewed by Renee Liang

THE RUSTIC timber surrounds of the Leigh Sawmill Café at first seems an unlikely place for a show described as “an opulent and flamboyant avant-garde burlesque cabaret”, but during the efforts involved in getting there something of the intent of the producers starts to dawn. For Birds of Paradise is not so much a show as an experience. It provided an opportunity to escape Auckland on a warm and sunny Friday afternoon (we got away well before the traffic jam started on the Bridge) and laze into a glass of rose at Matakana before claiming a front row table for a preshow dinner at the Sawmill Café.