Music News - New Zealand’s only contemporary indigenous theatre and dance festival Kia Mau Festival returns to Wellington
07 April 2017 - 0 Comments
New Zealand’s only
contemporary indigenous theatre and dance festival Kia Mau Festival returns to Wellington from Friday
2 – Saturday 24 June, in venues across the region from Porirua City to Wellington City to Upper Hutt City. In
its third year, Kia MauFestivalis a heart-warming cultural celebration, led by Wellington’s own Māori and
Pasifika theatre and dance companies. Kia
Mau Festival is a unique and innovative opportunity for whānau
and communities across the Wellington region to engage with today’s tangata
whenua and First Nations artists, from across the globe.
Tawata Productions are proud to announce the first confirmed artists in the
programme, with a further two line-up announcements to come.
The expansive programme will open with Tiki
Taane Mahuta, by Wellington based Māori theatre producers Taki
Rua at The Opera Houseon Friday 2 June.
Choreographed by Tānemahuta
Gray, Tiki
Taane Mahuta combines theatre, aerial performance, contemporary
dance, kapa haka, mau rākau and hip hop, and is one of New Zealand’s largest
nationally-devised productions. Set to live music from iconic musicians; Tiki Taane and Shapeshifter’s Sambora, Tiki Taane Mahuta is a
proud expression of Aotearoa identity.
Bringing together the works of three wahine toa from the Atamira Dance Company whanau Manaia is a powerful exploration of Maori femininity. Showing at Hannah Playhouse from June 13 – 17, the
short works programme is tied by the theme of Manaia, named for the mythical
creature possessing the head of a bird and body of a human, bridging human
endeavour to spiritual aspiration. Pito by Nancy Wijohn explores themes around maternal connection, and attempts to uncover meanings of
loss, abandonment and pain to find light, enlightenment and love. Te Waenganui by Gabrielle Thomas explores the three fingers of the manaia – birth, life, and death – and the
space between, known as Te Waenganui. Kelly
Nash presents Mā,
a reframed and recontextualised look at the myth of demigod Maui and his
efforts to gain eternal life by exploiting the goddess Hine Nui Te Po.
Canadian based Kaha:wi
Dance Theatre’s primordial and transcendent production NeoIndigenA will come
to BATS Theatre as part of the Festival from Tuesday 6 – Saturday 10 June. An
elemental and ritual journey that fiercely cycles through sacred portals, the
Dora Mavor Moore award nominated production was created, choreographed, and is
performed by Onkwehonwe Artistic Director founder Santee Smith in the solo
show. A momentous physical, emotional, mental challenge and spiritual journey, NeoIndigenA will ask
the questions: where is land in my body; what language do my bones speak; what
is flesh and blood, breath connection to earth and to soulful sky?
Tawata Productions,
are proud present one of their own productions in the Festival programme Fire In The Water, Fire In The Sky.
Created and directed by Mīria
George, and performed by Te
Hau Winitana and Mapihi
Kelland, the story is a modern statement of climate change,
colonisation, and Christianity across the Pacific rim, told through movement,
dance, and text. Fire In
The Water, Fire In The Sky will be performed at Pataka Gallery + Museumin Porirua from Tuesday 6 – Saturday 10 June, presenting a search for hope in
the cautionary tale of greed and destruction, big business, and family.
Kia Mau Festival is a platform that enables Wellington-based arts companies to showcase their
work, and network with visiting international festival and venue directors. The
Festival is the brainchild of Wellington-based Tawata Productions, co-founded by Hone Kouka and Miria George, who
produce theatrical and multi-media works by Māori and Pasifika writers.
KIA MAU FESTIVAL
Friday 2 – Saturday 24
June
Venues across Wellington
https://kiamaufestival.org/
1st Announce Shows:
Tiki Taane Mahuta
Friday 2 June
Choreographed by Tānemahuta Gray
Taki Rua Productions (Wellington, Aotearoa
New Zealand)
The Opera House, Wellington City
Manaia
Wednesday 14 – Saturday 17 June
Choreographed by Nancy Wijohn, Kelly Nash and Gabrielle Thomas
Atamira Dance Company (Auckland, Aotearoa
New Zealand)
Hannah Playhouse, Wellington City
NeoIndigenA
Tuesday 6 – Saturday 10 June
Choreographed by Santee Smith
Kaha:wi Dance Theatre (Ontario, Canada)
BATS Theatre, Wellington City
Fire In The Water, Fire
In The Sky
Tuesday 6 – Saturday 10 June
by Mīria George
Tawata Productions (Wellington, Aotearoa
New Zealand)
Pataka Gallery + Museum, Porirua
Two further line-up
announcements to come.
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