Checkout our Samoa Vlog!
https://youtu.be/XXvtocR7uOs The team attended the 3 night festival in Apia on a recent trip to meet with potential partners. Each evening was themed with a mash-up of heritage and contemporary dance. Check-out our Vlog for our favourite parts of the festival.
Nesian Productions – This is me, This is US
It has been an awesome collaboration for Pacific Dance NZ with PHAB & Nesian productions. PHAB is an inclusive organisation that 'walks the talk' promoting self reliance that enhances the social opportunities for people with disabilities. PHAB is not an organization "of" or "for" people with disabilities. The PHAB experience is offered jointly and equally to disabled and non-disabled people. The opportunities and activities are intended to be of equal benefit to all members. Many memories have been formed with the Pasifika branch of PHAB - Nesian Productions. On Wednesday 13th December - Te Oro in Glen Innes was packed with friends,
Nafa and Hula time in Te Taitokerau
There are Pasifika right throughout Aotearoa and Pacific Dance NZ receives many requests for heritage dance workshops from throughout the motu. Earlier this month the Pacific Dance NZ team responded to a call and with their nafa and hula routine took a trip Te Taitokerau - Whangarei to run a two day dance workshop. The first night was a real treat and the attendance was our largest public workshop group that we have seen all year. Our young fit and accomplished dancers Aisea Latu and Leki Jackson-Bourke led an intergenerational group of 60 people that ranged in
SUMMER KIDS DANCE JANUARY 2023
Summer School Holiday Pacific Dance program for 7-15 year olds in Auckland. FREE registrations
2023 PACIFIC DANCE FESTIVAL
Callouts for 2023 Pacific Dance NZ Festival are now open.
Branded Merchandise for the Season
Pacific Dance NZ is helping you will gift ideas for Xmas starting off with snazzy coffee mug and a drink bottle - easy presents. Shipping is additional and proceeds from the sale will go to administering our community programs. Processing pre-orders with delivery before Xmas week. Limited first-run orders - get in quick. /**/
TALENT: Mone Lakatani
By day Montyleigh (Mone) Lakatani works for the Waitakere Central library and juggles a sociology and Pacific studies degree. A true creative, Mone is active in the performing arts community and more notably in teaching, promoting and collaborating on a myriad of Pacific works. Mone enjoys performing and does not shy from the public with all his talents. He has performed in a choir, his own family band, Pasifika festivals and was also the music director for a siva academy. As a member of the Tupumaiaga A Niue Trust, Mone is facilitating the weekly workshops teaching Niuean dances Takalo and Tame
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Kia Ora,Mālō e lelei, Talofa lava, Taloha ni, Kia orana,Fakaalofa lahi atu, Namaste, Ni sa bula and warm Pacific greetings. The Pacific Dance New Zealand Digital Festival 2022 featured a combination of digital, virtual, and in-person shows and workshops. Our programme was packed with options, giving audiences the freedom to pick-n-choose what they would like to see and do in 2022. The safety of our audiences was of utmost importance, as was ensuring that artists were maximising opportunities to perform and share their creative works while utilising immersive technologies during the pandemic. Our very own dedicated festival channel operated as both as
Who is Sisi’uno Helu? – Cultural, Choreographer Extraordinaire
Sisi'uno Helu is the choreographer and director of the piece 'New Dawn - Aho'eitu'. Sisi'uno shares with us a little about who she is…. I went back to Tonga, after graduating from the Conservatorium of Music, Brisbane, in Australia. At 22 years old, I was made Director for ‘Atenisi Foundation for Performing Arts, (AFPA) at my father’s school, ‘Atenisi Institute. AFPA performed classical anthems, European opera and Tongan music and dance. At the end of 1996, AFPA started touring continuously until 2002. The tours were to New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, California and Utah in the US and also to Fiji, Samoa and
MOANA Showcase – Tala Tupu’a
Tapa Tupu'a by Losaline Tupou features in our MOANA Showcase 2022. The piece was inspired by Losaline's grandparents, especially her grandma. She used to share bedtime stories to teach her the Tongan culture, networks, connections and why we do what we do. Losaline's grandmother made stories entertaining to target her grandchildren so they would be engaged. I chose the story of Hikule’o to create an opportunity to share the stage with all my sisters. We asked Losaline to use 5 power words to describe her short piece that features classics from the late HM Queen Salote (Loka Siliva) and Tuimalo Kalo
New dance reclaims old worlds
Lavinia Lovo has a question. Pacific peoples of all ability face challenges, she begins. So why are some identifying by physical disability first, Lovo asks, not cultural identity like most others Pasefika? “We have to stop identifying only by disability and start with culture,” she says to an audience of around 80 people, in July. Tightly-circled, that call was made at an event at Papaptoetoe town hall, hosted by YesDisability, PHAB Pacific and VakaTautua. “Without that identity, the culture is lost, and the message is lost.” Born with spina bifida just before the new millennium, Lovo is young enough as a youth leader to
Pacific Dance New Zealand 2022 Artist in Residence
Pacific Dance New Zealand's 2022 Artist in Residence is Tupumaiaga A Niue Trust. Omai Ke Koli Auloa, Siohooohoooe! Photo Credit: Raymond Sagapolutele The Tupumaiaga A Niue Trust are our 2022 Artist in Residence with a 9-week action-packed schedule that will cover all aspects of Niuean heritage arts, culture and dance with some of Niue’s finest masters. On the back of winning the Creative New Zealand Pacific Heritage Arts Award in 2021, the trust win is an acknowledgement of their work that has been established since 2007 to provide and promote Niuean cultural heritage workshops to Niue youth and families. It is also a recognition
The Transform Series II – ‘Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani 2022
This year’s theme for ‘Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani – Cook Islands Language Week is ‘Ātuitui’ia au ki te Oneone o tōku ‘Ui Tupuna which means, connect me to the soil of my ancestors. We release three new episodes in our Transform Series II 2022 featuring our Aotearoa based Cook Island artists. Pacific Dance NZ will release 3 unique episodes to make the annual Cook Islands Language Week program. The episodes were all filmed in 2021 navigating lockdowns and alert level changes. Featuring three Aotearoa based Cook Island artists using dance to share their stories of
WATCH ‘SHIFTING CENTRE’ by young creatives Sefa & Oto
'Shifting Centre' is an exploration of what Aotearoa would look like if Pacific Peoples were at the centre of the narrative in all facets of society. First developed in Le Moana's Measina Makers LAB 2021, the dance film merges street and contemporary dance to highlight the intrinsic excellence imbued within our Pasifika communities. A collaboration between Sefa Tunupopo & Oto Lupo, Shifting Centre highlights the intrinsic excellence imbued within our Polynesian people. Moulding street and contemporary dance, this piece presents an insight into a world of possibilities and what Aotearoa may look like if our Polynesian People were shifted from the margins to the centre. In
Watch MOANA featuring ‘WOUNDS OF THE WOMB’ – by Desiree Soo-Choon
CHOREOGRAPHED & PERFORMED BY: DESIREE SOO-CHOON SPECIAL THANKS: JADYN SOO-CHOON MUSIC: RUNNING ON E BY BRENT FAIYAZ FILMED & EDITED BY: TRISTAN PETUELI WATCH HERE Wounds of the Womb is a story of exploring the inter-generational trauma passed through the womb. As a mother, I acknowledge the hurt the mothers before me have had to encounter and how this has influenced my style of parenting. Sometimes the hurt we harbour is not of our own but of our ancestors that were not given the chance to heal from them properly. And thus forms another cycle through the next wom(b)an. The importance of this message is to generate talanoa between the
NOW STREAMING: ‘Concrete Bloom’ – The Film by Ta’alili & Manurewa High School
Concrete Bloom, brings together performing artists from Manurewa High School and friends of Ta’alili for an evening of shared dreamscapes and dystopian revolutions.
CASTING CALL – SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
OPPORTUNITY FOR DANCERS IN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA Good Oil are casting for a commercial in Australia shooting in September and are looking for dancers aged between 30-45 to audition. Full details on the casting brief below. Great opportunity for our dancers here in NZ as well as Australian based artists. If you are interested please make contact directly with Frith Horan via email: frith@goodoilfilms.com. www.goodoilfilms.com Good-Oil_Casting-Brief_NZ-DancersDownload
Daniel Mateo – from ‘A New Dawn – ‘Aho’eitu’
Radio New Zealand Interview with Daniel Mateo Recording courtesy of Radio New Zealand. Daniel Mateo is a 20 year old Gamilaraay descendant from Northern NSW, Australia as well as a descendant from Ma’ufanga, Tonga. Daniel studied at NAISDA Dance College and is now a contemporary dancer, performing with Bangarra Dance Theatre. Daniel dances in Sisi'uno Helu's 'A New Dawn' a dance depiction of the story of 'Aho'eitu, the son of Tangaloa. The work explores the preparation of a journey into the unknown of a young Tongan prince named 'Aho'eitu to meet his Father - the ancient God Tangaloa who lived in
Kids Dance Pacific – School Holiday Prog
Kids Dance Pacific - July 22 School Holiday Programme Looking for ideas for the school holidays? AND FREE? Look no further….Kids Dance Pacific is hosting a 1 week prog for you. DATES: 18 - 22nd JULY, 10am - 1.30pm Daily VENUE: Te Oro Arts Centre, Line Road, Glen Innes OPEN to all school aged children 6yrs - 16yrs LEARN dances from the Cook Islands, Samoa and Hip Hop/Street Dance There will be a showcase for parents on Friday 22nd July, 11.30am and all children will receive a certificate for participation. Children will need to bring their own snacks and refreshments and face masks are highly recommended. The