Atamira Dance Company Presents: Whetu

Renowned Maori dance collective Atamira return after the intrigue and success of Hou with a second exciting showcase of familiar, beloved works as Whetu (Star) tours across the North Island this June.

As the Maori New Year dawns upon Aotearoa, it is a time for whanau to come together and reflect on the past and the future. Matariki is celebrated through a variety of different arts in its many forms also – including performances unique to the Maori culture.

Atamira celebrate Maori culture through their contemporary works and much like the defining spirituality of Matariki, Whetu promotes the future of the company with it’s rising stars and emerging choreographers while bringing some of the collectives previous works to the forefront.

Shooting onto the stage are works by established Atamira choreographers Maaka Pepene, Jack Gray and artistic director Moss Patterson which are performed alongside celebrated pieces by pioneering Maori dance choreographers Charles Koroneho (He Taura Whakapapa) and Stephen Bradshaw (Mauri).

A founding member of Te Kanikani O Te Rangatahi and lecturer of dance theory at UNITEC, Koroneho has danced with many of this country’s top choreographers; Koroneho's work involves cultural collaboration, the development of interculturalism, performance art and cultural consultancy, exploring the collision between Maori cosmology, New Zealand society and global cultures.

Bradshaw’s work, Mauri, has been cited as one of the first examples of Maori contemporary dance with it modern interpretation of traditional Maori themes dealing with life force. One of the previous stand out works of Atamira, mixing elements of dance with kapa haka, the work has gone on to be part of the curriculum in NZ dance schools.

Atamira will sing, dance and perform to the ancient chants of their ancestors, celebrate the achievements of the Maori battalion and reinvent rock'n'roll with a return to the Happy Days era.

Whetu will celebrate Matariki – the coming of the New Year of Maori cosmology.

Event listed by Bored_Housewife

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