Taurite – Haka Dance Theatre Forging New Pathways For Performing Arts In Te Ao Māori
Celebrated Māori performance company Hawaiki TŪ return to the stage this September with their award-winning work Taurite. Following the runaway success of the secondary school’s performances of ‘Autaia’ - Haka Theatre, twenty performers are set to fill the stage with a stunning fusion of dance, ngā taonga tuku iho (treasures of traditional heritage steeped in ancestral roots), mesmeric soundscapes and harmonious waiata set against an epic-scale set complete with 3D projection mapping. The next exciting evolution of Taurite plays at the Aotea Centre’s Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre from 1 - 3 September.
“Vibrating with the
call for us to have balance in our world, Taurite is
anchored in Te Ao Māori, touching on the dualities of light
and darkness, earth and sky, our babies and our
ancestors.”
- Dione Joseph, NZ
Herald
Celebrating the milestone of their tenth birthday, Hawaiki TŪ is a haka theatre company with a mission to shape and inspire the future of Māori performing arts. Under the leadership of Kura Te Ua (Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Te Whakatōhea, Tūhoe), the company is known for continually challenging understandings of what haka theatre is and can be and exploring the explosive potential of the collision of kapa haka, indigenous storytelling, dance and the conventions of theatre.
Taurite (Interpreted in English as “the art of balance”) is a landmark work created with the long-term support of Auckland Live, that continues the company’s legacy of forging new pathways for haka and theatre in mainstage performing arts spaces.
First developed as part of Auckland Live’s Fringe Town for Auckland Fringe 2020, Taurite was a festival hit: in addition to blowing audiences away, it took out Best Dance, Pick of the Fringe and Best of the Fringe awards. The work then returned to the stage at Auckland Town Hall’s Great Hall, in a collaboration with Te Manu Huia Kapa Haka group, and was live streamed across Aotearoa and beyond to locations as far flung as Belgium, and French Polynesia.
‘Life-affirming images of a world
restored to balance post-Covid are at the heart of
Taurite, a remarkable collaboration from haka theatre
company Hawaiki TŪ…’
Raewyn Whyte,
Theatreview
For this upcoming
evolution of Taurite, Te Ua has assembled a village
of creative luminaries and heavyweights, legacy members of
Hawaiki TŪ, and their tamariki. Creative collaborators
include contemporary Māori dance legend Charles
Koroneho (Ngāpuhi, Te Mahurehure, Te Parawhau,
Ngāti Hau); Arts Foundation Laureate and Founder of
Black Grace, Neil Ieremia ONZM; actor and
champion haka performer Te Kohe Tuhaka
(Ngāti Porou, Ngāi Tūhoe); Arts Foundation
Laureate, choreographer, performer and video artist
Louise Potiki-Bryant (Ngāi Tahu);
and celebrated theatre and television designer Jane
Hakaraia (Ngāti Raukawa). The creators of
Taurite have, for the most part, been raised te ao
Māori - on the marae where te reo is the first language and
tikanga is integral to everyday
life.
‘This is bigger than me...
it requires a village of conscious collective creativity,
bravery, and trust. Let us bind up! Whitiki taua! Kia eke
panuku, eke Tangaroa!’ - Kura Te
Ua
Hawaiki TŪ invites all of Aotearoa New Zealand to share in this powerful and uplifting new style of performance. The kaupapa of this work acknowledges the profound evolution of our nation through COVID-19, the regeneration of customary practices including the renaissance of the Maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar) and the current shift in mana and balance of power in Aotearoa between tangata whenua and non-Māori New Zealanders.
Haka theatre is thought to have first developed in Aotearoa New Zealand in the 1920s, when Princess Te Puea Herangi formed a band that explored Māori and Western performance styles as they fundraised to build a new marae at Turangawaewae in Ngāruawāhia. Over a century later, the form continues to find new purpose as Kura Te Ua and her ensemble of creatives give voice to this meaningful and electrifying live experience.
TAURITE 1 - 3 September 2021 Tickets: $15 -
$40* |