Exploring indigenous health through dance

Audiences will be taken on a journey of selfdiscovery through a te aomāori lens and the whimsical movement of contemporary dance when Te Wheke comes to Palmerston North.

Created and produced by Atamira Dance Company, the dance work embodies a unique understanding of amāori world view, and the evolving and ongoing connection with tikanga Māori (protocols and values).

Te Wheke, which will be at the Regent on Broadway next month, was produced to honour the company’s 21st year.

It draws on the whakapapa of the company and the symbolism of the octopus as kaitiaki.

Dancer Cory-toalei Roycroft said the performance described eight parts of the human condition and would take audiences on a journey of self-awareness and selfdiscovery.

‘‘But it is not only to do with self, but also community and warmth, through dark and light.’’

Painting pictures with their bodies, eight dancers will move through both solo and ensemble movement expressions within a sleek shape-shifting world of floating black silk.

Roycroft, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungūnu, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kauwhata, said the choreography represented Te Wheke the octopus, used to define hauora (family health), which for Māori acknowledged the link between the mind, spirit, human connection with whānau and the physical world.

Atamira executive director Marama Lloydd said the idea for the dance work came to them when they discovered the late Rangimarie Rose Pere’s model of hauora that aligned amātauranga Māori dimension of health and wellbeing to each tentacle.

‘‘We chose to honour her model in our choreographic structure.’’

The head of the octopus represented te whānau, the eyes were waiora (wellbeing for the individual and family) and each tentacle represented a different dimension of health, such as mauri (life principle), whānau and wairua (spirit/soul).

Layers of te ao Māori emerge from its outstanding video design patterns, mesmeric soundtracks and delicate shimmering clothes that used reflective lights to accentuate darkness and light.

‘‘It allows audience members to go on their own journey while they are watching, where they are able to fit themselves into the stories we are telling,’’ Roycroft said.

‘‘I don’t think it is something anyone has really seen before.’’

The show will be followed by a 20-minute question and answer session.

Te Wheke will be at the Regent on Broadway, Friday, September 9, at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from Ticketek.