Manaia

Overview

Three short works make up the programme for Atamira Dance Company's latest show, Manaia. Feeding the company's hunger for indigenous stories and themes, the show is based around a Maori mythical creature with the head of a bird and body of a human. The show is further described as, "a culmination of contemporary dance that began as instinct, developed into an unstoppable force and came of age with the surety of new talent taking the reigns of artistic endeavour."

Each performance is led by longstanding Atamira choreographers. With three of the brightest new talents to graduates from the Unitec Dance degree course, Gabrielle Thomas delves into the meaning and symbology of Manaia; Kelly Nash, presents a powerful duet that reverses common known myths and histories, and Nancy Wijohn's solo performance weaves physical opposition with illusion as videographer Rowan Pierce blurs reality with virtual bodies to highlight the physical world merging into light..