{"id":1090,"date":"2023-12-19T11:50:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T11:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/28\/?p=1090"},"modified":"2026-05-27T19:58:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:58:05","slug":"from-haka-to-haptics-indigenous-maori-and-intercultural-dramaturgies-interviews-with-six-artists-from-aotearoa-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/28\/from-haka-to-haptics-indigenous-maori-and-intercultural-dramaturgies-interviews-with-six-artists-from-aotearoa-new-zealand\/","title":{"rendered":"From Haka to Haptics: Indigenous M\u0101ori and Intercultural Dramaturgies: Interviews with six Artists from Aotearoa\/New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Moana Nepia<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article six artists from Aotearoa\/New Zealand discuss their experiences and understanding of dramaturgy. The first five of these artists (Dolina Wehipeihana, Moss Patterson, Bianca Hyslop, T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield and Sean MacDonald) are M\u0101ori performers, choreographers, directors and teachers who have worked with dramaturgs or cultural mentors, and some of them have also undertaken these roles too. They are part of an intergenerational network of M\u0101ori practitioners whose careers regularly cross paths in different productions and companies. The sixth artist, Mairi Gunn, is a cinematographer, film and documentary maker with Scottish ancestry who has worked with M\u0101ori and on topics of interest to them. For all of these artists, an ethics of care that draws upon indigenous M\u0101ori perspectives or worldviews, and tikanga or values and practices, is seen as a powerful force for change and decolonisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For producer, choreographer, and dramaturg Dolina Wehipeihana, dramaturgy is a tool for achieving decolonisation in her life. She emphasises the values of wairuatanga\u2014a spiritual approach, whanaungatanga\u2014an emphasis on relationships that is intergenerational, and kaitiakitanga\u2014care for the environment. Through calling herself a choreoturg she nuances the role of a dramaturg within choreographic contexts, and as a producer, she has even dramaturged a budget, using it as a tool to develop and refine projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Executive Director and Artistic Director of the New Zealand Dance Company, and former Artistic Director of Atamira Dance Company, Moss Te Ururangi Patterson, like Wehipeihana, emphasises whanaungatanga, and seeks advise from his own family, peers and more senior artists within contemporary dance and arts sectors. He maintains that communication and building trust is necessary to develop a collective consciousness about our national history and who we are as New Zealanders, in order to achieve successful creative collaboration within the Aotearoa\/New Zealand context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choreographer performer and co-director Bianca Hyslop co-directs productions with her partner designer Rowan Pierce. Her journey to deepen understanding of te Reo M\u0101ori me \u014dna tikanga (M\u0101ori language, culture, values and practices), helps to determine specific choreographic and design decisions, and thematic focus for her work on te Reo M\u0101ori language revitalisation. She discusses her collaboration with T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield (also featured in this article) among the M\u0101ori performers and cultural advisors she works with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield is a senior M\u0101ori performing artist with a kapa haka (traditional M\u0101ori performing arts) background who has worked with several contemporary dance companies as an advisor, mentor, tutor and performer. Describing herself as kuikui, a senior M\u0101ori woman or matriarch passing on knowledge to those younger than her, she values the sense of respect given to participants within collaborative contemporary dance contexts she works in and the opportunity to develop confidence and leadership potential residing within those she works with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dancer and choreographer Sean MacDonald describes a dramaturg as someone who \u201ckeeps the choreographer or director on track and focussed on their ideas through asking questions.\u201d His approach to choreographing has drawn upon cultural mentors from his own iwi (tribal) networks as well as wh\u0101nau (family) members, and like others in this article, he describes his personal journey to connect with and deepen understanding of tribal traditions and knowledge as being crucial to developing his choreographic identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cinematographer and director Mairi Gunn suggests that the role of cinematographer is like that of a dramaturg\u2014they both involve working alongside others and assisting them to see what they are doing or trying to achieve from a different perspective, to be an outside eye<\/em>, and to remain invisible<\/em> for audiences while creating those opportunities. Through the use of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality she is also investigating how new technologies might enhance opportunities to connect with and learn about people from different cultural backgrounds they might not otherwise encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interviews for Dolina Wehipeihana, Moss Patterson and Mairi Gunn were conducted kanohi-ki-te-kanohi (face-to-face) in Auckland. Other interviews were conducted on Microsoft Teams. Digital recordings of those interviews were transcribed, translated and edited by Moana Nepia. Because M\u0101ori is the first language of Aotearoa\/New Zealand, it is commonplace not to italicise M\u0101ori words in New Zealand. Translations of M\u0101ori text into English, however, are translated in this article to differentiate that text from questions and answers in English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords<\/strong>: indigenous dramaturgies, M\u0101ori dramaturgy, cultural mentor, kuikui, tikanga, te Reo M\u0101ori, M\u0101ori contemporary dance<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love the idea of dramaturgy as a tool for decolonisation in my life<\/strong>\u201d<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Interview with New Zealand Producer, Choreographer and Dramaturg<\/strong> Dolina Wehipeihana<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: Ralph Brown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dolina Wehipeihana<\/strong> (Ng\u0101ti Raukawa, Ng\u0101ti T\u016bkorehe) is a producer, arts manager, choreographer, dramaturg and performer. She has worked with Auckland Arts Festival, Kia Mau Festival, Performing Arts Network New Zealand, Atamira Dance Company and runs production house Betsy & Mana Productions. In 2021 she was awarded the Te Waka Toi award Ng\u0101 Tohu Haut\u016btanga Auaha Toi, which recognises leadership and outstanding contributions to the development of new directions in ng\u0101 toi M\u0101ori (M\u0101ori arts).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moana Nepia:<\/strong> Kia ora Dolina and thank you for agreeing to be interviewed today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolina Wehipeihana (DW)<\/strong>: Kia ora Moana. It\u2019s great to be here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s your understanding of dramaturgy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> When I think about dramaturgy, I’m thinking about exploring the arc of a story, finding the meat or main elements inside, and drawing or massaging them out so that performers and audiences might feel things or understand ideas the maker wants to promote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s interesting, you go straight to the idea of story. Would that be an approach you could apply to abstract work as well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> Yes, I think so. I\u2019m from a dance background, and when I think about story, that’s not necessarily a narrative or a linear tale. For me, story is the art of making meaning about something. That can be abstract, as well as more traditional ways of storytelling or a narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When, and in what context did you first learn about dramaturgy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> Through collaborative work with a colleague of mine, Waimihi Hotere, in 1995-96. She had just graduated from Toi Whakaari the New Zealand drama school in Wellington and I\u2019d just graduated from Unitec\u2019s Performing Arts School in Auckland. We collaborated on different projects, including one with Curve Dance Collective, a collaborative working space with Waimihi as director, who was really a dramaturg. Here, for the first time, I saw the benefit of having someone with an outside eye who was able to reflect, ask questions, and share ideas about what was being created on the floor, to help fulfil a choreographer\u2019s vision. As a dancer, I\u2019ve also been interested in that role ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has this way of working benefitted you and those you’ve worked with, and changed or affected the way you’ve worked over time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> I think I was being a dramaturg without knowing it. I called myself a choreoturg <\/em>for a while, because I was working with choreographers and physical theatre-makers. Now, dramaturgy is a way for me to maintain a creative practise in dance and theatre. I’ve also become more interested to learn about dramaturgy and how it can be applied in different contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the devising process it’s about seeing what ideas come forward and how they’re received. It\u2019s also the art of making choices about how deep you might go into a subject, how long you might keep someone in a particular zone, shift energy and draw out more meaning from a particular moment. Dramaturgy has also helped me to apply a deeper level of m\u0101tauranga M\u0101ori (M\u0101ori knowledge) to my work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you worked with M\u0101ori mentors, advisors, or kaum\u0101tua, k\u016bia (M\u0101ori elders) in the making of work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> Recently, T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield (Te Arawa, Tainui, T\u016bwharetoa), a senior M\u0101ori performing arts expert and advisor, came into a workshop and filming process that choreographer, performer and video artist Louise Potiki-Bryant (Ng\u0101i Tahu) and I were working on with my daughters. We\u2019d gone back to film at Te H\u0101kari Wetland on our whenua iwi (tribal land), at Kuku, which is on the south-western coast of Aotearoa\/New Zealand\u2019s North Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were hearing different stories from my wh\u0101naunga (relatives) H\u016bhana Smith and Aroha Spinks, and T\u016b\u012b would come on our h\u012bkoi (walks) when we were filming, or sit next to us. Every now and then she shared her whakaaro (thoughts). I felt like she was able to take the ideas that I was playing with, and connect easily to a deeply rooted knowledge of the whenua (land), cosmology, and Atua W\u0101hine (M\u0101ori female deities). Having her feed in different ideas enabled us to take the work to a deeper level. As practitioners we felt as though we’d had knowledge injected into our bodies, so that when we were dancing, that knowledge was able to come through. It sounds odd, but I did really feel it.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Filming at Otaki River, 2023. L\u2013R Paddy Free (videographer\/composer), Tyla Wehipeihana (performer), Louise Potiki Bryant (co-director), Rona Ng\u0101huia Osborne (costume design) and Huia Rawiri (performer). Photo: T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What do you mean by odd?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> It\u2019s hard to explain how that knowledge can be absorbed into the cells of your body and change the way you perform or present work. When the knowledge you receive is t\u016bpuna (ancestral) knowledge from kaum\u0101tua (elders), it\u2019s coming through them to you but you’re already connected to it, so it’s like a knowing that is awakened inside you. That’s why I really love the act of mahi toi (M\u0101ori art-making processes). Dramaturgy as a creative process is curious and interesting for me because it’s not just another tool, it’s actually central to what I’m trying to achieve in my life and in my art practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How were Louise and your daughters part of this process and how might their contributions be thought of in a dramaturgical way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> Louise is such a remarkable person, maker, choreographer and designer who\u2019s so experienced now. Having found learning te Reo M\u0101ori (M\u0101ori language) a very creative space, I asked if she would be interested to make a short one or two-minute film with my girls, for my next assignment. She was very busy, but rang me to say she would like to make it into a full-length work. When Louise and I collaborate, we take turns at the dramaturgy. If I come up with a concept, she will come back to me with some reflections, ideas, or things that she sees, and then we’ll talk about how those ideas hono (connect) to each other, and to deeper kaupapa (subjects or issues) we are searching for in the work, which in this case was hauora (wellbeing) for us and other generations of w\u0101hine M\u0101ori (M\u0101ori women).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course that then connects to ideas about mana w\u0101hine (the mana or authority of women); and issues raised in the Waitangi Tribunal Mana W\u0101hine Kaupapa Inquiry (that heard outstanding claims alleging prejudice to w\u0101hine M\u0101ori as a result of Treaty breaches by the Crown); and He W\u0101hine, He whenua (the synergy between M\u0101ori women and land). Dramaturgy in this way is relational\u2014finding all the relations and then choosing which ones you want to bring forward into your work. For my daughters, I want to pass knowledge on to them so that they can know what it is to grow up and be strong young M\u0101ori women who are raised in the city, being sent to Kura Kaupapa (M\u0101ori language immersion schools), re-learning culture, and living in the rapidly changing world of social media and Artificial Intelligence. But I\u2019ve realised that it goes both ways. It\u2019s also about what can I learn from the girls. There were other conversations that happened intergenerationally between T\u016b\u012b and the girls without me, where they percolated ideas and fed that into the work too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you asked the girls about their experience of this process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> We’re still in the middle of the development process, and I haven’t asked them, but what I do know is that the act of going back to whenua and being creative together as a family is good for our well-being. It’s almost like what I want the work to share. The process is automatically creating well-being for our family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been very inspired by other people’s approaches to dramaturgy like Hone Kouka and M\u012bria George (M\u0101ori playwrights and directors). They got me to do some dramaturgy on one of their works The Beautiful Ones<\/a><\/em>,[1]<\/sup><\/a> which I had also been a choreographer for earlier. I love what they are looking for in their process while creating work that pushes boundaries. The design of their work is always amazing, there’s often dance in it, and they’re always trying something new to push their own boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m also inspired by people like Lindsay Lachance who\u2019s an Indigenous Algonquin Anishinaabe Canadian playwright and dramaturg who wrote her doctorate about indigenous dramaturgy,[2]<\/sup><\/a> and how she was inspired by birch barking, nature, rivers in her area, and the Seven Grandfather Teachings\u2014m\u0101tauranga (knowledge) from her natural environment and how that informs her creative and dramaturgical processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were to describe your creative practice in a dramaturgical way, how might you do that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW<\/strong>: I love the idea of dramaturgy as a tool for decolonisation in my life. It\u2019s a way to re-look or re-shape the lens of how I’m looking at my work or my life. I see everything as an act of dramaturgy\u2026at micro and macro levels in my life. I dramaturg anything. I\u2019ve even dramaturged a budget. As a producer, the act of producing can incorporate dramaturgy. I see a project budget as carrying the story of a project, and clues to the actions required to bring it to fruition. I use a budget to develop a project, as a tool to play with the scope and its creative potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What tikanga, values, practises, or concepts are important to the way you work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> Wairuatanga, or a spiritual approach, whanaungatanga (an emphasis on relationships), and as part of my process there’s always karakia (ancestral chants and incantations), mihimihi (acknowledgements or greetings) and manaakitanga (offering hospitality, kindness and support) towards the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a spiritual approach?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> It’s acknowledging connections to Atua (ancestral deities), to Te Taiao (the natural world), and having a greater purpose in the works I’m making or trying to tap into. In order to let the creativity come in, I consciously change quite a lot of things about the time, space, and way I\u2019m working. If I set aside two days for something to be created, I hope that I\u2019m going to feel creative when I\u2019m also busy with kids at school, drop-offs, and other jobs. I have to shift and create space in order to do that dramaturgy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the dramaturgs, M\u0101ori mentors and cultural advisers you\u2019ve worked with, are there others you might ask for feedback from and what kind of questions are you interested in being asked?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW:<\/strong> Jack Gray (M\u0101ori choreographer, founder and former Artistic Director of Atamira Dance Company) is incredible to talk to about your concept and what you might be doing for a particular project. He once helped me move from a very generic provocation that I’d given myself about w\u0101hine and whenua, to look more specifically at my own daughters and connections to place. I have invited other choreographers I have worked with and trust to help with feedback too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m also interested in creating the right environment for discussion, and that’s where Liz Lermen\u2019s critical feedback process<\/a> that Carrie Ray Cunningham (former Director of Auckland\u2019s Tempo Dance Festival) introduced here a while ago, is useful. It sets up four questions and an environment where, as an artist, I find I’m more able to be part of the discussion. In Aotearoa\/New Zealand we can be very good at saying what we think, putting forward opinions based on our perception of what we’ve seen or understood, and we are less defensive when we are part of processes like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow can a proud, brown man work in non-brown, non-digital spaces and find a consciousness with others who haven’t had the same experiences?\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Interview with New Zealand Choreographer and<\/strong> Director Moss Te Ururangi Patterson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: John McDermott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Moss Te Ururangi Patterson<\/strong> (Ng\u0101ti T\u016bwharetoa, Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga, Ng\u0101ti R\u0101hiri) is a dancer and choreographer, former Artistic Director for Atamira Dance Company, and was appointed the Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the New Zealand Dance Company (NZDC) in 2023. His work has toured throughout New Zealand, to Taiwan, China, Korea and to Jacobs Pillow in the United States, and in 2020 he was made a New Zealand Arts Laureate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moana Nepia<\/strong><\/strong>: What is your understanding of dramaturgy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moss Te Ururangi Patterson<\/strong> (MP<\/strong>): Dramaturgy is a way to connect my story to larger stories that are happening around me, in my community, country, and the environment. It also helps me to tell stories within a studio and connect them to bigger stories in work I\u2019m making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before making Whakairo<\/em>[3]<\/sup><\/a> in 2007, I was drawing on patterns from k\u014dwhaiwhai (customary M\u0101ori painting), whakairo (carving), and tukutuku (woven wall panels) that feature in M\u0101ori meeting houses, to develop movement for abstract choreographic works connected to where I\u2019m from, and who I am as an Indigenous M\u0101ori man and contemporary M\u0101ori artist. But with Whakairo<\/em>, I also wanted to connect to larger socio-political themes, and the history of colonisation in Aotearoa\/New Zealand and T\u0101maki Makaurau \/Auckland, where I was living at the time. I wanted to create work that was about something bigger than myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever worked with a dramaturg?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MP:<\/strong> No. But because I\u2019ve worked with others who critique what I do, I think I\u2019ve always involved dramaturgical processes in my work. I\u2019d often ask my mother and grandmother for feedback on my work, for example. My wife Annabel and I research things together, attend lectures and seminars, and have read books together including Ranginui Walker\u2019s book Ka whawhai tonu m\u0101tou<\/em>,[4]<\/sup><\/a> which expanded my consciousness around the history and social-political landscape of Aotearoa\/New Zealand at the time. More recently, my wife Annabel and two daughters have joined me in the dance studio to ask what I\u2019m trying to say and help search for story. That’s a process I invite others into as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past I\u2019ve invited members of the dance community to offer feedback on my work, including yourself, Steve Bradshaw, Dolina Wehipeihana, Charles Koroneho, Susan Jordan, Michael Parmenter, and many others from New Zealand dance companies including Taiao and Limbs, and the wider dance community. My mother is probably my greatest critic and mentor. I go home and spend days boring her with my ideas, and within those discussions, she often summarises what I’ve said in a form she thinks I’m thinking about at the time. When I drive back from T\u016brangi to Auckland, I see more clearly what I’m trying to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does your mum have a background in the arts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MP<\/strong>: She\u2019s a potter and paints. I have early memories of us at the kitchen table making things with clay and being taken on the back of her bike to a pottery studio every weekend where I watched her working on the wheel making the plates we now eat off at home. As a clay artist, she constructs things using all kinds of skills and creative processes. I think some were transferred to me. We also loved searching for things at dump sites that might hold a memory or become an inspiration for something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can see how that relates to the process of bringing things into a creative space to generate ideas and provoke thinking about how to develop stories. What tikanga, values, and practices have been important for you in your mahi (work)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MP:<\/strong> Earlier, when testing ideas, I didn’t always know what I was doing, or understand what was important to me. Now, whakapapa (a genealogical or relational way to understand the world) and whanaungatanga (an emphasis on kinship and relationships) are important foundations from which my dramaturgy grows. I also draw upon my emotions and a deep kind of knowing. I always start and finish creative sessions with mihi (greetings and appropriate acknowledgments), ensure dialogue between artists is ongoing, and regularly make time for artists to share their k\u014drero (stories or perspectives) within those sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wherever we might be, practices that enhance the mana (status and authority) of those we work with help to establish trust and ensure good communication between us. They also determine how I communicate, shake hands and talk, the music I play, food we provide, or what to talk about when first meeting. Reinforcing the values and practices I want to convey in my work, gives us all greater confidence to tell our stories and find new stories together.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Performers Andrew Miller and Eddie Elliott in Pango, <\/em>2016, choreography by Moss Patterson, courtesy Atamira Dance Company, brand campaign by Osborne Shiwan. Photo: Charles Howells<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Did you alter how you work when starting with the NZDC?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MP:<\/strong> Yes. Working in different cultural spaces while honouring my t\u012bpuna (ancestors) is tempered by a very practical fear that their consciousness may not be understood by others. Building trust and maintaining good communication is especially important when working with people for the first time in new environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understood more about myself after working with Atamira Dance Company for ten years. As Chief Executive and Artistic Director for NZDC, it\u2019s important to be clear about who I am, what my connections to whenua (land) are, and what I\u2019m doing, if I\u2019m to lead the development of a collective consciousness. How else are we supposed to create something together?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Moss Patterson in rehearsal with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, 2019. Photo: Celia Walmsley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

While developing socio-political awareness, cultural competency, and racial consciousness within the organisation and our audiences, we must seek a better understanding of our nation\u2019s history, and build a mana-enhancing relationship to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi), which is the founding document of our country. They\u2019re important issues for us all in Aotearoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can a proud, brown man work in non-brown, non-digital spaces and find a consciousness with others who haven’t had the same experiences? That dramaturgical question is helping to guide where I’m walking, and how I\u2019m working now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe huia bird is not extinct because it\u2019s alive in our thinking\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Interview with New Zealand Choreographer and Director Bianca Hyslop<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: Courtesy of Bianca Hyslop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Bianca Hyslop<\/strong> (Te Arawa, Ng\u0101ti Whakaue, T\u016bhourangi-Ng\u0101ti W\u0101hiao) is a director, performer and choreographer who has worked specifically within the M\u0101ori Contemporary Dance Sector for fifteen years. A wh\u0101nau (extended family) member of Atamira Dance Company, \u014ck\u0101reka Dance Company, and The New Zealand Dance Company, Bianca also works in close collaboration with designer Rowan Pierce. The pair have co-directed two full-length works He Huia Kaimanawa<\/em>[5]<\/sup><\/a> [6]<\/sup><\/a> and P\u014dhutu<\/em>[7]<\/sup><\/a> to critical acclaim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u014dhutu<\/em> (geyser) draws parallels between the restless<\/em> geothermal landscape \u201cforever re-shaping itself\u201d at Whakarewarewa, Rotorua, in New Zealand\u2019s Central North Island, and the decline of Hyslop\u2019s eighty-eight year old grandmother, the late Ramari Rangiwhiua Haslem, and her shapeshifting mind, due to the progression of Alzheimers.[8]<\/sup><\/a> Simultaneously rooted in personal experience, family history, and deeply-felt connections to place, P\u014dhutu<\/em> reaches beyond the specifics of its story-telling and performance language to offer a poetic response to pathological disorientation, the loss of memory, dignity and personal identity, and the fractious, explosive potential of Ruaumoko\u2014M\u0101ori deity of seismic, volcanic and geothermal activity. Audiences were also invited to reflect upon the fragility of human and environmental existence, and the strength needed to confront challenges to cultural identity, and mental, physical and social wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their more recent work He<\/em> Huia Kaimanawa, <\/em>Hyslop and Pierce strengthened working relationships with key collaborators to offer an optimistic glimpse at what the revitalisation of te Reo M\u0101ori (the M\u0101ori language) might sound like, and deepen their collective understanding of M\u0101ori ways of thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n

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P\u014dhutu<\/em>, performer Rose Tapsell, co-directors Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce, design Rowan Pierce, Tempo Dance Festival, Auckland, 2019. Photo: Jinki Cambronero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Moana Nepia<\/strong>: How did you develop ideas for P\u014dhutu<\/font> and how did that compare to He Huia Kaimanawa<\/font>, which I saw at Te Pou Theatre in Auckland earlier this year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bianca Hyslop<\/strong> (<\/strong>BH): <\/strong>Both works were very collaborative. We didn’t have a dramaturg for either production, but for P\u014dhutu,<\/em>[9]<\/sup><\/a> I was able to be on the outside. For He Huia Kaimanawa<\/em>, I performed in the work and had two other performers in the production who gave me feedback as it developed: choreographer and dancer Kelly Nash (Ng\u0101puhi, Ng\u0101iterangi) who was rehearsal director and my choreographic mentor; and T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield (Te Arawa, Tainui, T\u016bwharetoa) who was an important M\u0101ori cultural advisor for our team and helped develop the soundscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Te Mauri o P\u014dhatu<\/font>, the installation version of P\u014dhutu<\/font>, her voice came over loudspeakers at regular intervals each day, and then once a week for three weeks there were live activation events too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BH:<\/strong> Yes. T\u016b\u012b\u2019s voice embodied the geyser erupting at regular intervals. The live events included her performing in the space dancers with two dancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I gather from reading about P\u014dhutu<\/font> and what you\u2019ve mentioned earlier today that your design decisions have been led by psychological or emotional elements within the stories you work with, including in this instance themes of separation and loss, moments of re-connection, surprise, beauty and joy. You also mentioned wanting to \u201cdecolonise Alzheimers\u201d through re-envisaging your grandmother\u2019s mental decline as part of a final spiritual journey of return and reconnection to her ancestral homeland. Were design decisions for He Huia Kaimanawa<\/font> made in a similar way?<\/p>\n\n\n

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He Huia Kaimanawa<\/em>, performer Bianca Hyslop, co-directors Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce, design Rowan Pierce, Te Pou Theatre, Auckland Arts Festival, Auckland, Aotearoa\/New Zealand, 2023. Photo: Jinki Cambronero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

BH:<\/strong> In He<\/em> Huia Kaimanawa,<\/em>[10]<\/sup><\/a> we responded to the idea of M\u0101ori being suppressed and came up with the idea of a box-like structure or a container for the set, and explored how we might break that box open to fly free again. I\u2019m interested in how utilitarian structures can colonise the stage, and cause friction or tension that forces you to think differently and create new pathways. We also worked to contrast hard, rigid set elements with softer, more amorphous qualities in the dance and in the movement of haze filling and pouring out of translucent screens made from gauze that could hold a projection of sound wave patterns generated electronically by T\u016b\u012b\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that moment it felt as though listening became a whole-body sensory experience and the emotional impact of her voice was intensified. I was also reminded of how the concept of rongo (to listen) is the M\u0101ori word for all the senses except sight. There was an additional design element featured towards the end of the performance that looked like a billowing cloud of fabric. What was the significance of that for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BH:<\/strong> We thought of it as a tongue, or a wave, something big, soft, and malleable that could take over the space. It was also a vessel for introducing and carrying three children who performed in the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend Beau Child shared some beautiful k\u014drero (narration) about her experience of learning te reo M\u0101ori little by little, like trickles of rain getting stronger and flooding to become a river. That’s what was in the sound score as the fabric \u201ccreature\u201d was expanding, giving rise to the next generation with their beautiful reo (voice and language), and consuming space like a big wave taking over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

T\u016b\u012b\u2019s voice in full flight at the end represented for us the idea of bringing the huia bird back from extinction, and being able to fly again through the revitalization of our language. We had done a lot of brainstorming with her, other dancers, and Rowan. They were all very open with each other throughout the process.<\/p>\n\n\n

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He Huia Kaimanawa<\/em>, performers Mihimarino Walker (Ng\u0101ti Porou, Te Whanau a Ruataupare ki T\u016bp\u0101roa, Ng\u0101ti Rangi), Rerekohu Wikingi (Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu, Te Arawa), and Lila Porteners (Ng\u0101ti Toa Rangatira, Ng\u0101ti Koata, Ngai Tahu, Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Ng\u0101ti Ranginui (Pirir\u0101kau), co-directors Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce, design Rowan Pierce, Te Pou Theatre, Auckland Arts Festival, 16-19 March 2023, Auckland, Aotearoa\/New Zealand. Photo: Jinki Cambronero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Were the children performing involved in that process too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BH:<\/strong> Yes. We held a two day workshop together and did lots of acrostic poems and things that were accessible to them. They were incredible\u2014they wrote their own m\u014dteatea (poetic song) in te Reo M\u0101ori, and ngeri (exhortations to rouse a group to achieve its objective) with T\u016b\u012b\u2019s help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BH:<\/strong> We shared the idea of te Reo M\u0101ori being a precious gift and asked how that might relate to them. We regard them as taonga (treasures) too. Their voices, and ideas about the importance of te Teo M\u0101ori, and what they wanted for the future in their country, were very strong and amazing to have in the work. They will stand stronger in themselves and with greater mana (authority) as a result of taking on the responsibility to carry this kaupapa (agenda) into the future. Our role as co-directors and co-creators was to ensure their messages were clear for the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intergenerational commitment here to collaboration and giving voice to shared dreams and aspirations is wonderful. In her review of the work, performer and video artist Rachel Rucksthul-Mann wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…if you\u2019re going to cast kids in a work, you can guarantee they\u2019ll steal the show. This was absolutely the case here. In a good way \u2013 our mokopuna [grandchildren] emerged, vibrant, light, staunch. The future embodied. We expand as an audience together. We return to our breath. It is complete. (np)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a visual artist I\u2019m also interested in the way you\u2019ve described Rowan introducing sculptural elements to force new decisions during your making process, and to stimulate or expand new ways of thinking for audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BH:<\/strong> My partner Rowan and I dream and think together, and we co-directed that work. Rowan doesn’t come from a movement background and for both of us, all elements on stage are important. When there are no people on stage, the set and other elements carry the performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How else did you work with T\u016b\u012b in He Huia Kaimanawa<\/font>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BH<\/strong>: T\u016b\u012b works in the space with us rehearsing from day one. She’s quite staunch about wanting to be part of the whole process. Having her on stage for He<\/em> Huia Kaimanawa<\/em> with different generations of performers as part of the collaborative team was important too. As she explained, having a good understanding of the work helps her to support us in the best way she can. When T\u016b\u012b explained how the huia bird is not extinct because it\u2019s alive in our thinking, she also explained how that is an extension of the way M\u0101ori think about time, and how the past, present and future can exist together. She helps us to unpack colonised ways of thinking and offers us a M\u0101ori perspective on things to weave into the narrative we’re developing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a choreographer, I don’t get finicky about the moves and the details of things, or the position of a leg for example. I look for the energy or the feeling of each piece. I also share the responsibility for creating a lot of the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are there any additional tikanga, practices or values that you incorporate in your work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BH:<\/strong> We open and close rehearsals with karakia (chants and customary M\u0101ori incantations), which as T\u016b\u012b has explained to us, need explaining to be understood\u2014why we do them, what their purpose is, and how they ought to relate to what we\u2019re doing. We also share our thinking openly with each other and believe this helps to build good working relationships and healthy, safe workspaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody involved in a production is a dramaturg in a sense, because everybody has a story to tell\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Interview with New Zealand Performer, Storyteller and Mentor T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield<\/strong> (Ng\u0101ti Ohomairangi, Te Arawa, H\u014dkioi, Tainui, Kaiwhare, H\u014dhou-te-rongo, Uruao, Honoiti, Mataatua, Nukutere, Paikea, Nukutaimemeha, T\u0101kittimu, Te Ara-i-te-uru, Uruao, Manuka, Maahunui, Ng\u0101ti Manu ki Karetu, Kurahaup\u014d) is a Kapa haka & mau r\u0101kau-patu exponent, Te Matatini judge\/Matatoki, composer, chanter, karanga lecturer, whakapapa holder, storyteller, pastoral & spiritual caregiver, researcher and M\u0101tanga M\u0101tauranga M\u0101ori for The New Zealand Dance Company,[11]<\/sup><\/a> \u014ckareka Dance Company,[12]<\/sup><\/a> Movement of the Human,[13]<\/sup><\/a> and Hyslop\/Pierce\/Hinet\u016b\u012btep\u014d Partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview excerpts included below include her thinking about mahi tahi (collaboration) informed by important tikanga M\u0101ori ( M\u0101ori values and practices), and the benefits of working in this way. This discussion also refers to her involvement with He Huia Kaimanawa<\/em>,[14]<\/sup><\/a> a full-length dance work based on an intergenerational commitment to revitalising te reo M\u0101ori ne \u014dna tikanga (M\u0101ori language, culture, values, and practices).[15]<\/sup><\/a> Co-directed by M\u0101ori choreographer and performer Bianca Hyslop (Te Arawa, Ng\u0101ti Whakaue, T\u016bhourangi) who is interviewed separately for this article, and her partner sculptor\/musician Rowan Pierce,[16]<\/sup><\/a> this work exemplifies how cultural mentorship within the development of individual productions is also enhancing potential for social development through growing future generations of leaders within the M\u0101ori arts sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interview was conducted in te reo M\u0101ori, which is the first official language of New Zealand, and in English. Where translations of the original M\u0101ori text are offered, that text is italicised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield<\/strong> (TR<\/strong>): Ko te mahi ng\u0101tahi kei te m\u014dhio ng\u0101 t\u0101ngata katoa, ka whai koha r\u0101tou ki ng\u0101 whakaaro katoa. He mea pai rawa atu ana t\u0113r\u0101. Collaborative working together is knowing that everyone has a contribution to make to every idea. That’s a very good thing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything that\u2019s brought to the space is trialled and if we don\u2019t use it at the time, it\u2019s recorded or captured, and we might use it at another time. But none of it is a waste of time. Every person is valued in the contemporary dance spaces I\u2019ve worked in, because everybody\u2019s ideas, thoughts, or processes are utilised at some stage in the development of whatever we\u2019re creating. That for me is so respectful. It\u2019s what I call a true collaboration. I\u2019m grateful to be working with people who put a lot of value on that. When I used to teach kapa haka, I would sometimes give people lines of an action song, ask them to go and make the actions, and then ask them to come back and see what we could put together, but that\u2019s not always the case in kapa haka (M\u0101ori performing arts groups).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaborative approaches have always been part of how our p\u0101 (M\u0101ori villages) work: the divers are out diving, the hunters are out hunting, some people in the kitchen are cooking, others are setting up tables or packing things away. Then we would have people like us, the artists, musicians orators, and performers, who would do the pao (impromptu songs), the ngeri (chants to admonish people to support a cause), give speeches, entertain, and do the special jobs that make hosting memorable, palatable, and leave indelible, lasting impressions. To do it by yourself is a lot of work, a lot of hard work, but with everybody:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ko te mahi ng\u0101tahi a te katoa, ka tae mai r\u0101tou, me o r\u0101tou kete m\u0101tauranga, p\u016bkenga katoa. N\u0101u te raurau, n\u0101ku te raurau, ka ora ai i ng\u0101 mea katoa m\u014d te hui. It’s everyone’s work together, they arrive with all their baskets of knowledge and skills. With your food basket and mine, all things will go well for the gathering. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: Courtesy of T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the kapa haka arena, I have worked as co-leader and tutor for Te M\u0101t\u0101rae i \u014crehu (one of the most prominent M\u0101ori kapa haka groups in Aotearoa) with Wetini Mitai-Ngatai (Te Arawa) who once asked me, \u201cWhy do you always get the women to lead?\u201d \u201cThey don\u2019t have the same ihi, wehi and wana (excitement, awesomeness, and exhiliration) as you. That\u2019s why I want you.\u201d I replied, \u201cYou know what? We are just two people, two leaders and tutors. I\u2019m trying to see where the talent is. Far out! I want them all to lead. They might be better than me, or have a better voice. I don\u2019t have the voice. I don\u2019t have the strength of voice.\u201d He said, \u201cNor do I.\u201d At which point I said, \u201cI\u2019m all about the future. Vision is about growing succession. Plus it gives my voice a break.\u201d I was always about collaboration and seeing where talent lies.<\/p>\n\n\n

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He Huia Kaimanawa<\/em> (Kuia singing), performer T\u016b\u012b Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield, co-directors Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce, design Rowan Pierce, 2023. Photo: Jinki Cambronero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I also believe in growing the potentiality of confidence. Most people don\u2019t have that initially. But when you encourage them, you\u2019d be surprised at the leadership qualities that are sitting there. If you didn\u2019t give them an opportunity, you wouldn\u2019t know. There are lots of great things about collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moana Nepia:<\/strong> He aha t\u014d whakaaro m\u014d ng\u0101 tamariki o te whakaari He Huia Kaimanawa<\/font>?
What do you think about the children in the production He Huia Kaimanawa<\/font>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR:<\/strong> Ko t\u0113r\u0101 whakaaturanga e h\u0101ngai ana ki te reo M\u0101ori me \u014dna tikanga, n\u0101 reira e tikina atu kia kite atu ki ng\u0101 tamariki, ng\u0101 Rangatira o te \u0101p\u014dp\u014d. That show is based on the M\u0101ori language and its culture, values, and practices so it should be taken to be seen by children, the leaders of tomorrow. <\/em>I led w\u0101nanga (intensive workshops) for the children, three young girls. N\u0101 reira, e rua, e toru haora k\u0101tahi ka mahi m\u0101tou i ng\u0101 titonga hou e rima. I puta i te toru haora me te manawataki, te manawataki o te ngeri, te manawataki o te haka, te manawataki o te p\u0101tere, te manawataki o te waiata. Ka puta ng\u0101 hua. Ka tere puta ng\u0101 hua. N\u0101 reira he rawe. E rua ng\u0101 w\u0101nanga p\u0113r\u0101 e whakamahia m\u0101tou m\u014d ia w\u0101, m\u014d ia w\u0101hi i t\u016b ai te whakaaturanga nei, ar\u0101 i K\u0101piti, i P\u014dnekeneke, i T\u0101maki Makaurau. I panonihia e au \u0113tahi o ng\u0101 kupu. N\u0101 te mea ka hangaia ki t\u0113r\u0101 w\u0101hi… ki te whakapapa, ki ng\u0101 t\u016btohu whenua kei reira, i hangai ki \u0113r\u0101 w\u0101hi kei reira te whakaaturanga e t\u016b ana. So, we spent two or three hours working on five new compositions [and] the rhythm\u2014the rhythm of the chant of admonition, the rhythm of the posture dance, the rhythm of a chant of derision, and the rhythm of the song. The fruits of this work emerged and appeared quickly. That’s why it was great. We held two workshops like that for each time and place where the performance was held: in Kapiti, Wellington, and Auckland. Some of the words were changed by me because they were connected to those places… to the whakapapa (genealogies), to landmarks there, and to the places where the performances were held. <\/em>Ka kaha r\u0101tou ki te whakaako. He p\u0113r\u0101 hoki ki t\u014d te whaik\u014drero o Nancy. I panonihia e au m\u014d ia w\u0101hi…e t\u016b atu ai i te whakaaturanga. They were eager to learn. It was the same with Nancy\u2019s speech. I changed it for each place…where the performance was held.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He w\u0101 ki te ako tonu ne? 
Times to continue learning? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR:<\/strong> Ae. I puawai a Nancy i ia w\u0101hi. He mahi tino uaua m\u0101na, engari i mau ia, i pupuri hoki ki t\u014dna hinengaro me te painga hoki o t\u014dna tukuna. Yes. Nancy blossomed in every place. It was a very difficult task for her, but she seized it, retained it in her mind and the quality of her delivery.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the children were so enthusiastic. We didn\u2019t have to babysit them in the space, although we had an adult who sat with them all the time they were there. I love working with Bianca and Rowan, with Tai Royal and Malia Johnston, because everyone is respectful. And when you work like that, with aroha (love and sensitivity), you get the best out of people. At the end of the day, I\u2019m just T\u016b\u012b who can contribute some skills, thoughts and cultural knowledge to a process, or within a work. I\u2019m kuikui (an elderly woman or a matriach). A kuikui has all of that. The mahi (work or action) is really about communicating with people and working with whatever extraordinary, joyful, productive, meaningful, or seductive things they bring to a collaborative process. Everybody involved in a production is a dramaturg in a sense, because everybody has a story to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHolding space in a M\u0101ori way is important if you’re going to do anything involving M\u0101ori concepts or M\u0101ori knowledge\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Interview with New Zealand Choreographer and Performer Sean MacDonald<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: Toaki Akano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sean MacDonald<\/strong> (Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu, Ng\u0101ti Raukawa, Rangit\u0101ne, T\u016bwharetoa) trained at Auckland Performing Arts School and the New Zealand School of Dance, worked as a freelance dancer with leading New Zealand choreographers for over thirty years, has choreographed for Black Grace, <\/em>the New Zealand Dance Company and Atamira Dance Company, and in 2023 was made a New Zealand Arts Laureate. This interview with Sean was conducted via Teams while he was working with director Raewyn Hill and CO3 Contemporary Dance in Borloo (Perth), Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moana Nepia:<\/strong> What is your understanding of dramaturgy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sean MacDonald<\/strong> (SM<\/strong>): A dramaturg is someone who keeps the choreographer or director on track and focussed on their ideas through asking questions: Is this or that happening? Is this following the line of your thought? What do you want? Is that making sense? Is this reading? Is the drama working or making sense? If you find someone that you can be really intimate with, and who knows your work, they can also feel free to give you honest feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dramaturgs are a lot like what a rehearsal director or mentor might do in the dance world. They can be an outside eye, someone who can watch and ask you questions, sometimes privately without involving the cast. It\u2019s important for makers to form a working relationship with their dramaturg or rehearsal director before getting into the studio in order to understand what the maker is doing, their vision, concept, or narrative line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you felt a need to have someone there for specific cultural reasons?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SM:<\/strong> When I made Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em>[17]<\/sup><\/a> for Atamira Dance Company, I worked with M\u0101ori choreographer and performer Terri Ripeka Crawford, who has Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu, Ng\u0101ti Porou and Ngai T\u016bhoe ancestry. Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em>, which translates as The Waters, is a full-length dance work that responds to the sacred waters and whakapapa (genealogies) of Waim\u0101rama, which is a village on the East Coast of New Zealand\u2019s North Island, and where my Kahungunu tribal ancestry connects to.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sean MacDonald in a publicity photograph for Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em>, 2020. Photo: Toaki Okano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Atamira Dance Company\u2019s website offers a description of Ng\u0101 Wai referring to its connection to different waters, the moon, things maternal, and connections to histories of migration including the journey of Takitimu (migration waka\/canoe) from Samoa to Waim\u0101rama. You\u2019ve also described how Waim\u0101rama has a very strong feminine energy and that this work was designed to hold up the mana and respect for w\u0101hine toa, some of the brave women leaders in your tribe too. How did Terri and your female performers contribute to this process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SM:<\/strong> Terri wasn’t there the whole time, but when she was, she helped me to integrate work with patu (M\u0101ori hand clubs), and the voices of M\u0101ori women in the production, including karanga (chants and calls of welcome). Because she had Kahungunu ancestry too, she knew all the P\u016br\u0101kau (ancestral stories), whakapapa (genealogies) and mythologies I was interested in. She also had a lot of knowledge that I didn’t have, which brought a level of cultural safety to the process that I respected. Her role wasn\u2019t stipulated as a dramaturg, but she helped me to develop the work in its initial stages, and held the space in terms of karakia (traditional chants and incantations), waiata (M\u0101ori songs), and mau r\u0101kau (traditional M\u0101ori hand-held weaponry), which she was very knowledgeable about.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bianca Hyslop in a publicity photograph for Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em>, 2020. Photo: Toaki Okano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It was really great having Terri there with us. When we went down to Waim\u0101rama to make the work, Terri took us to Te \u0100tea a Rangi<\/em>, the navigational star compass outside of Napier, and organised other things that helped to ground us in relevant cultural knowledge. Holding space in a M\u0101ori way is important if you’re going to do anything involving M\u0101ori concepts or M\u0101ori knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that, I also had my uncle Rob, who shared ancestral stories and knowledge for this work. I went to him whenever I wanted a waiata or haka from home, and sometimes he would call Papa T\u012bmoti. Uncle Rob would say, \u201cWe’re gonna come, OK? You guys are gonna cook and I’ll invite him over for dinner. Cause he’s from here. He’s wh\u0101nau (family).\u201d Around the table, we talked about things. Uncle Rob was my guide and mentor for what I was doing for Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sean MacDonald and Bianca Hyslop in dress rehearsal for Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em>, 2020. Photo: Toaki Okano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Does he live in Waim\u0101rama?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes, he’s buried there now. He passed when we performed at Q Theatre in Auckland November 2020. After that season, I knew that I needed to take Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em> home to Waim\u0101rama. My mum passed soon after, in January 2021, and on the night before her burial, Mum was outside on the veranda where the family gathered to share stories about her. I knew I had to get up and say or do something and everyone else knew I was a dancer. I told them I was going to do a dance for my mum, \u201cI don’t have any music. I’m going to improvise.\u201d As I started, a korimako (bellbird) began to sing. That was a very special moment for us all. After giving my speech the next day at the end of the h\u0101kari (final feast), I finally began to relax. After returning to our home out at Waim\u0101rama, I went for a swim. Being in the sea helped me to feel free, and while swimming I decided on a beginning for the work that recreated what I had done during her poroporo\u0101ki (ceremonial farewell).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We took Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em> to Waim\u0101rama just before Easter of that year, and gave an informal presentation of the work to family and other members of the community in the local community hall.[18]<\/sup><\/a> As guests arrived, I greeted them while other performers remained seated with boxes in the space. The boxes were meant to represent my Mum. Bringing the work home also reflected the journey of our ancestral waka, Takitimu. When it arrived in Aotearoa it stopped in Waim\u0101rama, where the tohunga (priests and navigators) on board were able to land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art exists anywhere and everywhere, and while this work was a homecoming for me, it was also a work for the people in Waim\u0101rama who had another tangi (gathering and funeral for someone who had passed) at the marae (centre of a M\u0101ori village) just up the road. In between afternoon and evening performances, Terri and I went to pay our respects and sat around the t\u016bp\u0101paku (the relation who had passed away) with other members of his wh\u0101nau sharing and listening to stories together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you\u2019ve been talking, you\u2019ve been moving a lot Sean. You speak with your body, which reminds me of a reply that haka expert Henare Teowai once gave to a p\u0101tai (question) from Wiremu Parker who asked \u2018what is the art of performing haka? Teowai answered \u201cKia k\u014drero te katoa o te tinana\u201d (The whole body should speak).[19]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


SM:<\/strong> I once saw some rangatahi (young people) doing haka, their bodies were so alive and speaking, they were like some other creatures. Haka is so much more than dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having performed in Ng\u0101 Wai<\/font> without a dramaturg or rehearsal director there the whole time with you must have been very difficult at times, and I would imagine that having a dramaturg or rehearsal director alongside you for any future work you make that you are performing in would be especially important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SM:<\/strong> That is something I\u2019ve thought about for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI prefer to be invisible\u201d<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Interview with New Zealand Cinematographer and Documentary Maker Mairi Gunn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: Mike McCree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Mairi Gunn<\/strong> is an award-winning documentary maker, cinematographer, and Senior Lecturer in Design at Waipapa Taumata Rau\u2014The University of Auckland. Her transdisciplinary practice-led research uses Extended Reality technologies to support intercultural relationships in temporary commons.[20]<\/sup><\/a> This pre-modern concept entails non-hierarchical relationship-building and self-determination in shared spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first met Mairi when she was teaching at Auckland University of Technology and doing her Master’s degree, and while I was there doing my PhD. She was a cinematographer for some of the video material generated for my practice-based thesis, and more recently I was a supervisor for her PhD at Waipapa Taumata Rau. What follows is an edited version of a discussion where she likens the role of cinematographer to a dramaturg and describes how her commitment to social service has informed technical decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mairi<\/strong> <\/strong>Gunn<\/strong> (MG<\/strong>): Being a cinematographer is like being a dramaturg in some ways. I assist directors to bring stories to life. I’ve worked with directors who are very good at writing dialogue, and seeing themselves as part of the scene, as one of the protagonists inside the world of the film. But they can’t always visualise the scene from the outside. That\u2019s fascinating to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moana Nepia:<\/strong> I imagine visualising scenes from both outsider and insider positions would broaden the range of options for you and for other directors who decide what we see or experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG:<\/strong> Cameras are portable and enable us to enter the world of actors. But viewing modes tend to distance audiences by situating them as viewers who stare at screens. I used to display my films on flat 2-dimensional surfaces. The audience sits looking \u2018at\u2019 something on the screen, in the same way that an audience looks \u2018at\u2019 whatever is happening on a stage. With my newer work, which uses virtual and augmented realities, the audience moves through a window into whatever it is that we\u2019ve constructed. That just blows away the idea of an audience or the viewers being \u2018removed\u2019. When you go through the window, you’re \u2018in\u2019 the world of the storytellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how does the technology that you’re working with facilitate that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG: The images are global. If I use a 360\u00b0 camera, for example, I’m not selecting a close-up or a mid-shot. I’m capturing the whole thing. It\u2019s how people experience the world. They can turn their head to look in any direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film theorist Laura Mulvey, who wrote about the male gaze in her article Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema<\/em>, suggests that females who film tend to do long slow pans. I’m one of them. She describes the zoom lens, which goes out on a stalk and prioritises things, as being very male. A slow pan doesn\u2019t prioritise in the same way, it’s more universal. 360\u00b0 video is even more universal\u2014it captures a whole sphere of information. When it’s screened on a PC, the viewer can scroll around, look-see, zoom in, and pan about. If they hear a sound, they can pan or scroll to where they think it might have come from. If viewing in a headset, they can turn their whole body around to see what the camera captured from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard you say that this is not the real world. It’s a form of representation, or a creative response to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG:<\/strong> It\u2019s certainly not the real world. The camera is strategically placed and while making augmented reality for art galleries, I strategise to realise a political construct. I invite certain people in or take the camera to a place I’m invited into. The only options I give myself as far as capture goes involve camera position\u2014height and proximity. All power goes to the storytellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Haptic Hongi<\/em>,[21]<\/sup><\/a> viewers feel the action of hongi (a customary greeting and pressing of noses) through a haptic insert in an augmented reality headset. During the capture, Tania Remana (Ng\u0101puhi) sits down at a black table with a black background. In the art gallery the viewers sit at a table decorated with a checked tablecloth and a vase of flowers representing Papat\u016b\u0101nuku (Earth Mother) and the commons.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ko Tania ahau. I am Tania <\/em>(2021), still frames from screen capture of augmented reality experience Haptic Hongi, <\/em>performer Tania Remana. Image: Courtesy Mairi Gunn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When the volumetric (3D) video is triggered, and Tania appears to sit down opposite them. She addresses her visitors directly, \u201cKo wai koe? Who are you?\u201d She\u2019s in control of what she says and does. According to some viewers, she brings her worldview with her. Viewers can’t affect her. She appears to be self-determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, in virtual reality, viewers are teleported into the world of the \u2018subject\u2019. When interviewing people with 360\u00b0 video cameras (rather than the red, green, and blue depth sensors we use to capture AR material), I start talking to them then slowly lower my head below the camera, so they end up looking directly into it. I later replace the image of me with a plate of the environment. When viewers put the headset on, they feel the person being interviewed is looking directly at them. My presence is made invisible, despite being the director and conversationalist while recording.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Pusi Urale at her table, 2017, cropped still frame from Common\/Place, <\/em>a 360 video captured in Urale\u2019s home in Auckland, NZ, captured with a Nokia OZO 360 stereoscopic video camera. Image: Courtesy Mairi Gunn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When viewers encounter Pusi Urale, one of the subjects in common\/place,<\/em>[22]<\/sup><\/a> she says, \u201cTalofa, it’s good to see you today\u201d while seated at her table. Viewers feel as if she\u2019s inviting them to sit with her in her whare (house) and speaking directly to them. They can also look around her room and out through windows to see what\u2019s growing in her garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My PhD explored ways of using extended realities to push the boundaries of normal filmmaking. For my next project, I will continue to work with cinematic VR, which offers viewers a chance to explore the world I film with a 360\u00b0 camera. But I\u2019m not creating a VR experience that involves computer generated, 3-dimensional environments in which the viewer can move around with six degrees of freedom. This project is about the prison system in Aotearoa\/New Zealand. I will film in a disused prison to give viewers an emotional experience of being in solitary confinement, if only for thirty seconds. I also want them to consider the plight of the families who are shut out, and what options we might have to do things differently. A lot of people in Aotearoa have been thinking about this very deeply for a long time. This is a trans-disciplinary research project inspired by the work of my mentor, Irene Hancy (Te Hikut\u016b) from Kaikohe, and the research of Moana Jackson (Ng\u0101ti Porou, Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu) on M\u0101ori and the criminal justice system,[23]<\/sup><\/a> and constitutional reform[24]<\/sup><\/a> in Aotearoa\/New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a consistent sense of purpose in what you are doing to address existing social needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG:<\/strong> In my current position at the University of Auckland, although budgetary constraints must always be dealt with, I am not looking to commercialise my findings and I choose research topics that interest me. I am most interested in being of service to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While working in the film industry I found dealing with egos, including my own, deeply problematic. If you\u2019re a camera person filming actors, for example, people on set are watching them and then they’ll look at you, because you and the camera are moving. I\u2019ve had people comment, \u201cYou look like you’re at one with the camera\u201d or \u201cWow! A camera woman!\u201d I think \u201cYeah…okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I can be invisible. I prefer to be invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having worked with you in the past, and having seen some of your work, I sense your presence in it through the ways you focus our attention as viewers, draw us into the world of the stories you portray, and generate emotional impact. Being consistent in the way you produce quality work as a \u201cdramaturgical\u201d cinematographer is evident in the way you work with others, empathise and care for them and their stories, accommodate their needs, and find common ground. In these ways you are certainly not invisible, but seen, valued, and respected in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Endnotes<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> Kouka, Hone (Writer, Director), (2017). The Beautiful Ones.<\/em> Produced by Tawata Productions, Movement by Dolina Wehipeihana & Hone Kouka, Design by K*Saba, Performers Tama Waipara, Johnson Witehira, Wai Mihinui, Jaimee Warda, Sopheak Seng, Laurie Dean, Premiered 27 June 2017, Circa Theatre, Wellington, New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> Lachance, Lindsay (2010). The Embodied Politics of Relational Indigenous Dramaturgies<\/em><\/a>. [PhD Thesis] University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/sup><\/a> Patterson, Moss (2007). Whakairo<\/em> [Choreography], Atamira Dance Company, lighting design Vanda Karolczak, sound design Paddy Free, set design Brett Graham, dancers Kelly Nash, Louise P\u014dtiki Bryant, Gaby Thomas, Peter Takapuna, Maaka Pepene, Jack Gray<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/sup><\/a> Walker, Ranginui (1990). Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou. Struggle Without End. <\/em>Auckland: Penguin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/sup><\/a> Auckland Arts Festival, 2023, He Huia Kaimanawa, <\/em>programme<\/a>, Te Pou Theatre, 16-19 March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/sup><\/a> Kia Mau Festival, 2023, He Huia Kaimanawa,<\/em> events<\/a>, Te Whaea National Dance and drama Centre, 9-11 June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/sup><\/a> P\u014dhutu<\/em>. Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce<\/a>. Australian Performing Arts Market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/sup><\/a> Australian Performing Arts Market, 2023, P\u014dhutu: Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]<\/sup><\/a> P\u014dhutu<\/em>, 2019, Tempo Dance Festival. Performers Bianca Hyslop and Rose Tapsell, Design Rowan Pierce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10]<\/sup><\/a> He Huia Kaimanawa<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11]<\/sup><\/a> The New Zealand Dance Company<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12]<\/sup><\/a> \u014ckareka Dance Company<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13]<\/sup><\/a> Movement of the Human<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14]<\/sup><\/a> He Huia Kaimanawa<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[15]<\/sup><\/a> He Huia Kaimanawa<\/em>, Preview<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[16]<\/sup><\/a> P\u014dhutu<\/em>. Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce<\/a>. Australian Performing Arts Market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[17]<\/sup><\/a> MacDonald, Sean, 2020, Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em><\/a>. Choreography Sean MacDonald, set design John Verryt, costume design Te Orihau Karaitiana, lighting design Vanda Karolczak, music David Long, voice Rio Hunuki Hemopo, taonga p\u016boro and cello Ruby Mae Hinepuni Solly, percussion Riki Pirihi Gooch, photo courtesy Sean MacDonald and Atamira Dance Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[18]<\/sup><\/a> Seawright, Megan, 2021, Incandescent Expressiveness<\/a><\/em>, [Review of Ng\u0101 Wai<\/em>], 16.04.21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[19]<\/sup><\/a> In K\u0101retu, T\u012bmoti (1996). Haka! The Dance of a Noble People<\/em>. Auckland: Reed Books, p.22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[20]<\/sup><\/a> Gunn, Mairi (2023). Common\/Room: Using Extended Reality Technologies to Support Intercultural Relationships in Aotearoa<\/a><\/em>.\u201d PhD Thesis, University of Auckland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[21]<\/sup><\/a> Gunn, Mairi (Director) (2021). Haptic Hongi.<\/em> [Augmented Reality (AR) experience]. Premiered at Ars Electronica<\/a>: Garden Aotearoa (Global Festival for art, technology, and society), Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, New Zealand, 16 June-22 June 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[22]<\/sup><\/a> Gunn, Mairi (Director) (2017). Common\/Place. <\/em>[360\u00b0 3D Virtual Reality (VR) experience]. Premiered at Whau Arts Festival, Riversdale Park, Avondale, Auckland, May 11, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[23]<\/sup><\/a> Jackson, Moana. “The Maori and the Criminal Justice System, a New Perspective: He whaipaanga hou.” Wellington, Policy and Research Division, Dept. of Justice<\/em>, 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[24]<\/sup><\/a> Mutu, Margaret (Chairperson) & Jackson, Moana (Convenor) (2018). Report of Matike Mai Aotearoa<\/a> \u2014 The Independent Working Group on Constitutional Transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackson, Moana. “The Maori and the criminal justice system, a new perspective: He whaipaanga hou.” Wellington, Policy and Research Division, Dept. of Justice<\/em> (1987).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lachance, Lindsay. The Embodied Politics of Relational Indigenous Dramaturgies<\/a>. <\/em>2010. University of British Columbia. Accessed 28 December 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mulvey, Laura. \u201cVisual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.\u201d Feminism and Film Theory. <\/em>Routledge, 2013, pp. 57-68.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mutu, Margaret and Moana Jackson. \u201cReport of Matike Mai Aotearoa. The Independent Working Group on Constitutional Transformation. <\/em>Accessed 28 December 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruckstul-Mann, Rachel. \u201cThis is a Challenge, a Beating Heart of the Future.\u201d Theatreview. <\/em>18 March 1987. Accessed 28 December 2023. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*<\/a>Moana Nepia<\/strong> (Ng\u0101ti Porou, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti) is a choreographer, visual artist, curator, designer and performer with backgrounds in M\u0101ori dance, contemporary dance and classical ballet. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at Media Design School, was Assistant Professor at the University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa in Pacific Islands Studies, Senior Lecturer at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). He is a dance graduate of VCA Melbourne and completed a PhD: Te Kore \u2013 Exploring the<\/em><\/em> M\u0101ori concept of void <\/em>from AUT. He was Arts Editor for The Contemporary Pacific<\/em> and is on the Editorial Board of Interstices Journal of Architecture and Related Arts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2023 Moana Nepia
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN:2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n

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This work is licensed under the
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