He Huia Kaimanawa
Tauti mai, karapinepine mai, rarau mai, whakarauika mai, haere mai nei! E ngaa
karangarangatanga hapuu me ngaa
mata-a-waka i tae-a-ngaakau-tapatahi
atu ki Te Ahurei Toi o Taamakimakaurau!
Nau mai ki te papa-ahurewa toi nei! Takatakahia
mai i ngaa tapuwae o raatou maa ko ngaa maatua tuupuna me ngaa tuutohu whenua nei! Piki mai, kake mai e ngaa maunga whakahiihii, e ngaa puke koorero ki ngaa punawai-awa whakateretere taniwha, ki ngaa ngaawhaa-wai-a-ariki me ngaa puia o te rohe nui nei. Raahiri mai raa!
Koutou kei te hunga-manaaki tangata e pupuru
nei i te mana, te mauri, te ihi, te wehi, te wana, me te tapu o Taamakinui, o Taamaki-ki-runga, o
Taamaki-ki-raro, o Taamaki-ki-tai-ki-utaTaamaki-ki-uta-ki-tai! Mihi mai raa! Taamaki -herenga-waka, Taamaki-herenga-taangata, Taamaki-herenga-manawa, Taamaki-ararau, Taamaki-kainga-ika-me-wheua-katoa,
Taamaki-makau-rau! Karanga mai raa!
Karanga mai raa, Hikurangi maunga, Te Waoku
Nui a Tiriwa me Ngaa Rau Pou a Maki!
Karanga mai Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa, Te Waitemataa hoki! Karanga mai Waitaakere
Awa! Karanga mai Taawhakiterangi tupuna!
Karanga mai Te Kawerau aa Maki! Mai i
Te Korekore ki Ngaa Tai a Rakataura, Ko Rangihina, ko Whangaparaaoa, ko Mahurangi!
Naa Maki te mana me te rangatiratanga!
Urutomo mai e ngaa rau rangatira maa ki te Whare Tapere o Te Pou ki te maatakitaki
atu i te whakaaturanga kaatuarehe nui nei o “HE HUIA KAIMANAWA” me oona katoa!“
Huia, e Huia, tangata kotahi!
Tuuii, e Tuuii, ngaakau kotahi”
(Huia, your destiny is to call everyone together!
Tūī, your heartbeat call’s UNITY and ONENESS!)
Tūī Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield
He whakaaroha, ā, he kōtuinga tairongo o te nukuhanga, o te reo, o te whaitua me ngā hangarau mariko. He mea huataki e Bianca Hyslop, kaitito nekehanga, rāua ko Rowan Pierce, kaihoahoa, a He Huia Kaimanawa. He whakaari mataora e urupare ana i te maieatanga, te tūhuratanga me te whakamānawatanga o te reo Māori.
Ka titiro whakamuri ki ō mua rā me te kauneke whakamua ki te āpōpō, ā, ka puea ake i te whakaari ēnei mea te rirohanga me te whakahokinga, waihoki, he whakanui i te mahi a te tini nāna i para te huarahi e ora tonu ai te reo rangatira.
He whakamātakitaki tū ana te ihi, hītaratara ana te kiri a He Huia Kaimanawa, ka mutu, he toronga nō te whatumanawa rawa ki te whakaūkaipō anō i te reo i riro.
Created by choreographer Bianca
Hyslop and designer Rowan Pierce alongside a team of extraordinary performing artists, He Huia Kaimanawa is a new live art work that responds to the resurfacing, reclaiming and honoring of te reo Māori.
Through the gathering of real life stories, the work confronts accounts of loss and reclamation that are shared by so many across Aotearoa. These narratives are deeply resonant for all who call Aotearoa home.
Looking to the past as we move into the future, the work brings to light these stories while celebrating the work of the many who have carved the path for the ongoing revitalisation of te reo rangatira.
Presented as a series of imagined realities, He Huia Kaimanawa brings into focus the importance and challenges this rejuvenation process is facing in an increasingly virtual world.
Visually potent and experientially impactful, it is a visceral exploration of learning te reo Māori as second language learners.
CREDITS
He Huia Kaimanawa
Co-director/Choreographer
Bianca Hyslop
Co-director/Designer
Rowan Pierce
Mātanga Mātauranga Māori/ Co-devisor/Composer/Performer
Tūī Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield
Co-devisor/Performer/ Choreographic Mentorship
Kelly Nash
Co-devisor/Performer
Nancy Wijohn
Co-devisor/Performer
Samara Te Aniwa Reweti
Co-devisor/Performer
Arohanui Watene
Stage Management/ Production Assistance
Lucie Camp
Stage Manager
Maaka Pepene
Operator
Bekky Boyce
1hr 10mins approx
Contains strobe lighting and haze effects
World Premiere Season: 16–19 March 2023, Te Pou Theatre, Tāmaki Makaurau
IMAGES: Dennis Pierce (front cover); Tūī Matira
Ranapiri-Ransfield, by Vanessa Rushton (overleaf)
Tamariki Performers
Mihimarino Walker
Ngāti Porou (Te Whānau a Ruataupare ki Tūpāroa, Ngāti Rangi)
Rerekohu Wikingi
Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Arawa
Lila Porteners
Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Koata, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Ngāti Ranginui (Pirirākau)
E koa pai ana Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki 2023 ki te whakaatu ake i te terenga tuatahi rawa
huri i te ao o He Huia Kaimanawa. Nō mātou te whiwhinga nui ki te mahi tahi ki a Bianca
Hyslop rātou ko Rowan Pierce, ko Tūī Matira
Ranapiri-Ransfield, ko ngā ringa mahi me ngā kiriwhakaari pūkenga rau o te kaupapa, e rangona ai e ngā apataki o Tāmaki Makaurau
tēnei kaupapa whakanui i te reo Māori.
Mohoa noa nei, oreore kau ana te ao
whakanui i te reo Māori. I te tau 2022 i whakanuia te huringa tau 50 mai anō i te whakatakotoranga o te petihana i tono kia whai mana ōkawa te reo Māori, ki ngā arawhata o te Whare Mīere. Nō te tau
2022 whakanuia anō ai ko te hokoruatanga o Te Kōhanga Reo, otirā, o taua waka whakarauora i te reo hei painga ngātahi mō te tamariki me te kaumātua anō hoki. E oke tonu ana te iwi, ā, mō ērā e takahi ana i te ara ako i te reo Māori, he wā tēnei e rangona ai te mana nui o te māia, o te kaha, o te manawa kuaka, o te ngākau titikaha anō hoki.
Ka hanumi i a He Huia Kaimanawa ko te reo Māori, ko te kanikani, ko te hoahoa ataata, ko te puoro, ko te nekehanga Māori, ko ngā rākau anō a te Māori, e whakamāramahia ai ētahi kōrero mō te rironga atu me te hokinga mai, mō te whakanui, mō te whakarauora anō.
E rere nei ngā mihi ki te kāhui o Te Pou Theatre, i te matawhānui o tā rātou titiro i te whakaritenga mai o tētahi wāhi whakahuihui i te iwi hei papa e ora ai ēnei kōrero tuku iho, otirā, hei papa e rongo ai te apataki i te hāneanea o tā te ngākau marae rāhiri i a rātou, kia rangona ai te mīharo o te ao toi.
Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki / Auckland Arts
Festival 2023 is pleased to present the world premiere season of He Huia Kaimanawa. We are honoured to join with Bianca Hyslop, Rowan Pierce, Tūī Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield, and the ultratalented cast and crew in bringing this acknowledgement of te reo Māori to Auckland audiences.
This has been a very busy time for celebrations of te reo Māori. 2022 saw the 50th anniversary of the petition to make te reo Māori an official language laid on the steps of the Beehive and 40 years since the inception of Te Kōhanga Reo, creating a new language movement for tamariki and kaumātua alike. The struggle continues, and for those students embarking on a te reo journey, this is a time when courage, strength, tenacity and commitment come to the fore.
He Huia Kaimanawa combines te reo Māori, dance, visual design, music, and Māori movement and weaponry to highlight stories of loss and reclamation, celebration and revitalisation.
Congratulations to Te Pou Theatre for their vision in creating a gathering space where these stories can come to light and provide a warm and inviting space for audiences to experience the wonder of arts.
Nau mai koutou ki tēnei
whakaaturanga o He Huia Kaimanawa.
Mauri ora!
BIANCA HYSLOP
Te Arawa, Ngāti Whakaue, Tūhourangi-Wāhiao, Pākehā
Bianca Hyslop is a freelance artist/ dancer/choreographer. She has worked specifically within the Māori contemporary dance sector for over ten years, having been involved in highly influential dance projects including indigenous development, cultural research and cross-cultural laboratories for interdisciplinary art makers. A dancer and whānau member of both Atamira Dance Company and Ōkareka Dance Company, most recently Bianca has been creating works in collaboration with artist Rowan Pierce. Auckland Arts Festival is the world premiere season of the pair’s second full length live performance work He Huia Kaimanawa. Other collaborations include Pōhutukawa, a film installation, Māoriland (2022); Te Mauri o Pōhutu, an installation/ live activation, Kia Mau Festival (2021); and the full length work Pōhutu, which received critical acclaim at both Kia Mau Festival (2019), Tempo Dance Festival (2019) and Te Raukura ki Kāpiti (2022).
Alongside her art making, Hyslop is a full-time student at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, studying Te Reo Māōri me ōna tikanga. ‘Diploma in Te Reo Māōri’, Te Wānanga o Raukawa (2021),’Tup Lang Choreographic Award’ (2019, CNZ). ‘Eileen May Norris Scholarship’ (2013) ‘Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts’, Unitec (2009).
ROWAN PIERCE
Ngāti Pākehā. He uri no Kōtirana, Aerana me Ingarangi anō hoki
Rowan Pierce is an award-winning performance designer who produces and exhibits work, collaboratively and individually, across a range of mediums including live performance, music, film and visual arts. In live performance Pierce has an exceptional ability to create visceral and immersive environments using a multi-disciplinary approach to spatial and performance design. Synthesising video, sound, light and object seamlessly to create impactful and affecting works that not only have a visual impact but also impact physically on the viewer generating a sense of immersion.
His work as a performance designer has been presented both nationally and internationally to critical acclaim. Recent works include Pōhutu (Kia Mau Festival 2019, Tempo Dance Festival NZ 2019, Te Raukura kī Kāpiti 2022), Meremere (Movement of the Human and Australian tours), and work in progress Belle (Movement of the Human).
Bianca Hyslop and award-winning artist Rowan Pierce are practitioners at the forefront of their respective fields of contemporary dance/ movement and performance design/ live art. Based in Aotearoa New Zealand, both artists have extensive experience and have gained success working independently as well as with top performing arts companies in Aotearoa and abroad. Companies include Atamira Dance Company, Movement of The Human, New Zealand Dance Company, Ōkareka Dance Company and World of Wearable Art.
This collaborative partnership is self-produced and together the pair create work that pushes beyond any one form of performing arts practice. Their work is an immersive performance experience that utilises various forms of storytelling including image, movement, sound, spatial/ object design and beyond. This results in a universal performative language that defies genres and opens live performance experience to new and broader audiences.
TŪĪ MATIRA RANAPIRI-RANSFIELD
Ohomairangi, Te Arawa, Ngā-Rākaumātahi-pū-a-ATUAMATUA, Tainui
Tūī Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield is a descendent of Ohomairangi and Mākuratawhiti of the Ngāti Ohomairangi homeland in Hawaiikinui and people. Her grandparents herald from the vessels: Te Arawa, Hōkioi, Tainui, Honoiti, Uruao, Hohou-terongo, Kaiwhare, Mataatua, Nukutere, Nukutaimemeha, Paikea, Ārai-te-uru, Uruao, Tākitimu, Manuka, Maahunui, Ko Wai Ka Tohu, Kurahaupō.
A highly skilled Māori performing artist, composer, singer/chanter, storyteller and senior wahine karanga/ poroporoākī. Ranapiri-Ransfield is an expert in Mau-rākau-a-Matarua (Weaponry Māori). She specialises in patu (short clubs) and teaches these arts with people throughout Aotearoa and the world. Ranapiri-Ransfield is senior wahine karanga for her many pā-marae throughout Te Arawa and her wider clans within the Aotearoa landscape.
Ranapiri-Ransfield is a composer, tutor and first leader of Te Mātārae-iŌrehu (top National Kapa Haka) and over the last 20 years she has been a judge for Māori performing art forms, from primary through to tertiary level including senior regionals to Te Matatini. Ranapiri-Ransfield was a Matatoki at Te Matatini 2023.
IMAGE: Kelly Nash & Samara Te Aniwa Reweti, by Vanessa Rushton
Since 2011 Ranapiri-Ransfield has been a proactive, sought after woman in the role of Mātanga Mātauranga Māori – Cultural Advisor/Consultant and Mentor for a range of diverse contemporary dance companies, and new projects nationally and internationally including Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce’s Pōhutu, Te Mauri o Pōhutu, Pōhutukawa and He Huia Kaimanawa; Movement of the Human’s Meremere, Hurihuri and Harihari; Ōkareka Dance Company’s Mana Wahine, Hōkioi/Wõhali and currently Ngātoroirangi, Pelehonuamea; Tuatara Collective’s Over My Dead Body: With These Hands and Little Black Bitch, HAU and Hine Te Rēhia; as well as Kelly Nash and Nancy Wijohn’s film series TE HĀ / TE KĀ, to name a few.
Ranapiri-Ransfield’s roles behind the scenes are integral in all process, procedure, protocols, and etiquettes on and off the performance stage, and she takes care of clearing any obstruction and protection, creating spiritual safeness that far exceeds normal practice – ko ngā mea e huna ana.
KELLY NASH Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Te Rangi
Kelly Nash is a queer, cross-cultural director and movement-based artist and director. Her day job involves running a physical therapy business specialising in trauma impacts and she teaches ConTact C.A.R.E to others. Her artistic skill is working collaboratively with other artists ,incorporating holistic and cultural practices inspired by visual art, film, avant garde theatre and comedy. An award-winning independent choreographer, Nash and her partner Nancy Wijohn produce and direct under the umbrella of Body Island, including the works Āhua and Lick My Past, and most recently their film series Te Hā Te Kā
A whānau member of Atamira Dance Company, Nash works as a performer, dancer, choreographer, healer and director for the company. She has joined Atamira’s embrace since collaborating in Curve Dance Collective’s production of Signed in 2003.
Nash’s choreography Indigenarchy was presented by Atamira Dance Company and performed at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and toured in San Francisco, Hawaii and throughout New Zealand.
Nash was awarded Best Short Work, Best Stage Design and Most Outstanding Work for Souvenirs of what I was described as Happiness and awarded the Tup Lang Choreographic Award for development of MEME skin
Nash is a teacher of Contemporary Technique, Contact Improvisation, Partnering Technique, Flinchlock Release Therapy, Choreography and Somatics.
A performer in high demand with a career that has spanned 20 years, Nash is known for her performances for Douglas Wright, Shona McCullagh (New Zealand Dance Company), Daniel Belton, Anne Dewey, Mary Jane O’Reily, Carol Brown and Atamira Dance Company.
Nash’s interest has also grown into studying text, theatre, clowning and mask which resulted in performing for Pedro Ilgenfritz in Comic Interludes (commedia dell’arte). She co-directed for the Northland Youth Theatre and was accepted into the Melbourne Directors Lab 2017.
NANCY WIJOHN
Te Rarawa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Arawa-Ngāti Tahu/Ngāti Whaoa
Nancy Wijohn is a dance artist/creative and a practitioner of the ConTact C.A.R.E Flinchlock Release method. She is co-director of Body Island and Nancy + Kelly Contact C.A.R.E, a physical therapy company.
Wijohn has worked with many companies and artists within Aotearoa, and through cross cultural collaboration with artists in Australia, the USA and Canada. Her career highlights include working with Atamira Dance Company, Ōkāreka Dance Company, Douglas Wright, Carol Brown, Santee Smith, Daniel Belton, Lisa Reihana’s exhibition IHI; Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce Partnership; the Banff Indigenous Dance Residency; and Kelly Nash. She has toured extensively throughout Aotearoa, the Pacific Islands, Australia, Hawaii, USA, Europe and Asia. Her education credentials include ‘Diploma in Māori Business’ at TWOA (2015), ‘Diploma in Sport Coaching Randwick Tafe Sydne’ (2010) and ‘Bachelor Screen and Performing Arts’ at Unitec (2007).
SAMARA TE ANIWA REWETI
Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Arawa
Samara Te Aniwa Reweti is a freelance dancer, dance-maker and dance teacher, based in Tauranga Moana.
Te Aniwa Reweti has 15 years of experience in street styles of dance, spending two of those years training, working and performing overseas in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. She is a 2021 graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance and one of the 2022 recipients of the Eileen May Norris Scholarship Award. In 2023, she will be traveling to Vienna for the danceWEB scholarship programme at Impulstanz Dance Festival.
Te Aniwa Reweti is currently interested in freestyle hip-hop, durational and endurance-based improvisation, physical theatre and the intersections between these realms.
AROHANUI WATENE
Ngāti Kahungunu
Arohanui Watene is a freelance dancer who hails from Ngāti Kahungunu. She was raised in Ngāruawāhia surrounded by dance and the performing arts.
Watene trained at the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington
2017–19. During her studies she trained alongside Tor Columbus, Paula Steeds-Huston, James O’Hara and Christine Gunn, to name a few. She also performed in works by both local and international choreographers including Huri Kuaro by Gabrielle Thomas from Aotearoa, Le Meduses (Volk Version) by Damien Jalet from Belgium, and Wicked Fish by Huang Li from Hong Kong. After Graduating from the NZSD in 2019 she worked for a year before serving a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, travelling from Hastings down to Dunedin, arriving home in 2022.
Watene is presently striving to pursue dance experiences both nationally and internationally. She is excited for her debut performance season in He Huia Kaimanawa
