Full think piece NGĀ TOI MĀORI DANCE Think Piece by Louise Potiki-Bryant Introduction Kia ora, I feel very honoured to have been asked to write this article outlining what I see as three main challenges and three main opportunities in relation to Ngā Toi Māori dance today. A little about my background. I was a founding member, choreographer and dancer with Atamira Dance Company for 11 years. Since 2005 I have also worked alongside Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal towards the development of new dance/haka for a modern whare tapere ( house of storytelling, dance, music, games and much more) based on Charles s research into the traditional whare tapere. I have also created solo dance works made in collaboration with practitioners from other art-forms, such as TUMUTUMU made in collaboration with Dr Richard Nunns, and KIRI, a dance installation made in collaboration with Māori ceramics artist Paerau Corneal. Thus my opinions come from the point of view of my own experiences primarily as a contemporary Māori dancer and choreographer. I am deeply aware I am but one voice. There are others from different backgrounds whose opinions will be of great importance to this discussion. My hope is that those of you reading with differing points of view, feel free to respond to this article from your own experiences. THREE MAIN CHALLENGES AND THREE MAIN OPPORTUNITIES In the writing of this article I have discovered that where the challenges lie, therein also lie the opportunities. Summary I believe the challenges and opportunities for Ngā Toi Māori dance today lie in three main areas: 1. How to support Māori dance companies to create and maintain practices which support the spiritual, physical, mental and whānau health of all its members and ways Creative New Zealand can acknowledge the holistic nature of Māori dance. 2. How to showcase and promote the diversity in Māori dance. 3. How to encourage collaboration, mentoring relationships and risk-taking. 1. COMPANY MODELS & PRACTICES BASED ON VALUES & TIKANGA FROM TE AŌ MĀORI WHICH SUPPORT SPIRITUAL, PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND WHĀNAU HEALTH THE CHALLENGE: How to support the creation and maintenance of company practices which acknowledge the holistic nature of Māori dance. I would like to reference a well-known model based on a Māori view of health developed by Māori health expert Mason Durie, called Te Whare Tapawhā. Based on the four walls (sides) of a house, this model can be used to look at the health of an individual and/or a community. All the walls need to be in balance for there to be mental and physical health. The four walls are te taha wairua (spiritual health), te taha hinengaro (mental health), te taha tinana (physical health), and te taha whānau (family health).
I believe this model can be equally applied to the health of a Māori dance company - to look at it s ability to support the whole life of it s dancers, choreographers and creative team. In terms of Māori contemporary dance the challenge is how to create dance company practices - which aim to create balance in the four sides of its whare - but at the same time practices which lead to high-quality and innovative dance works in the eyes of Creative New Zealand. As well as the health of the tinana (body) with good dance training, viewed as having equal importance is the health of the wairua (spirit) and the health of the hinengaro (mind). The performance of Māori dance can often require a dancer to draw not only on their physical technique but also on their ability to reach deep within themselves to allow their wairua to find expression in the dance - and to be aware of how to control this expression. Also the dancer needs their intellect to be ever-present in the dance. If one of the four walls of the dancer s whare is out of balance, a dancer can become depleted rather than nourished by the experience of the dance. I believe companies need to be supported in their endeavour to nourish the wairua of their members, and to support their Tapawhā. A company cannot of course be solely responsible for the mental and physical health of it s members, but there can be the attempt to create the best possible environment for this by implementing practices to support the four sides of the whare. THE OPPORTUNITY: Creative New Zealand initiatives to support company practices based on Mātauranga Māori. An opportunity of great importance are the ways in which Creative New Zealand can acknowledge that within a Maori framework / world view - a quality product is seen to not only include the quality of the dance performed on the stage, but also the quality of our relationships with one another, our relationships with our environment, with our families and with our ancestors. A company which is able to provide an environment to support the health of it s individual members, as well as the health of the company as a whole, I believe in turn leads to a better and healthier quality of dance on stage. Māori dance companies & individual Māori dance artists have been aiming to achieve this balance for many years, and it is not to say they have not achieved it. But I believe this is an aspect of Ngā Toi Māori dance in which Creative New Zealand could continue to support dance companies - by acknowledging the holistic approach involved in Māori dance-making. Ōrotokare - Art, Story, Motion - an organisation led by Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal and focused on the creation of a modern whare tapere is a good example of where a model was put into place which aimed to acknowledge the whole life of the dancer. The explicit intention being that the ways in which we worked together were as important as the dance we created. The core values of Ōrotokare include Manaakitanga - the art of uplifting and fostering mana, and Whanaungatanga - the art of relationships and of sharing in the one life. 2. DIVERSITY WITHIN NGA TOI MĀORI DANCE
THE CHALLENGE: How to promote the diversity within Ngā Toi Māori Dance Another challenge I believe is the need to promote the diversity across the various disciplines of Māori dance. I feel that across the board we could begin to acknowledge and support a range of Māori dance artists who come from different dance backgrounds, different perspectives, different parts of the country, different dance forms and different iwi, and to promote these differences. All expressions are necessary for Ngā Toi Māori dance to remain healthy and vibrant. The differences amongst the different iwi in kapa haka are well-noted, and it is exciting to witness these differences in style, in form and in reo at kapa haka competitions - such as the national biannual kapa haka competition Te Matatini. The name Te Matatini meaning the many faces reflects (amongst other meanings) the many people who contribute to kapa haka from many different backgrounds adding to the diversity and vibrancy of kapa haka. To my mind it would be good for the differences to be even more well-noted and celebrated amongst our Māori contemporary dancers, choreographers and performance artists as well. Another aspect in ensuring the vibrancy and diversity of Māori dance is how to support Māori women to sustain a career in choreography. As wāhine begin to have children, it does become harder to maintain a choreographic career. I would also like to see a higher profile being given to Māori female choreographers and for more opportunities to create larger scale choreographies being offered to women. To me, both te taha Tane me te taha Wāhine are important, and I feel the voices of our Māori women need to be heard as much as our men. I would also like to see initiatives which support and encourage women into leadership roles such as the role of artistic director, a role which I feel is currently dominated by men in Māori contemporary dance. THE OPPORTUNITY: Support for projects which showcase and support the diversity in Māori Dance. The Māori dance festival Kowhiti Dance is an important example of an opportunity to showcase the diversity amongst our performance artists and dance companies, from kapa haka to Māori contemporary dance to Haka Theatre, to the work of our most innovative Māori performance artists. I feel this festival could continue to evolve as an on-going festival. Examples of practitioners breaking new ground include independent choreographers and performance/dance artists such as Cat Ruka, Tru Paraha and Charles Koroneho (Te Toki Haruru), and dance companies such as Okareka Dance Company under the artistic direction of Taane Mete and Taiaroa Royal. There are also those breaking new ground in Haka Theatre such as Hawaiki Tu Productions under the leadership of Kura Te Ua and Brendon Ngarino Watt. 3. COLLABORATIONS / MENTORING & RISK-TAKING THE CHALLENGE: How to encourage collaboration and mentoring relationships. Alongside the great work being done in the many different forms of Māori dance, I believe collaboration with artists from other disciplines also plays an important role in finding new ways to express our
Māoritanga. Inter-disciplinary collaboration is important, as I believe it helps our dance to continue to evolve and be dynamic. The process of combining art forms also reminds me of the multi-disciplinary approaches our tupuna also took in their dance and art making. Also I believe in collaborations between our contemporary dancers and dancers whose aim it is to maintain our traditions. It is through our waiata, mōteatea and our haka that Mātauranga Māori is transferred from one generation to the next - as ngā taonga i tuku iho. It is from a place of being grounded in the knowledge passed down to us that we could potentially choose to innovate and to find new expressions of the kaupapa which are important in our Māoritanga (or our own iwitanga), whether this innovation occurs within kapa haka or within the world of Māori contemporary dance, Haka Theatre, or Māori Performance Art. THE OPPORTUNITY: Initiatives to support collaboration and mentoring relationships. The Creative New Zealand initiative called Tohunga/Tukunga which funds mentoring relationships between Tohunga and Tukunga ( to enable Māori communities to support tohunga within communities to pass on cultural traditions and artistry ) is a good opportunity as I also believe mentoring relationships are an important aspect in maintaining a healthy and vibrant Māori dance community. I d also be interested to see new initiatives being specifically offered to Ngā Toi Māori dance for Māori dancers and choreographers to be mentored by their elders, whether that be elders from their our own iwi, hapu or marae, or elders within the Māori dance community itself. What Creative New Zealand and the dance sector can do together to address the main challenge or opportunity in the next 5 10 years. I believe all the above challenges and opportunities are of equal importance. Below are some of the ways in which I believe Creative New Zealand can work together with the dance sector to begin or to continue to address them: Creative New Zealand could develop: 1. New Initiatives to support Māori dance companies in their endeavour to create and maintain company practices based on the holistic nature of Māori dance. 2. Initiatives to support projects which showcase the diversity in Māori Dance. 3. Initiatives aimed at supporting Māori women to be able to sustain a career in choreography and to encourage Māori women into leadership roles. 4. Opportunities for mentoring, collaboration and risk-taking including: - Inter-generational collaborations - inter-disciplinary collaborations - to develop new hybrid performance and art-forms - Inter-national collaborations - local / community collaborations with iwi and hapu - more inter-cultural interdisciplinary wānanga/workshops, inter-cultural exchange, and internships Louise Potiki-Bryant
Of Ngai Tahu descent, Louise Pōtiki Bryant is a choreographer, dancer and video artist who was a founding member of Atamira Dance Company, with whom she has created five works since 2000, including Ngai Tahu 32, Te aroha me te mamae and TAONGA; dust water wind. Louise also has a strong body of solo works such as Nohopuku, Tumutumu and Kiri, which draw on her interdisciplinary practice, and her unique movement and performance qualities. Louise also has an on-going collaboration with researcher and composer Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal. Louise and Charles s collaboration has led to the dance work; TE KĀROHIROHI - the light dances inspired by Charles s research into the haka of pre- European whare tapere (pā based houses of storytelling, dance, music, games and much more). Louise is also a video artist and is responsible for the design, production and editing of the projected video elements - an integral part of each of her performances.