Kia Mau Festival

Ka mihi ki ngā uri o te rohe nei, rātou e noho ana ki runga i te whenua o Te Ūpoko o Te Ika a Māui!

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangarangatanga maha o ngā hau e whā! Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.  

Kia Mau Festival stands upon whenua known as Te Ūpoko o Te Ika a Māui – the head of the fish of Māui. The region of Wellington is known for the strength of Tāwhirimātea, the God of the Winds, this is the home of Kia Mau Festival.

From 01-15 June 2019, theatre + dance will be performed by Māori, Pasifika, and Indigenous artists and their companies from across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa and the globe.

Artists, whānau, friends, communities, and audiences are invited to join us in sharing contemporary performance and knowledge from an Indigenous worldview.

In 2019, we mark the 5th year of Kia Mau Festival.

“vital and exciting… perhaps the country’s best annual celebration of theatre” – The Pantograph Punch

6-8 JUNE, 7:30PM

HANNAH PLAYHOUSE, 12 CAMBRIDGE TERRACE, WELLINGTON

Pōhutu is a new full length multi-disciplinary dance work created by choreographer Bianca Hyslop and multi award-winning performance designer Rowan Pierce, two artists at the forefront of their practices here in Aotearoa. The result of their collaboration is a rich synthesis of image, object, movement, and sound where the past, present and future abruptly intersect.

The wider creative team behind Pōhutu establishes new collaborative connections between Bianca Hyslop, Rowan Pierce, Rosie Tapsell, Tui Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield and Emma Ransley.

Bianca’s grandmother Ramari Rangiwhiua Morrison was born in Te Whakarewarewatanga-o-te-ope-tauā-a-Wahiao, Rotorua. Whakarewarewa is situated on a double fault line and is home to Pōhutu; the Southern Hemisphere’s largest active geyser. It is a place of tremendous power where the natural geothermal landscape is forever re-shaping itself.

At the age of 88, Bianca’s grandmother now has Alzheimers. Pōhutu draws parallels between her shapeshifting mind and the restless landscape of Whakarewarewa; the whenua she was born from and will return to. The work manifests connection to memory, time, place and loss.

Made from the echoes of lived experiences, of multi-layered realities and of re-imaginings, this three night season of Pōhutu will be a world premiere not to be missed. 

12-15 JUNE, 8:30PM

BATS THEATRE, 1 KENT TERRACE, WELLINGTON

Fierce and visceral, Windigo resonates like a scream, the vibrant echo of a long history of human ransacking and destruction, a violation of a land and its culture.

Returning to her grandmother’s home in the Lac Seul Reserve in northwestern Ontario, Canadian choreographer of mixed Oji-Cree and settler heritage Lara Kramer confronts a latent war lurking under the surface.

A northern epic with the air of a post-apocalyptic ballad, Windigo exorcises the demons and undercurrents of the violence perpetrated against Indigenous peoples.

Windigo has been co-produced by Festival TransAmériques, CanDance Creation Fund, National Arts Center (Ottawa), Centre de Création O Vertigo (Montréal), Dancing on the Edge (Vancouver) and Usine C (Montreal). With the support of The Cole Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and Conseil des arts et des letter du Quebec and technical residencies with Usine C and Centre de Création O Vertigo. Presented in association with MAI, Espace Libre. Premiered at Festival TransAmériques, Montreal, on May 31, 2018.

1-2 JUNE, 7:30PM

HANNAH PLAYHOUSE, 12 CAMBRIDGE TERRACE, WELLINGTON

If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!
– Shel Silverstein

Inspired by the works of renowned American writer Shel Silverstein, this is an invitation to witness an enchanting, playfully intriguing, and visually stunning dance show.

Award winning choreographer Tupua Tigafua is a highly accomplished dancer and one of the most ingenious storytellers of this generation. After an illustrious career dancing for some of Aotearoa’s creative elite, Tupua has masterfully created his own dance style.

Shel Silverstein was a critically acclaimed writer of children’s books such as Where The Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up and most notable The Giving Tree. He was a talented lyricist and wrote iconic ballads such as Sylvia’s Mother for Doctor Hook and A Boy Named Sue for Johnny Cash. Shel’s offbeat style and brilliant use of metaphorical imagery in his poetry and sketches is cleverly captured in Tupua’s choreography. This original artistic brilliance is now what we know as Shel We?

11-15 JUNE, 6:30PM

BATS THEATRE, 1 KENT TERRACE, WELLINGTON

Lara has only the weekend to track down her partner as she traverses the world of public housing, drug dealing, and addiction. The Weekend is an emotional ride of laughter and hope, love and loss, and a young family’s search for a new beginning.

Presented by Moogahlin Performing Arts, this show by first-time Sydney playwright Henrietta Baird follows one woman embodying ten characters across 90 minutes, hurtling the audience through the streets and public housing towers of Redfern-Waterloo.

The Weekend made its world premiere at Sydney Festival 2019. Kia Mau Festival 2019 marks the New Zealand premiere of this acclaimed solo show.

About Moogahlin:

Moogahlin (Muu-gaarl-in) is a Yuin/Bundjalung word meaning to play, to fool about.

Moogahlin Performing Arts Incorporated was formed in Redfern N.S.W. in November 2007, in honour of the late Kevin Smith’s request, and in memory of the founding members of the Black Theatre.

Moogahlin supports both emerging and established Aboriginal performing artists, nurturing work created, produced and performed by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people.