Tempo Dance Festival

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Tempo Dance Festival
Genredance festival
Frequencyannual
Location(s)Auckland, New Zealand
Established2003
FoundersNew Zealand Dance Festival Trust & Northern Dance Network

Tempo Dance Festival is an annual pan-genre professional dance festival held in Auckland, New Zealand and is the 'longest standing annual dance event' of New Zealand, founded in 2003. [1]

Contents

History

Tempo Dance Festival started in 2003 from an initiative from the Northern Dance Network, originally named the Auckland Dance Festival (2000-2002). [2] [3] New Zealand Dance Festival Trust is a registered charitable trust that operates under the trading name of Tempo Dance Festival. [4] Part of the mission of Tempo Dance Festival is to, "champion diversity and inclusion and enrich and connect diverse communities through the language of dance". [5]

People

Past directors have included Sonja Bright (2000-2004), Mary Jane O'Reilly (2006-2011),Celia Walmsley, 2012-2014 , Carrie Rae Cunningham 2015-2018. Cat Ruka was appointed in February 2019 and left at the end of 2020. [2] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] In March 2021 there were seven new trustee's appointed. As at September 2021 the trustees were Aaron Huata, Cathy Livermore, Jeremy Poi, Liora Bercovitch, Olivia Taouma, Piripi Morunga, Elisabeth Vaneveld, Tia Louise Reihana and Paul Lee Young. [4] Funders of the festival include Creative New Zealand, Foundation North and Auckland Council. [11] Past trustees include Dr Nicole Bassett, Marama Lloydd, Suzanne Smith, Geordan Wilcox, Kerryn McMurdo, Dr Rose Campbell and Elizabeth Ross. [12]

Programme

The goal is 'to bring dance in all its forms to Tāmaki Makaurau and promote the talents of up and coming artists'. [13] Regular programmes include Secondary Colours for high schools, Tertiary ImprovisationShowcase for tertiary level dance and Bloom (previously Fresh), for emerging choreographers or for a change of artistic direction. [6] [14] It has been held every year in Tāmaki Makaurau on the land of Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei until 2020 when the COVID 19 pandemic made the organisers move it fully online. [1] [15]

2011 Tempo Dance Festival

For the first time Tuakana: Maori Contemporary Showcase was programmed. [16]

2012 Tempo Dance Festival

Featured was Okareka Dance Company’s Nga Hau E Wha, Daniel Belton’s Time Dance & Soma Songs, Sesilia Pusiaki’s Pukepuke ‘o Tonga, and Colours of India. [8] The programme included Dunedin based Indian Classical Dance teacher and performer Swaroopa Unni with Sringaram (Romantic Love) at Q Theatre. [17] Programme again in 2012 was Tuakana: Maori Contemporary Showcase featuring work by Tia Reihana, Cat Ruka, Merenia Gray, Kura Te Ua, artists from Hawaiki Tu Productions and Nga Mana Whakairo a Toi (Q Theatre). [16]

2013 Tempo Dance Festival

This year was the 10th year anniversary and included a Gala with performances from Michael Parmenter, Pasifika Sway, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Justin Haiu and Tupua Tigafua aka the Double Derelicts, Kura Te Ua and Ngarino Watts, Mary Jane O'Reilly, Touch Compass, Unitec students, and Monisha Kumar. [2] The festival programmed 34 dance performances including Fatu Na Toto - Planted Seeds by Tupe Lualua (Le Moana Productions). [2] [18]

2014 Tempo Dance Festival

In 2014 dancer and choreographer Alexa Wilson presented two shows at Tempo, Q&Q with A&A, a collaboration with dance artist Anna Bate and The Status of Being, a full-length work for Footnote Dance Company. [19]

2016 Tempo Dance Festival

Taumata is the name of the closing performance of the 2016 festival at Q Theatre. This contained four works, Bianca Hyslop's A Murmuration, Taane Mete's solo Manawa, Sarah Foster-Sproull's Sisters of the Back Crow, and Loughlan Prior's Eve (Royal New Zealand Ballet). [20] Rodney Bell premiered his solo performance work Meremere (a collaboration with director Malia Johnston and Movement of the Human). [21]

2017 Tempo Dance Festival

The 2017 festival included at Q Theatre Orchids choreographed by Sarah Foster-Sproull, The Danz Season of Limbs@40 celebrating 40 years of the company Limbs with works by Mary Jane O’Reilly, Douglas Wright and Mark Baldwin, A World, with Your Wound in It by Jahra Rager and Inferno by Coven, a performance activation collective from South Auckland. [22] In the Aotea Square was Pedal Power, by choreographer Susan Jordan a free community event involving dancing with bicycles for seniors. [23] [24]

2018 Tempo Dance Festival

Headlining the 2018 festival was Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company with ADAPTATION containing four works, EBBA, Stimulaze, FAM (duet excerpt) and Sporty. [25]

2019 Tempo Dance Festival

The programme included GIRL by Parris Goebel, Pōhutu by Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce, NZ Music Double Bill: Dances with Aldous by Zahra Killeen-Chance, Josie Archer and Kosta Bogoievski, Fa’asinomaga/Identity by Sau E Siva Creatives and Not Odd Human by New Zealand School of Dance with Sam Coren. [6] [26] [27]

2020 Tempo Dance Festival

As the global pandemic took hold Tempo offered a year-round programme online programme with three seasons free of charge called ‘#GoingDigital’. The third season was called Putiputi, and ran through November and December. [28] One item a dance film Beneath Sky Snakes by Cameron McMillan, in collaboration with the Govett-Brewster Gallery, a work in response to Len Lye’s sculpture Sky Snakes. [29]

Tempo Dance Festival Honours

People who have made a significant contribution to dance in New Zealand nominated by peers and chosen by the Board of New Zealand Dance Festival Trust to be honoured. [30]

2008     Glenn Mayo [30]

2009     Debra McCulloch [30]

2010     Douglas Wright (as a choreographer) and Tairoa Royal (as a dancer) [30]

2011     Dorothea Ashbridge [30]

2012     Mary Jane O’Reilly [30]

2013     Deidre Tarrant [30]

2014     Jacqui Cesan [30]

2015     Katie Haines [30]

2016     Lynn Pringle [30]

2018     Russell Kerr [30]

Related Research Articles

The following lists events that happened during 2002 in New Zealand.

Douglas James Wright was a New Zealand dancer and choreographer in the New Zealand arts establishment from 1980 until his death in 2018. Although he announced his retirement from dance in 2008, on the occasion of the publication of his first book of poetry, Laughing Mirror he subsequently continued to make dance works, including touring The Kiss Inside during April 2015.

Atamira Dance Company is a Māori contemporary dance company in Aotearoa based in Auckland.

Shona Margaret McCullagh is a New Zealand choreographer, dancer, filmmaker and artistic director. McCullagh was the founding director of the New Zealand Dance Company and was appointed artistic director of the Auckland Festival in 2019.

Jack Gray is a choreographer, researcher and teacher of contemporary Māori dance, based in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Alice Canton is a New Zealand theatre-maker and performer of Chinese and Pākehā descent.

Lisa Warrington Academic, director, author in New Zealand, b. 1952

Lisa Jadwiga Valentina Warrington is a New Zealand theatre studies academic, director, actor and author. She has directed more than 130 productions, and established the Theatre Aotearoa database. In 2014 she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Dunedin Theatre Awards, and was three times winner of a New Zealand Listener Best Director award, including one for Tom Scott's The Daylight Atheist.

Wednesday to Come is the first play in a trilogy by New Zealand playwright Renée. The second play in the trilogy is Pass It On, and the third is Jeannie Once. The play follows the women of a family during the Depression in New Zealand.

Māngere Arts Centre - Ngā Tohu o Uenuku Theatre and gallery space in Auckland, New Zealand

Māngere Arts Centre Ngā Tohu o Uenuku is an Auckland Council-owned and operated arts venue in the suburb of Māngere, in Auckland, New Zealand. The purpose-built facility was opened in 2010, and is considered by Auckland Council to be the home of Māori and Pacific visual art and performing arts in Auckland.

Justine Simei-Barton is a Samoan theatre and film director and producer in New Zealand.

Sarah Foster-Sproull is a New Zealand choreographer, dancer and senior lecturer in dance studies at the University of Auckland.

Jason Te Kare is a New Zealand director, playwright and actor.

Tawata Productions is contemporary Māori and Pasifika performing arts company established in 2004 based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), New Zealand. They produce theatre, screen and digital work as well as the festivals: Kia Mau, Breaking Ground and the Pūtahi Festival. Tawata showcases work by Māori, Pasifika and Indigenous writers and makers and is led by Hone Kouka and Mīria George.

Bianca Hyslop is a New Zealand Māori dancer and choreographer. She is affiliated to Te Arawa and Ngāti Whakaue iwi.

Louise Mary Potiki Bryant is a New Zealand choreographer, dancer and video artist of Māori descent. She has choreographed a number of award-winning performances, and is a founding member of Atamira Dance Company. She designs, produces and edits videos of performances for music videos, dance films and video art installations, and her works are frequently accompanied by music composed by her husband, musician Paddy Free. She often collaborates with other artists, including clay sculptor Paerau Corneal, singer-songwriter Ariana Tikao, scholar Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal and Canadian multidisciplinary artist Santee Smith. She was made an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate in 2019.

Susan Jordan is a New Zealand dancer, choreographer and dance instructor.

Cat Ruka is a New Zealand dancer, choreographer, performance director and arts manager. She affiliates to the Ngāpuhi and Waitaha iwi.

Suli Moa is a New Zealand playwright, actor, screenwriter and teacher of Tongan descent. He wrote and performed the first Tongan Play in New Zealand, Kingdom of Lote. As a playwright Moa has been awarded the Adam New Zealand Play Award for Best Pacific Play, 12th Round (2016), and Tales of a Princess (2018). Moa's acting credits include A love yarn (2021) andSweet Tooth (2021). His writing credits include The Panthers (2021) and Shortland Street (2021-2022). Moa has also appeared in multiple short films as an actor and served as a cultural advisor.

Tupua Tigafua is a Sāmoan choreographer and dancer based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Tigafua was a recipient of the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Award for Emerging Artist in 2017. In 2021, the Wellington Theatre Awards presented him with the Excellence Award for Choreography and Movement for original work Ciggy Butts in the Sand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanaki Prescott-Faletau</span>

Amanaki Lelei Prescott-Faletau is an actor, writer, dancer, choreographer, producer and director of Tongan descent, living in New Zealand. As a playwright, she became the first fakaleitī to have her work published in New Zealand with Inky Pinky Ponky. This play was awarded Best Teenage Script (2015) by New Zealand Playmarket. As an actor, she was awarded best performance at the 2015 Auckland Fringe Festival for Victor Rodger's Girl on the Corner. Her acting credits include The Breaker Upperers (2018), SIS (2020), The Panthers (2021), The Pact (2021) and Sui Generis (2022), in which she is also a writer for the TV series. Faletau competed as a dancer in the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in 2011 and has been a judge at the National Hip Hop Championships in New Zealand over several years.

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