One of the farthest-reaching collaborations at the New Zealand Festival is not just in connection through distance, but through time.

Taiaroa Royal flies like an eagle.

The connection between two spirit animals of the Māori and Native American cultures are being put on show in a performance as part of the New Zealand Festival of the Arts.

As sound engulfed the audience and light flashed like the morning sun revealing itself behind rocks and trees, I felt my heart ruffling its feathers in my sternum. I was transported into another time and place, grounded yet elevated. Awake.

As sound engulfed the audience and light flashed like the morning sun revealing itself behind rocks and trees, I felt my heart ruffling its feathers in my sternum. I was transported into another time and place, grounded yet elevated. Awake.

Review: Hōkioi me te Vwōhali full of heart and committed performances

“A rich fusion of choreography, music, tikanga Māori and performance practices, AV, lighting and performance design”

A STUNNING VISUAL EXPERIENCE.

Two years after debut, Mana Wahine still an unforgettable performance.

Seeing a dancer at rest is like seeing an animal out of its natural habitat.

Fierce, frightening and f**king fabulous.

Okareka Dance Company first presented this “biographical dance journey” of Taiaroa Royal and Taane Mete six years ago at Tempo, and it still thrills with great dancing and theatre.

Of all our country’s most infamous streets Auckland’s Karangahape Rd is by a mile the most extraordinary storyteller.

Six amazing performers and one iconic road.

Even somebody with minimal—and even that’s being generous—knowledge of dance, I was entirely engaged by the show, not only visually, but also emotionally.

COMMENTS
Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Okareka Dance Company is founded on the Maori values of whanau (family), mana (integrity), and matataki (challenge).

Occasionally there are dance performances so captivating, you forget to breathe.

Back in Christchurch following their highly successful season of Tama Ma last year, Okareka return to the Body Festival in 2012 to convincingly underline a trajectory that is clearly upward.

New Zealand Dance Royalty Leap back into the Spotlight!

A sustained standing ovation greeted dancers Taiaroa Royal and Taane Mete at the closing of Tama Ma on opening night.