Africa comes to the marae

Africa comes to the marae

Kowhiti 2011 at the Wellington Opera House on September 15th had a lot to live up to following Kowhiti 2010 presented during Matariki of that year at Te Papa Tongarewa. Without Cat Ruka and others from the earlier event, there were big shoes to fill.

But Kowhiti 2011 did not try to repeat the 2010 event, it achieved something quite different.

Somehow, Tanemahuta Gray, the master of aerial work made dancing in the air all very fresh. There was tango, excellent lighting from Lisa Maule and good sounds to go with people being lowered from on high, swung across the stage, danced with, embraced, loved and rejected.

Another thing to stand out was the costumes. From the beginning, there was an eastern influence in the mask-hats, the anklets, the stylised koru on the buttocks of the close fitting red shorts, something Javanese about it all.

Then there was the high black bodice of Tuirina Wehi and the strong costumes for some of the female Maori dancers. Tru Paraha danced in high heels, long hair hanging down and draped in black.

But it was the bringing of Africa, of
Nkosinathi’s Cultural Group, all the way to the Opera House in Wellington that caught the attention and the imagination. The fitness and the frenzy of the dancers and the closeness of their actions together took the breath away.

This was a masterstroke by Tane and Merenia Gray and Jenny Stevenson, the organisers of the evening. The South African dancers were manuhiri and both halves of the show finished with them bringing the audience to a rapturous applause. They were given performance pride of place and they took this with both hands and gave back a dance contribution of some magnitude.

There was a Pacific influence in places with Pehea Kou Pino? How is your spirit? a piece with Hawaian aspects. But the distinction of the night, was between Maori and African dance. The Maori dance led by Tanemahuta and Merenia explored and went into new places. The African dancers from Nkosinathi’s Cultural Group also explored but drove things back to basics as well. The Gumboot Dance at the end of the first half impressed the Kiwi locals no end with its slapping and stomping of feet.

People who had not seen African dance up close were given a good taste of frenzy, of pulsating rhythm and action. This happened in the context of karanga coming from the far corners of the upstairs section of the Opera House.

Africa came to the marae and kicked up some dust.

Amongst all this there were some interesting features. Future Fame came through slick and strong in his Quantide series performed with Mase Boog. So evocative. Michael Jackson, Abbot and Costello and lots of routines from silent movies, shuffles and vaudeville came through their work.

Hine-Hine-Collective were intriguing and showed the new growth coming through in Aotearoa dance; the power of Maori women stating their challenges and reflections in dance. They presented a performance ritual exploring the female assassin.

There was a wider context to all of this. Part of the idea was a dance event during the Rugby World Cup. This did feature in some of the African dance but there was not a lot about the oval ball in other performances. Kowhiti 2011 began with speeches from Chris Finlayson who stated the significance of the African presence with some style as he welcomed a group from the South African High Commission. Merenia Gray took the significance of the evening to a greater level as she welcomed guests with consummate dignity.

The group from the South African High Commission seemed to feel at home and had a fine time applauding and responding to the dance events by celebrating the performance with high-pitched trills and yells from the front row of the balcony in the Wellington Opera House. Her Worship the Mayor of Wellington, Celia Wade Brown, laughed and cheered with them.

The evening was wrapped up with the presentation of awards to Louise Potiki Bryant of Ngai Tahu who started the second half with Tumutumu and a lifetime award to Taiaroa Royal. Celia Wade Brown took things back to ground level as she related the importance of dance to her while growing up.

So much happened in such a short time at Kowhiti 2011. Nkosinathi’s Cultural Group performed Pedi Dance and Umzanzi as well as finishing the show with Pantsula Dance. In between were such performances as the exquisite Rongo ma Tane by the Merenia Gray Dance Theatre. Ivica Novakovic of the Stuttgart Ballet danced in Rongo ma Tane.

There was a lot of class in Kowhiti 2011 seen in different ways as in the elegance of Merenia Gray in her opening speech. Toni Huata finished the evening in marvellous form with a song by Mere Boynton. The fine way in which the evening was structured added to things; there was always an excitement about the next event.

But it was a night of dance above all. The dancers in the Maori sections seemed to have time to tell you things. Things seem to happen with lots of grace. And then, out of Africa, Nkosinathi Chamo gave us a sense, a stamp of dance authority from another world. In that world you do not have time to think. Dance is springing at you, transporting you…