MOANA - Pacific Dance Festival 2023

MOANA means ocean in Pacific languages and the term is used here to represent the coming together of people from various parts of Moana Nui a Kiwa (the Pacific Ocean) in Auckland, New Zealand.

MOANA is a forum in which to present works that express a range of specifically Pacific voices through the form of dance. Our artists take our audience on a journey of experience. These up-and-coming and mid-career choreographers present stories of identity, passion, heritage, modernity and urban flux within a 90-minute presentation of works reflecting what it is to be Pasifika today.

Read more about the performances and artists showcased in MOANA:

Neonach va - choreographed by Tess Doorman-Smith & Peniperite KF Fakaua, performed by UNITEC dance students 

A space splattered with curiosity

Ingredients include:

Blur

Abnormal

Deviant

Queer

Anomalous

Bent

Aberrant

Eerie

Comical

Eccentric

Freaky

Funky

Odd

With a cooking time of 9 minutes…grill on high.

EOS - choreographed by Hayley Walters-Tekahika in collaboration with Prowl Productions dancers

An exploration of the divine feminine through the queer phenomenon Waacking fused with contemporary contexts and cultural elements. You are invited to witness goddess energy intertwined with indigenous frameworks. 

Octopi - choreographed by Paige Mowbray, performed by NZ School of Dance students 

This work has been created from the essence and quality of an octopuses flow and sensual touch. Discovering the challenge of this base movement with the heaviness and opposing force of an underwater current.

Person >person - choreographed by Deiija Vukona, performed by NZ School of Dance students 

We are a hive of curiosity. We feed of the intrigue of others. Perhaps it is not the ‘knowing’ but the ‘not knowing’ that draws us together.

BEAST - Directed by Corbyn Taulealea-Huch

BEAST is an exploration of masculine femininity on five Pasifika bodies as individuals and as a collective. Drawing inspiration from dance genres dancehall, lyrical and hood who have helped mould and shape Corbyn as an artist and creative, BEAST is a preview to a full-length work that will be presented later in the year by choreographer Corbyn Taulealea-Huch. 

Te Are Karioi Nui - Choreographed by Lomina Meteri-Araitia

Bringing the old into the new, as we remember our truth we integrate our kopapa (bodies) to activate the echoes of our tupuna for guidance into a growing community, a nurturing village.  We offer this to inspire collaboration and unpretentious dance, music and song.  This song was written by my father Tepoave Araitia in 1996 for the Cook Islands Composers competition, originally sung by the late Tommy Pierre Tutangata and serves as a reminder to listen to the wisdom embedded in our kopapa, our families and in our environment.  

The simplicity of the one beat pātē is a call to simplify what we’re listening to and anchor into the primal states of ourselves to propel us forward into a quickly evolving future..

SŌIA - Choreographed by John Vaifale 
Don't tell me who I am. 

Soia explores the notion of one's voyage in life with all it's limitations, backlash, and challenges of how and who to be as a human in this ever-changing world. 

THIS IS ME THIS IS US - by the collective Nesian Dance supported by PHAB Pasifika

This piece showcases that movement can speak louder than our words. Being left out of cultural understanding while you're young because of disability seems to be coming first, is a struggle more than anyone realises. We are more than capable than you think and what you see is in front of you. Showcasing their alofa, awareness and the push for acceptance because of appearance, as well as showing what inclusiveness looks like, these performers know that one thing for sure is through their newfound love for culture and the new sense of belonging - they love to dance. Maybe if you're lucky you'll hear some live drumbeats too!