Touch Compass

✨ Toi Tuku | Matariki Dance Intensive ✨

As we look back on our Toi Tuku Matariki Dance Intensive, Alisha reflects on three days of movement, creativity and connection.

“Our three-day Matariki Intensive brought together both our regular class participants and new faces. It was a pleasure to teach alongside Julie and Rodney, and lovely to be joined by Lusi and Adus on the final day.

We explored deeper tasks, created choreography and enjoyed improvisation jams, with many magic moments along the way. It was also lovely to hold a space where people could commit to as much or as little as they needed.”

Ngā mihi to everyone who joined us 💜

Image description:
In this image, we see Lish sitting in her wheelchair, moving freely and expressing the creativity explored throughout the workshop. Positioned at the centre of the image, Lish draws our eyes towards her as she moves, showcasing freedom and strength.

In July, more than 200 d/Deaf and Disabled creatives and community members gathered to celebrate the launch of ‘Out Of The Box’ . The publication features 25 d/Deaf and Disabled artists, activists, and adventurers from Aotearoa who have challenged expectations, broken open the box, and claimed their space.

Touch Compass artist Rodney Bell, one of the featured creatives, reflected on the experience:

“Featuring in the book was also a huge privilege, and sharing the air alongside leaders and trailblazers in our Crip Community of Aotearoa is a memory I will hold onto and celebrate for the rest of my creative years.”

Image description:
The front cover of the book Out of the Box features a bright yellow background framing a central illustration of a snow-covered mountain beneath a blue sky. Large, bold white text reading “OUT OF THE BOX” fills much of the cover, with the mountain rising through the centre and a red flag planted at its summit, symbolising achievement, determination, and reaching new heights.

Kua hinga te tōtara i te wao nui ā Tāne. A great tree has fallen in the forest of Tāne.

It is with heavy hearts that the Touch Compass whānau acknowledges the passing of our former company member, Bronwyn Hayward ONZM.

The striking images of Bronwyn in performance accompanying this tribute captures her in motion, but her impact went far beyond the stage.

Living with a lifelong spinal condition, Bronwyn was a fierce social justice activist who spent her life reshaping Aotearoa to ensure there was space for everyone.

Joining Touch Compass in the early 2000s, her love for dance was her greatest joy. She lived by the truth she championed:

"If you can breathe, you can dance."

Beyond her staggering resume, it was Bronwyn's deeply human spirit that defined her.

Touch Compass's Lusi Faiva remembers her perfectly:

"How warm, funny, and full of character she was - her caring spirit touched everyone who knew her."

She didn't just advocate for equity, she lived it. This is beautifully captured in her short film, Beauty, where a character appears with only one line: "Just dance!" In that simple instruction, you hear Bronwyn's entire life's work. Lifting others up and inviting them into their own time and space.

Bronwyn wasn't just a mover, she was a movement. One that will continue to be carried by artists, advocates, activists and allies across Aotearoa.

Recognised in the 2022 New Year Honours for her services to people with disabilities and the arts, Bronwyn's legacy is secured in the hearts of those she empowered.

With heartfelt condolences to her whānau and friends.

Haere, haere atu rā, Bronwyn. Ka nui ngā mihi e hoa.

The Touch Compass Whānau

Image description:

1. Bronwyn in full flight, draped in fabric and suspended above fellow Touch Compass dancer Maaka, in a striking high contrast black and white image.

2. Bronwyn in a costume of vibrant colours 'held aloft' during a dance sequence by fellow dancer Matt.

3. Bronwyn dressed all in white in an ensemble performance activation outdoors, alongside a diverse group of other Touch Compass dancers also dressed in white.

4. Bronwyn sits alongside the Governor General of Aotearoa New Zealand after receiving her NZ Order of Merit Award for services to the Arts and Disability.

"Nothing About Us Without Us". As Aotearoa’s leading professional disability-led arts and active recreation org, we sit/stand in solidarity with this joint statement and encourage everyone disabled and non-disabled to do the same.

Disabled Persons Assembly NZ has joined with seven other national disability organisations to issue a joint media statement expressing serious concerns about the process being used to progress the Disability Support Services Bill through Parliament.

This statement has been released by Disabled Persons Assembly NZ - DPA, People First New Zealand, Carers NZ, Complex Care Group, CCS Disability Action, Home and Community Health Association (HCHA), and New Zealand Disability Support Network - NZDSN.

Together, our organisations represent hundreds of thousands of disabled people, family carers, advocacy groups and disability support providers from across Aotearoa.

We are united in our concern that disabled people, family carers, their representative organisations, and the wider disability sector have not been provided with a fair and accessible opportunity to participate in the development and scrutiny of legislation that will directly affect them.

In particular, we are concerned about:

❌The absence of meaningful involvement by disabled people and their representative organisations in the Bill's development.
❌The extremely limited notice provided to the disability community before the Bill was introduced.
❌The short timeframe provided for submissions.
❌The significantly compressed Select Committee process.
❌The concentration of hearings in Wellington, with no hearings elsewhere in the country.
❌The very limited time allocated to organisations representing thousands of New Zealanders.

Our joint statement sets out that these Select Committee arrangements create significant accessibility barriers and do not reflect the level of participation that disabled people, families and the wider sector should be able to expect when legislation affecting them is being considered.

We are calling on Parliament to take these concerns seriously, halt the rushed progress of the Bill, and ensure meaningful engagement with the communities most affected by it.

We have also called for the Select Committee process to be extended to allow disabled people, family carers, providers and representative organisations a genuine opportunity to participate.

You can read the full joint statement below.

Joint Media Statement

Disabled People, Families, Carers and Providers Unite; Parliament Denying Disabled People and Their Families a Fair Say on Laws That Shape Their Lives.

Eight national disability organisations - Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA), People First New Zealand, Carers NZ, Parents of Vision Impaired NZ, the Complex Care Group, CCS Disability Action, Home and Community Health Association (HCHA) and the New Zealand Disability Support Network (NZDSN) are calling on Parliament to halt the rushed progress of the Disability Support Services Bill and ensure meaningful engagement with the communities it affects.

Collectively, our organisations represent hundreds of thousands of disabled people, family carers, disabled people's organisations, advocacy groups, and support providers across Aotearoa.

Disabled people, families and the wider disability support sector are being denied a meaningful opportunity to have their say on decisions that directly affect them.

“While we support legislation that protects and strengthens the rights of disabled people and family carers, we are united in our concern that the process being used for this Bill fails to meaningfully involve disabled people, families, and the disability sector in its development,” says Debbie Hughes, Chief Executive of the NZDSN.

The group disputes Ministerial assurances that the Bill responds to consultation with disabled people and families.

“This Bill has been extremely reactive and has not been developed with the knowledge, involvement, or seriously needed expertise of disabled people and their representative organisations," says Kera Sherwood-O'Regan, National President of DPA.

"Only a handful of our organisations were briefed by the Minister about the Bill's existence – with our call finishing just 15 minutes before the public announcement.

We directly raised serious concerns about the need for robust, accessible engagement and an extended consultation period. Instead, this process has been rushed, sloppy and inaccessible.

We consider this a breach of the government's obligations under the United Nations Conventional on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).”

The parliamentary process has compounded these failures. The Select Committee has scheduled only three and a half days of hearings, all in Wellington, with just a few hours available each day for public participation – and no hearings anywhere else in the country.

“To make things worse, organisations representing thousands of New Zealanders have been allocated as little as five minutes to present, including time for questions from Committee members.

Five minutes is simply not enough time to convey the concerns, experiences, expertise and aspirations of the communities we represent,” says Mel Smith, Chief Executive of CCS Disability Action.

The Disability Support Services Bill may not technically be proceeding under urgency, but from the perspective of disabled people and their families it has that effect.

“New Zealand has obligations under the UNCRPD to closely consult with and actively involve disabled people, through their representative organisations, in decisions that affect them,” explains Desrae Turvey, National Chairperson of People First New Zealand Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi.

“Meaningful participation cannot occur when people are given almost no time to understand proposals, engage with their communities, organise accessible responses, prepare submissions, and present their views.”

“For disabled people and their families, participation requires accessible formats, time to understand and discuss proposals, support to formulate responses, and opportunities to engage in ways that accommodate different communication needs."

Disabled people and their families deserve better.
“Parliament should not be making decisions about disabled people and families without disabled people and families having the opportunity to have input,” says Laurie Hilsgen, CEO of Carers NZ.

“A Bill that potentially has such major impacts for New Zealanders in caring situations should not be progressed without fair input from disabled people and family carers” says Lisa Martin, Director Complex Care Group.

“New Zealand deserves legislation that has been developed with the community it affects.”

Image: social media tile with black background and white text. Text reads, Joint Media Statement. We are calling on Parliament to halt the rushed progress of the Disability Support Services Bill. The logos of all 8 organisations are after the text.

LATEST UPDATE FROM TOUCH COMPASS! New dance intensive TOI TUKU coming to Te Puna Creative Hub , One-on-Ones with the sound stars of ORO:RESONANCE, an OpEd on 'what's the point of getting funded if there's no open stages'; Lusi Faiva shares her half year highlights, and your chance to ignite creative futures!
LINK TO OUR LATEST NEWSLETTER HERE: https://mailchi.mp/touchcompass/newsletter-june-2026