Pacific Dance

⭕ The Circle ⭕

Closing the festival with a powerful celebration of community, connection, and collective care, The Circle was the final work to take the stage at this year’s Pacific Dance Festival.

Set in an alternate present, this dance theatre work followed a community of characters on a shared journey towards Utopia, exploring the many ways we support one another through life’s challenges and triumphs. Through movement and storytelling, the work reminded us that true liberation is not only found in standing together through struggle, but also in celebrating each other’s successes.

As our final act, The Circle left audiences with a poignant reflection on belonging, solidarity, and the strength that emerges when we move forward together.

A fitting finale to a week of powerful stories, vibrant cultures, and unforgettable performances. Thank you to the artists, creatives, and audiences who joined us in the circle. ✨

✨ The Voices of Our Ancestors ✨

The stage came alive with the strength, pride, and spirit of Kiribati culture through The Voices of Our Ancestors.

Led by the talented Marewen Kiribati Youth from South Auckland, this powerful performance honoured the stories, knowledge, and legacy passed down through generations. Through movement, song, theatre, and cultural ceremony, our young people carried the voices of their ancestors forward with confidence and heart.

A beautiful reminder that culture lives on when it is shared, celebrated, and entrusted to the next generation.

Mauri to the performers, families, and community who brought this work to life and filled the theatre with such energy, joy, and connection.

Triple Bill - We came from the sea by Julia Gray ✨

An intimate intergenerational conversation that weaves together memory, knowledge, and the stories carried within our skin.

Created and performed by Te Wehi Kore Karena Haraki Akuhata Grant-Koria and Mierewai Grant-Koria, in collaboration with Julia Mageau Gray, We came from the sea explores the enduring connections that bind Pacific peoples across oceans, generations, and time.

Through shared linguistic, visual, and physical languages, this work honours the wisdom passed between ancestors and descendants. It serves as a powerful reminder that our bodies carry the journeys, histories, and resilience of those who came before us.

A reflection on whakapapa, belonging, and the oceanic ties that continue to shape who we are.

Triple Bill - Vignette of the Frigate ✨ by Viliamu Yandall

Inspired by the migration journey of the choreographer’s grandmother, Vignette of the Frigate [bird] reflects on the experiences of Pacific peoples who leave home in search of opportunity, stability, and a better future.

Drawing on Sāmoan migration stories, the work examines the complexities that exist beneath ideas of success and the promise of a “land of milk and honey.” It asks what is gained through migration—and what may be left behind.

As distance from home grows, language, traditions, and cultural connections can shift, transform, or fade. Through movement, this work explores the delicate balance between heritage and assimilation, tracing the ways these changes ripple across generations.

A powerful reflection on identity, belonging, and the ongoing negotiation between cultural roots and an ever-changing world.

Triple Bill - Kamata(a)ga ✨

Rooted in the Rotuman Kamataga and Niuean Kamataaga, both meaning “Beginning,” this contemporary Pacific dance work celebrates the power of origins, connection, and renewal.

Through movement, Kamata(a)ga brings together the stories, traditions, and creative voices of its makers, weaving distinct cultural identities into a shared journey. It speaks to where we come from, what connects us, and the possibilities that emerge when paths converge.

A work that honours both ancestry and evolution — a beginning that carries the stories of those who came before, and a continuation of those yet to come.

Featuring:
Kapieri Samisoni
Antonio Matagi

MoanaShowcase ✨ - NZSD

🌺 The Heilala In The Concrete Garden carries the mana of the moana into the city, drawing inspiration from the iconic Māori and Pasifika bands of the 60s and 70s and exploring how culture continues to thrive within urban landscapes.

🌧️ to stand, and again (forever) journeys through memory, kinship, and connection to land—finding wonder in rain-soaked skin, mountain views, and the quiet act of learning where we belong.

⏳ In The Meantime sits in the uncomfortable space of waiting, navigating impatience, restlessness, and the tension between resisting time and surrendering to it.

Together, these works invite us to pause and reflect on the spaces we inhabit, the places that shape us, and the moments in between that transform us.

PasifikaArts MāoriArts NZDance PacificDance LivePerformance

MoanaShowcase - Unitech ✨

From the contagious energy of Nothing Leaves the Parade, where spectacle, memory, and community collide in an ever-shifting landscape, to the razor-sharp synchronicity of Whip Snap, where two bodies navigate the space between connection and illusion, and Pupa, a meditation on transformation, resistance, and becoming.

Together, these works explore what happens when bodies gather, adapt, and evolve. They question how we move with one another, how we are changed by the people around us, and how identity is continuously reshaped through collective experience.

Nothing stays still. Nothing remains the same.

Here are a few snaps from Nothing Leaves the Parade, Whip Snap, and Pupa at the 2026 Pacific Dance Festival.

PasifikaArts SouthAuckland NZDance PacificDance LivePerformance

Call to Wallis 🇼🇫

A powerful contemporary dance-theatre work by Justin Haiu, Call to Wallis explores cultural identity, heritage, and the enduring connection to one’s roots through movement, storytelling, and music.

Following a loosely autobiographical journey, the work traces the experiences of a Pacific Island-born individual raised in Aotearoa who feels an undeniable pull toward their ancestral homeland of Wallis Island. Through a series of vivid, heartfelt, and often playful moments, the piece unfolds into a moving return to culture, belonging, and self-discovery.

These are just a few frames from the incredible performance that opened the Pacific Dance Festival and set the stage for an unforgettable season of storytelling through dance. 🔥

PacificArts PacificStorytelling AotearoaArts MangereArtsCentre DanceTheatre PacificCreatives