Whitireia Performing Arts Presents Anamata

ANAMATA

DIRECTED AND CHOREOGRAPHED BY: GINNY MAXWELL, TAOFI NEHEMIA, MEKA NEHEMIA AND ANDY FAIAOGA

DATES: 7.30PM, 25 JUNE- 26 JUNE 2021

VENUE: TE KETE WĀNANGA (LIBRARY)

WHITIREIA PORIRUA CAMPUS

WI NEERA DRIVE, PORIRUA

TICKETS: $10/$5. DOOR SALES ONLY

LISTING: https://WhitireiaWeltec.ac.nz/events

PRESENTED BY WHITIREIA PERFORMING ARTS AS PART OF THE 2021 COURSE OF STUDY

Whitireia Performing Arts keep their language and culture alive through song and dance!

Yesterday creates Tomorrow! Whitireia Performing Arts presents Anamata, a performance celebrating the students, the community, and the future ahead. With Whitireia Performing Arts marking 30 years in 2021, Anamata brings together the Programme’s four disciplines to reflect on the past 30 years while boldly looking out to the next 30.

Anamata is a fresh showcase of Kapa Haka, Cook Islands Ura, Siva Samoan and Contemporary Pasifika dance. 18 students perform with a live accompanist and recorded music, blending the old with the new.

After the success of New Wave in 2020, Anamata builds on the Programme’s growing awareness for a connection with the past bolstered by a contemporary context. The show’s Contemporary section is a unique tie-together of where they have come from and where they are going. Head tutor Taofi Nehemia, shares “our fundamentals are respected and valued but we are tapping into the new wave, the new age.”

Whitireia Performing Arts fully embraces their community. In 2020 after several years in Wellington, they returned home to Porirua. Now back in the heart of their community, they are surrounded by their whenua and whānau. With the Porirua Harbour bordering the campus, the whenua is a vital part of the Programme’s foundation, learning and performance. “We’re glad to be back home” says Nehemia.

Anamata evokes passion and people, with Whitireia Performing Arts jumping at the chance to take performances out of traditional theatres and into community spaces. Anamata sees the Programme tour locally to Wellington and Wairarapa schools presenting a condensed version during the school day. Immediately followed by a two-night season performing in the centre of their learning environment in the Porirua campus library.

Aptly titled, Anamata is a proud celebration of indigenous performance, identity, and community in 2021.

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