Rongo Whakapā is the debut choreographic work by Brydie Colquhoun (Ngāpuhi), one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most captivating Māori contemporary dance artists, teachers, and practitioners.

In a time of increasing disconnection, we are invited into a shared, intimate space—to slow down and be fully present. Rongo Whakapā, meaning “sense of touch,” reflects this invitation, exploring the tension between individualism and collective community.

Six dancers respond to each other and the shifting environment they co-create, while audiences move freely, choosing how and where they wish to engage.

Atamira Dance Company is honoured to support Brydie with this significant milestone in the evolving landscape of Māori contemporary dance. Building the foundational shape of this work are conversations, interviews, and wānanga with Mātanga Mātauranga Māori, whānau, colleagues, and friends around intimacy and connection in our contemporary lives. Brydie’s extensive embodied knowledge and whakapapa of movement practice, drawing on contemporary dance technique, contact improvisation, durational improvisation, and score-based structures, also inform the language.

The work is shaped by wānanga and Brydie’s extensive embodied knowledge and whakapapa of movement practice. With immersive sound design by Eden Mulholland and spatial design by Rowan Pierce, Rongo Whakapā gently proposes new—or perhaps old—ways of gathering and witnessing.