Pacific Dance New Zealand in association with DANZ (Dance Aotearoa New Zealand), Manukau City Council and the Manukau Festival of the Arts present: Pacific Dance Fono 2010 (15th October – 30th October).

Pacific Dance New Zealand in association with DANZ (Dance Aotearoa New Zealand), Manukau City Council and the Manukau Festival of the Arts present: Pacific Dance Fono 2010 (15th October – 30th October).

The Pacific Dance Fono is an annual event, which was first held in 2006 as a forum for Pacific dance practitioners to gather, network and discuss dance issues unique to Pacific people in New Zealand.

Since then the event has grown and now encompasses three major components: choreographic labs, involvement of a guest choreographer, and dance classes for the public in various Pacific dance forms.

This year, the fono will be opened by Honorable Minister of Pacific Islands Affairs, Georgina Te Heuheu, and will see up to thirty dancers working together over the fifteen day period.

This year’s guest choreographer and keynote speaker is renowned Pacific dance artist and choreographer Nina Nawalowalo. (Read more about Nina here)

Nawalowalo, based in Wellington and the director of The Conch Theatre Company, has set the theme for this year’s fono and will mentor three choreographers through the development of new works over the fifteen-day period of the choreographic labs; now an integral part of the fono.

This year’s theme for the fono is: How can we take traditional Pacific dance forms and open up the poetry of their content in a theatrical setting?

Pacific Dance New Zealand is also proud to announce the three choreographic lab choreographers for this year:

    * John Puleitu (Ghost Urban Contemporary Dance Movement)
    * Charlene Tedrow (Ura Tabu)
    * Aruna Po-Ching (Pasifika Sway, Polynesian Dance Theatre Company)

John Puleitu is a visual artist as well as the director of Ghost Urban Contemporary Dance Movement and winner of last year’s Most Innovative Choreography award at the Tempo New Zealand Festival of Dance Awards.

Charene Tedrow is the director and head choreographer of Ura Tabu Dance Company and has had a range of experience across the dance spectrum; including dancing in various music videos for Dawn Raid Entertainment, choreographing theatre productions and running dance workshops. She is a performing arts graduate from Auckland University with a major in dance and has been contributing to the Pacific Dance scene for a number of years.

Aruna Po-Ching has been a figure in Pacific theatre and dance circles for many years. She was part of the original Pacific Theatre Company, which was the breeding ground for many of today’s stella Pacific talent on screen and theatre. Since then, Aruna has had a number of theatrical, film, television and dance appearances. Today, she runs her own dance company (Pasifika Sway) and specializes in teaching and performing Hawaiian hula.

Through the choreographic lab, these talented Pacific choreographers will develop works around a conceptual theme culminating in a public performance at the newly opened Mangere Arts Centre - Nga Tohu o Uenuku at the end of the fono on the 30th October at 7:00pm – 8:30pm.

This year’s Fono will be held across three venues in South Auckland; Metro Theatre in Mangere, OMAC (Otara Music and Arts Centre) and Nathan Homestead in Manurewa.