A unique dance and music spectacle of Māori and Chinese cultures called Awa entertained Auckland audiences this weekend. It's the seventh annual project by Atamira Dance Company and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra with the aim of broadening its audience.
Awa is a cultural fusion of kapa haka, Tai Chi and contemporary dancers both young and adult, featuring both traditional Māori and Chinese instruments, chant and waiata.
According to Ruth Woodbury (Ngāti Korokoro, Iwi o Guangdong) “It's a really unique production. Some are students ages 9yrs to 14 yrs from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Kōtuku choir, the Auckland Chinese Philharmonia choir and an ensemble of musicians from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra with male dancers on the stage.”
For the first time, four ADC dancers were joined by three dancers from China and Hong Kong and students from TKK Māori o Te Kōtuku to tell the story of the journey of the spirit from China's Yellow river to New Zealand's rivers.
Ruth Woodbury says, “You hear with your ears, you feel with your heart and your spirit. The eyes are open to experience something new.”
The spectacle was seven weeks in the making, inspired by the sudden death of the father of the shows director Moss Patterson, who worked on China's Yellow River.
Woodbury says, “Moss's father worked on the rivers here in New Zealand and moved to China to work on a river-damming project there. The river is the same as the spirit. Where it flows from that country and returns to Cape Rēinga. It can be seen, held, and dives into the waters.”
Organisers plan to create other mixed cultural productions to further broaden it's audience.