Rongo Whakapā
Rongo Whakapā is the debut choreographic work by Brydie Colquhoun, 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 with encouragement to slow down and be fully present. Rongo Whakapā – meaning sense of touch – reflects this invitation as it examines the tension between individualism and collective community. While six dancers respond to each other and the shifting environment they co-create, audiences are invited to move freely, choose their point of view, and decide at what proximity 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.
Supported with sound design by Eden Mulholland and spatial design by Rowan Pierce, an immersive world and shared experience is created. Rongo Whakapā gently explores shifts toward decolonising performance spaces, proposing new ways—or perhaps old ways—of gathering and witnessing.
“It’s such an honour having Brydie in the Atamira whare as she works toward her choreographic debut, Rongo Whakapā—a name gifted to the work by Tūī Mātira Ranapiri-Ransfield.
Brydie is a long-time friend, colleague, and someone I’ve admired deeply for years—not just for her artistry, but for the way she moves through the world with care, integrity, and intention. She brings so much to this space. This year, she’s also studying te reo Māori full-time—a commitment that enriches not only her own practice but also the wider Atamira whānau.
Her research into connection and intimacy, and her years of embodied storytelling, are all carried into this work. Rongo Whakapā is a beautiful unfolding of that journey. It holds space for presence and reconnection—with each other, and with the environments we move through. There’s a real sense of balance in the whare right now.
Ka nui te mihi ki a koe Brydie!
Māuri tau, mauri ora”
Bianca Hyslop, Kaihautū