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.