Pōtaka Nautilus and Pepe, a double-feature presentation of music and dance, are showing together for one night only tonight as part of this year’s Dunedin Arts Festival.
Good Company Arts director Daniel Belton said the show was a live performance of taonga puoro — or traditional Māori instruments — by four musicians with southern Māori connections .
"It’s really the universal languages of dance and music that are coming together in this sort of digital meeting place," Mr Belton said.
"Live musicians on stage, large format film projection which is also live-keyed ... it's kind of like a hybrid of digital and live."
Also mixed with electronic audio, the performances would take audiences on an immersive journey that connected them with nature, Mr Belton said.
"These are New Zealand works.
"You see the human presence of navigating and exploring water, earth, air, and sunlight is also big in the film journeys of both Pōtaka Nautilus and Pepe."
Pepe, which translates from Te Reo Māori as moth or butterfly, featured cinematography depicting a figure with wings made from woven flax.
Pōtaka Nautilus also used drone footage of the Otago Peninsula.
Among the taonga pūoro being played were the pūtōrino, which could be played as a flute, trumpet or bugle, and the pūtātara, an "absolutely stunning" conch shell trumpet, Mr Belton said.
"It’s completely different to Western instruments — there's this connection to nature, to the elements, and a sense of timeless sound that comes from taonga puoro.
"You're living and breathing with these instruments, it feels very natural, very organic, and also emotional."
He hoped audiences would take away a "sense of wonder" from the performance.
Taonga pūoro was an art form returning to prominence, and the show was a wonderful way to celebrate its power and majesty, Mr Belton said.
Pōtaka Nautilus and Pepe are showing tonight at the Glenroy Auditorium.
