Good Company Arts presents Pōtaka Nautilus & Pepe
Saturday, March 29 - Glenroy Auditorium
Review by BRENDA HARWOOD
Beautiful, evocative dance imagery combined with stunning taonga pūoro performance in Good Company Arts’ Pōtaka Nautilus & Pepe last Saturday at the Glenroy Auditorium.
The concept of the show, the brainchild of Good Company Arts artistic director Daniel Belton, was a brilliant blending of intriguing dance films with a soundscape melding electronic sounds with live taonga pūoro.
Guided by music adviser Gillian Karawe Whitehead, four taonga pūoro musicians — Mahina Kingi-Kaui, Ariana Tikao, Dr Ruby Solly, and Alistair Fraser created a tapestry of ethereal sounds using a broad array of traditional Māori instruments. Kingi-Kaui and Tikao also added their voices in beautiful harmonies.
The underpinning electronic sounds, designed by Kano, anchored the soundtrack with deep rhythmic pulses.
The dance works themselves were fascinating, framed in a way to showcase the shapes of the nautilus shell and seed-like pepe.
The nautilus took groups of dancers on an odyssey around New Zealand’s coastal zones, while the pepe highlighted a spiritual space of creativity.
All in all Pōtaka Nautilus & Pepe was mesmerising and intriguing in equal measure, earning sustained applause from the large audience.
Music and dance . . . Dunedin Arts Festival show Potaka Nautilus & Pepe combined live taonga puoro with giant dance imagery. IMAGE: SUPPLIED
