Te Ara Moana Moves
Connected by the Ocean
TAUMATA WHITIREIA
About the work
We Are Connected by the Ocean by TAUMATA WHITIREIA is an immersive five-part contemporary dance series tracing the ancestral connections linking Māori and Pasifika peoples across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. The series invites audiences to witness living, evolving stories expressed through the bodies, movements, and mana of emerging artists.
Each performance unfolds like a new tide, five distinct offerings shaped by the voices of emerging Māori and Pasifika choreographers. These artists respond to their cultural inheritance while reshaping it through contemporary dance vocabularies, blending tradition and innovation.
The ocean serves as more than metaphor: it is connective tissue, witness, and navigator, holding whakapapa, storm, and stillness. Each installment explores a unique theme, reflecting the past, present, and future currents of Indigenous creativity.
We Are Connected by the Ocean is both platform and process. It offers a space for artistic development, where performers can play, experiment, and trust their intuitive creativity while honoring whakapapa. The series uplifts the next generation of movers, thinkers, and storytellers, giving them the space to breathe, move, and be seen.
About the artist
Taumata Whitireia
Pōneke, Aotearoa
TAUMATA WHITIREIA is a collective of qualified and experienced performing artists based in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. The collective nurtures the next generation of movers, thinkers, and storytellers, providing a platform where Māori and Pasifika artists can experiment, innovate, and honour their cultural inheritance through contemporary dance.
Their work foregrounds ancestral connection, embodied knowledge, and the interplay of tradition and contemporary expression, creating performances that are deeply rooted, forward-looking, and transformative.