Atamira Dance Company is presenting HOU 2013 at the Auckland Arts Festival. Photo / Supplied
Atamira Dance Company is presenting HOU 2013 at the Auckland Arts Festival. Photo / Supplied
The highlight of Atamira Dance Company's annual choreographic development season, HOU for 2013 is an adrenalin-saturated, crowd-pleasing dance by choreographer Nancy Wijohn which looks destined to become much-performed.
Running just over 14 minutes, and maintaining an aerobically punishing pace, Paarua Double Contact investigates moments of sporting competition and martial combatwhen split-second, instinctive decisions occur - and in particular those moments when the desire to win eclipses conscious thought.
Seven dancers in gym gear present a rolling series of situations in which their physical prowess is very much to the fore, driven along by music tracks such as Medication (Fearless Nightcrawler Mix), a mashed-up Hungarian Dance, and Jam the Box 69.
A second new work in progress, Cathy Livermore's Wai? takes on weighty issues to do with water rights under tino rangatiratanga.
The programme also includes the company's signature Haka, choreographed by Moss Patterson; Huahua, an exciting new extract from Patterson's Moko; and Tumoana, a new section from choreographer Jack Gray's developing work Mitimiti.
