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A decade after opening the doors of a small dance studio in their Frimley garage, Deepthi Krishna and Sreejith Nair are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Hawke’s Bay Indian Cultural Centre with their most ambitious performance yet – a blend of Māori and Indian culture.
On Friday, April 26, the Toitoi Opera House will host Wairua Paani, a multicultural production merging Indian classical and Bollywood dance with te ao Māori storytelling.
The show is a collaboration between the Hawke’s Bay Indian Cultural Centre (HBICC) and Wahanui Productions, led by Kristyl Neho and co-director Eunice August-Smith, a creative alliance reflecting the increasingly diverse identity of Hawke’s Bay.
Sreejith Nair (left), Eunice August-Smith and Deepthi Krishna join forces for a multicultural collaboration. Photo / Rafaella Melo
“Wairua means spirit. Paani is water in Hindi,” August-Smith explains.
“We’re bringing to the stage a spiritual journey through water.”
“In both cultures, the water is sacred. That’s the thread of the story,” Krishna told Hawke’s Bay Today.
She said the production mixed a classic Indian story based on redemption through the sacred River Ganges with a contemporary Māori narrative of loss, memory and ancestral connection.
Bringing the two worlds together hasn’t been without challenges, though.
Hawke’s Bay Indian Cultural Centre dancers dressed for Wairua Paani, a performance blending Indian and Māori cultures. Photo / Sajith Photography
“The creative side can be hysterical,” August-Smith said with a laugh.
She said there were moments when everything seemed to fall into place – until it didn’t.
“When you get so excited about something and then you hit the wall ... but I was taught by a mana wāhine, there are no walls except the ones you refuse to climb over. There is always a way around it.”
August-Smith said the experience of this collaboration was an example of what is possible beyond the performance space.
“How well would it be if we could do that out in the world? Instead of having gigantic hīkoi because one people disrespect other people so much, and yet we can show that different people can work together and achieve gigantic strides on stage.”
The show will feature elegant dancing, stage combat kapa haka, waiata and te reo, with live music by Anton Wuts and his Bollywood Band.
The full programme will run for about two hours and is a result of years of creativity and community effort.
“We started HBICC in 2015 with just seven students,” Krishna recalled.
“I had a science background, worked in food quality, but dancing was always my passion.”
HBICC founder Deepthi Krishna in costume for Wairua Paani. Photo / Sajith Photography
Over the years, HBICC has hosted annual dance shows under the banner “made for a cause”, donating portions of ticket proceeds ranging from $1500 to $2500 to local charities.
