Onepū, the intrinsic power of women through contemporary Māori dance

Onepū - the intrinsic power of women, conveyed through Māori contemporary dance is on show in Northland next week.

Onepū, a powerful expression of mana wahine - the intrinsic power of women - conveyed through Māori contemporary dance is on show in Northland this week.

Inspired by a Kāi Tahu tradition, as told by rangatira Teone Taare Tikao, Onepū has been created by choreographer and dancer Louise Potiki Bryant, who is also the show's video artist.

Atamira Dance Company will perform Onepū at Forum North, Whangārei, on Wednesday from 7pm to 8pm, then at Te Ahu Centre, in Kaitaia, on Friday from 7pm to 8pm.

In an atmospheric performance of dance, music and video projection, six atua wahine (female deities) control and release the winds of the world.

With a rich, layered soundtrack composed by vocalist and taonga pūoro artist Ariana Tikao and Paddy Free of Pitch Black fame, Onepū is a meditation on the different qualities brought on the winds of each these mighty atua wahine.

Onepū (sand) is named to reflect the sand bank Pikopiko-i-whiti which encircles the world and upon which six atua wahine stand in the different directions of the wind.

Meet Hine-aroaro-pari whose echoes are heard on sea cliffs, Hine-rōriki-controller of the unruly northerly winds, Hine-aroraki, Māui's mother whose name denotes the soaring flight of birds, Hine-pū-nui-o-toka from the south - the mother of all winds and Māui's grandmother, Hine-rōtia who releases the west winds, one of which brings tidings of those who have passed on and Hine-hauone from the north east, who finds Māui at sea wrapped in a cloth and nurses him to life.

Atamira Dance Company is one of Aotearoa's leading dance companies with a long legacy in the creation and presentation of high-quality Māori contemporary dance theatre.