13 November 2009

Media Release

Pacific Dance Fono 2009

Manukau comes alive this weekend with the third Pacific Dance Fono. Twenty-five Pacific Island dancers and choreographers are exploring how to move between their traditional and contemporary dance forms.

The Pacific Dance Fono celebrates Pacific dance in Aotearoa New Zealand and aims to provide capacity building, exposure and development for the Pacific Island dance community.

The project is supported by Manukau City Council, Dance Aotearoa New Zealand, Pacific Islands Dance Forum, Manukau Festival of Arts and Creative New Zealand.

Fono director Sefa Enari says that he looks forward to seeing the results of the fono “make a meaningful contribution to contemporary dance in this country.

“This is the first time the fono has been held over two days. The programme is extremely exciting and challenging. We’re running practical workshops, panel discussions, a hip hop dance forum and master dance classes in Polynesian and Melanesian dance forms.”

The development workshops for dancers and choreographers cover business, education, funding and tax, dance health and safety, community dance, and careers in dance.

The international guest artist for 2009 is Julia Mage’au Gray, director of Sunameke Productions, a Pacific Island performance group based in Darwin, Australia.

New Pacific dance works will be developed as part of the Choreographic Lab, held during the preceding two weeks. The lab gives four choreographers an opportunity to develop new work during two weeks of intensive rehearsals with dedicated dancers and experienced dance mentors. The choreographers are Justin Hiau (Auckland), Melissa Leaupepe (Manukau), Siaosi Mulipola (Christchurch) and Carolanne Makakaufaki (Manukau).

The fono concludes with the launch of the new dance works in a special public performance on Saturday 14 November.

What:                                      Pacific Dance Fono 09

Dates and times:                   Friday 13 November, 9am - 6pm

Saturday 14 November, 9am - 7.30pm

Evening performance:         Saturday 14 Nov, 6.30pm

Venue:                                    Metro Theatre, Massey Road, Mangere East, Manukau

Cost:                                       Fono attendance is by registration only. Phone 09 815 1420 or

email: fono@danz.org.nz

ENDS

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