BELLE premiered at the Aotearoa New Zealand of The Arts Feb 26th - March 6th 2022 - Click to read more

NEW SEASON FOR 2025 will be announced soon…

Belle is a multimedia performance experience that harnesses the skills of nine dance and aerial artists from across Aotearoa.

BELLE is a visual and aural spectacle for the senses. It is a work that is underpinned by light design, where a meditation on what lies beyond is researched. A futurist approach to the inhabitation of aerial apparatus and choreography is explored. Our circadian rhythms mixed with our connection to ancestors play a role in the emotional tone underpinning the work.  

Our all-female cast celebrates female strength, agility and unity. This work has these performers inhabiting an aerial world - a meditation on the cosmos in choreographic form. It aims to connect our audience on an energetic level, igniting imaginations towards what lies beyond and the sense of possibility.  The choreographic material in the work has been designed in collaboration with the aerial artists and dancers.

Belle’s bespoke aerial apparatus are designed and choreographed by Jenny Ritchie. The collection of apparatus also includes the libellule - which was created by Swiss Performance artist Mädir Eugster (1955 - 2023) from Rigolo

Belle’s set and light design by Rowan Pierce collaborates with the laws of physics. The walls melt away - smoke particles carry light as if something otherworldly has been forced into material form.  This work collaborates and collides dance, aerial performance and circus with the art of light and light architecture.

Music is composed by Eden Mulholland in collaboration with  Anita Clark who performs live.  The composition explores cyclic, melodic textures that regenerate and continuously morph - it is playing  with the idea of evolution.  The layering of multiple time signatures is designed to give a feeling of constant motion.

Rodney Bell And Guests is a new development tested in May 2024 at the Auckland Concert Chamber with support from Auckland Live and Creative New Zealand.

Rodney Bell and Guests celebrates the improvisation expertise of multi-dimensional artist Rodney Bell. A celebration of his life through connection with other artists Rodney is set up to dance or perform with 10 artists. He does not know who they are. They sit in the audience. They also have no idea who the other artists in the programme or which order they will perform - they called into the ‘Dance Ring’ through video instructions. They perform to music played live by Jol Mulholland. Rodney Bell and Guests celebrates human connection through the honesty of improvisation and the artists generosity towards each other ‘in the moment’. Rodney follows each performative moment with stories and philosophy based on his life experiences.

We are looking for opportunities to premiere Rodney Bell and Guests .

Part of AUCKLAND FRINGE TOWN Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall 21-24 February 2019

Featuring 21 independent artists from across Aotearoa, this extraordinary collaboration combined dance, music and light with audience engagement.

Part party, part gig, Movement of the Human was an unforgettable experience.

Curated by Auckland Live, Movement of the Human was part of Fringe Town, a six-day Auckland Fringe extravaganza at the historic Auckland Town Hall . MOTH won multiple awards at the Auckland Fringe Festival Awards.

Choreographers, Performers and Movement makers Rodney Bell, Chris Clegg, Victoria Colombus, Brydie Colquhoun, Maria Dabrowska, Hannah Lynch, Ngaere Jenkins, Xin Ji, Chrissy Kokiri, Connor (Ooshcon) Masseurs, Sean MacDonald, Matthew Moore, Rose Philpott, Laifa James Ta’ala, Aloalii Tapu, Carl Angeloque Tolentino, Liana Yew

Direction: Malia Johnston Set and AV Designer Rowan Pierce Lighting Design Jo Kilgour Lighting Assistant: Elekis Poblete Teirney

Music Makers Composition and sound design Eden Mulholland Piano Phoebe Deng Bass Mike Hall Drums Alistair Deverick Tabla + African Beads Melissa Panettiere

Thank you to Creative New Zealand and Auckland Live

link to Reviews

Link to Radio New Zealand Interview with Mark Amery

Malia Johnston Directed the FIFA Women’s World Cup opening ceremony at Eden Park in 2023. Eden Mulholland composed the score in collaboration with artists from Ngāti Whātua. Malia and Eden were employed by People &Co and Augusto and worked with a large team to create the live spectacle

WATCH THE BEHIND THE SCENES DOCO HERE

https://www.worldofwearableart.com

Created by Dame Suzie Moncrieff in 1987, The World of Wearable Art Awards show (WOW® )  is an international Design Competition where art is designed to be worn on the moving body and exhibited in a large scale theatrical extravaganza each year in Wellington.

Malia is a regular Artistic Director and Choreographer for WOW® she has directed 15 of the WOW® shows since its inception in 1988 these include shows between 2001-2014 and was also Show Director for the 30th Anniversary season in 2018 and 2020-2025

Rowan Pierce has designed AV content for WOW for several shows since 2013 and was the AV designer for 2017-2018. Eden Mulholland was the composer in 2018 and has been directing and composing the music since 2020

The World of Wearable Art Awards is held annually in Wellington each year.  This unique event is performed to an audience of over 60,000 annually

Since it was established in 1987 WOW has embraced the worlds of art and design, running an international competition that culminates in a spectacular theatrical performance each year. The exhilarating WOW Show is a visual feast for audiences and an opportunity for designers to be recognised and celebrated on the world stage.

WOW offers an opportunity to express innovation, originality and to push the boundaries of creativity. The World of WearableArt (WOW) Show is an unforgettable experience where the boundaries of arena spectacle, live music, dance, aerial choreography, and world-class wearable art are pushed to the extreme.

READ MORE ABOUT WOW HERE

MUSIC PROCESS

Meremere toured NZ 2021.

10 April | AUCKLAND | Q Theatre

14 April | BANNOCKBURN | Bannockburn Hall

18 April | FESTIVAL OF COLOUR | Lake Wanaka Centre

20 April | INVERCARGILL | Repertory House

8 May | NEW PLYMOUTH | TSB Showplace

11 May | TAURANGA | Baycourt Community and Arts Centre

13 May | HAMILTON | Meteor Theatre

15 May | WHANGĀREI | Forum North

Meremere is a powerful, engaging autobiographical work from an exceptional artist, Rodney Bell | Ngāti Maniapoto.

‘This autobiographical, multi-disciplinary and life-affirming survival story drew the cheering opening night audience to its feet.’ Dominion Post, June 23, 2018

‘Meremere is a complex work of art where design, AV and lighting play as significant a role as story-telling, music and dance.’ NZ Herald, October 2016

Meremere is a courageous response to an incredible series of life events; an inspirational performance with live music from the equally exceptional artist, Eden Mulholland. Developed in collaboration with director Malia Johnston and Movement of the Human (MOTH). Meremere premiered to rave reviews in 2016 and has won Rodney the 2017 Arts Access Artistic Achievement Award, and the 2016 Attitude Artistic Achievement Award. In the 2018 Wellington Theatre Awards Rodney won The Grant Tilly Actor of the Year for Meremere, Eden won Sound Designer of the Year For Meremere and Rushes (another MOTH production), Rowan Pierce won Excellence for AV Design and Malia won Director of the Year for both productions.

Meremere is layered and compelling: an autobiographical performance work that integrates documentary footage, interviews, movement and imagery into 54 extraordinary minutes. It is an inspiring multi-faceted survival story with a focus on Rodney’s time living rough on the streets of San Francisco. An impressionistic and surreal experience of an extraordinary artist’s life.

A critically acclaimed dancer and performer, Rodney is internationally renowned for his physically integrated performance. In 2007 Rodney joined AXIS Dance Company (USA) as principal dancer, touring 32 states until 2012. After finishing with AXIS and before his return to New Zealand, Rodney experienced a period of homelessness on the streets of San Francisco: a life changing experience that inspired the creation of Meremere. The work is insightful, surprising, very personal and incredibly engaging.

‘Meremere is a small but beautifully formed production that takes us on a journey of undiminished hope and wonder’ Theatreview, June 23, 2018

Performer Rodney Bell Director Malia Johnston AV Design Rowan Pierce Music Eden Mulholland Dramaturgy Emma Willis Cultural Advisor Tūī Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield Set Design John Verryt Photography Tom Hoyle Graphic Design Ian Hammond Producer Romola Lang

Funded by CNZ with support from Touch Compass Dance Trust

Meremere toured across New Zealand 2016-2019.

Gisborne 2019 Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, Oct 12,13. Hawkes Bay 2019 HB Arts Festival, Oct 16. August 2019 South Island tour: 17 performances in theatres, schools. June 2018 North Island tour: 32 performances in theatres, prisons and Marae. October 2016 premiered Tempo Dance Festival.

click here for 2016 REVIEWS

click here for INFORMATION ON RODNEY’S ARTS ACCESS AWARD FOR ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

click here for 2018 REVIEWS

click here for INFORMATION ON 2018 WELLINGTON THEATRE AWARDS

click here for PANTOGRAPH PUNCH ROUND UP FROM 2018

April 2018 premiered GC2018, 8 performances on the Roundabout Stage.

Hurihuri (verb): to spin, revolve, rotate, twirl. (Maori Dictionary)

Hurihuri is constructed around the wheel and motion with the poise and spin of counterbalanced aerial performance, it fuses hip hop and contemporary movement with traditional kapa haka on an urban, circular stage.  Hurihuri was commissioned by Festival 2018 (GC2018), the arts and cultural programme of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and was created specifically for a 10m outdoor stage (The Roundabout) with its impressive 10m aerial rig.  Local Gold Coast collaborators Turanga Ake, roller-skaters, and other wheelie masters performed against a live soundscape of drums, electronic loops and traditional Maori instruments: taonga pūoro. Hurihuri fizzes with energy, magic and heart.  The whirling, revolution of motion and sound builds through the power of the haka to a breathtaking finale: an aerial duet starring award winning integrated artist Rodney Bell with Brydie Colquhoun.

Hurihuri works as well during the day as it does under lights. The show is a 30 minute high energy spectacular that drew large crowds throughout its eight performances at the Festival.  It is suited to populated outdoor environments and promotes inclusivity and accessibility.  Hurihuri can be shaped to showcase local performance strengths and architectural spaces, it is an astonishing swirling collaborative spectacular.

‘Hurihuri is an ambitious new commission from New Zealand, a tremendous celebration of diversity and a colourful blend of traditional and contemporary Maori culture.’ Festival 2018 Gold Coast Co-Creative Director Yaron Lifschitz

Director Malia Johnston Dancers Rodney Bell, Brydie Colquhoun, Matthew Moore, Cuba Haslam Composer and Live Musician Tom Scrase Aerial Choreographer Jenny Ritchie Aerial Rigger Tom Hoyle Guest Choreographer (Duet) Julia Harvie Costume Designer Claire Croskery Set Consultation John Verryt Producer Romola Lang Guest Artists Turanga Ake (Gold Coast)   

click here FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH RODNEY BELL

Three artists commissioned by Auckland Theatre Company to develop new performance work as they launch their 25th anniversary season.

Malia Johnston, Kate Parker and Katie Wolfe each present a new work in the early stages of development over a festival style weekend.

Moon is the NEW WORK by artists from MOTH.  Moon is created in collaboration with Eden Mulholland and Rowan Pierce.  It is a dance-theatre piece inspired by the night sky. We now use our mobile phones to navigate and connect, but the cosmos was the original internet guiding and connecting explorers, dreamers, scientists and hunters.   We have invited 9 young writers to contribute their own words as starting points for the work. We invite the audience to add their voice and responses to Moon.

We will keep you posted for the next installment of MOON

Show Dates Friday 6th, Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th October 2017.  ASB Waterfront Theatre Auckland.

MOVEMENT MAKERS & PERFORMERS: Cuba Haslam, Claire O'Neil, Sean McDonald, Melana Khabazi, Taniora Motutere, Braedyn Humphries, Olivia Foley

SET DESIGN: John Verryt

LIGHTING: Andrew Malmo

DIRECTION: Malia Johnston

NEW MUSIC: Eden Mulholland

AV DESIGN: Rowan Pierce

March 2017 premiered Auckland Fringe in partnership with Auckland Live, NZI foyer, Aotea Centre

February 2018 New Zealand Festival in partnership with Te Papa, Circa Theatre, Wellington

live music gig meets art gallery meets theatre dance and film

'Rushes is the perfect festival event, leaving audience members smiling...It's simultaneously relaxing, energising, entrancing, immersive, fanciful, inspiring and entirely delightful.' The New Zealand Herald

Rushes is an interarts experience: a loop of wrapped rooms/spaces weaving together light, texture, performance, film, projection, song and soundscape.  A large diverse, range of performers: dancers, actors, singers inhabit the spaces where you can stand and watch, or peer through peep holes or be immersed.  All the spaces are active, continually developing over the performance time with no performance the same: secret guest artists are invited to perform with the core cast each night. 

RUSHES is an immersive social experience.  Video artist Rowan Pierce uses projection and spatial design to construct each vignette, providing ‘surreal poetic light imagery’.  Composer Eden Mulholland with his brother Jol play live throughout the entire exhibition. The soundscape is audible everywhere as you navigate the loop or you could wind your way through to Eden and Joel as they build to the finale: the interactive ‘pulsating upheaval’. As with the entire Rushes experience you can be as involved as you want - or you can simply watch.

John Verryt uses textured paper for the lush structural canvas transforming the entire space into a paper labyrinth: creating nooks and crannies you enter into, tears and holes you peer through, alleys you wander through: a unique ever evolving, curated performance experience.  As a gallery, the space is designed in a loop so areas can be re-visited.  You can record and photograph your experience, creating your own story and engaging with whatever captures you #RushesExperience

Rushes won the Best in Fringe, Best Ensemble, Best Production design - Lighting and AV in the  2017 Fringe Awards.

It’s second outing, which took over the entire Circa Theatre, earned the team Sound Designer of the Year, Excellence Award for AV Design, Set Designer of the Year and Director of the Year at the Wellington Theatre Awards 2018 .

Rushes speaks to core MOTH notions of reimagining performance and space; cleaving new pathways toward meaningful and enduring performance art experience calibrated to unique architectural spaces.

click here for 95BFM PODCAST WITH EDEN MULHOLLAND

click here for 2017 REVIEWS

click here for 2017 FRINGE AWARDS

click here for 2018 REVIEWS

click here for 2018 THEATRE AWARDS, WELLINGTON

click here for PANTOGRAPH PUNCH ROUND UP FROM 2018

He Wawā Waraki: Roaring Chorus is a specially commissioned creative performance that weaves historic texts, contemporary poetry, waiata, dance and music to evoke the energy, sound and emotion of the moment war finally gave way to peace. Directed by choreographer Malia Johnston it includes an original score by composer Eden Mulholland and a specially commissioned poem from Airini Beautrais. It features performances from Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Maisey Rika, Supertonic, Hau Manu ki Te Papa and a 50-strong cast of dancers and drummers.

He Wawā Waraki: Roaring Chorus was performed as part of the Armistice Centenary National Ceremony at Pukeahu National War Memorial in Wellington on Sunday 11 November 2018.

MOTH was engaged and Commissioned by The Ministry of Culture and Heritage WW100 to conceptualise, create and deliver this work.

Article and interview

RADIO NZ INTERVIEW

Creative Director: Malia Johnston

Rehearsal Director: Victoria Colombus

Score: Eden Mulholland

Taonga Puoro: Hau Manu ki Te Papa: Shane Pasene, Shane James, Chrissie Locke, Amber Aranui, Simon Jean

Reader of Ending Song by Airini Beautrais: Jennifer Ward-Lealand

Waiata: Performed by Maisey Rika (Ngāti Awa, Tūhoe, Te Arawa, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui)

Harpist: Vanessa Souter

Drums: Tom Scrase, Thomas Friggens, James Feekes, Markus McCraith, Sam Notman, Andreas Lepper, Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa, Hannah Neman

Dancers: Toa Paranihi, Isabel Estrella, Sharn Te Pou, Jeremy Beck, Anu Khapung, Taniora Motutere, Christina Guieb, Andrew Miller, Brydie Colquhoun, Connor Masseurs

Te Auaha New Zealand Institute of Creativity Whitireia Performing Arts students: Ioane Felise, Tahuaroa Ohia . Daniel Fraser-Haimona, Piimio Mei, Sina Esera, Pokotea Ruaporo, Levonia Faumui, Yasmine Sio, Alisha Mitchell-Te Maipi, Mina Ruaporo, Arihia Mitchell-Hetaraka

New Zealand School of Dance students: Courtney Lim, Sarah Kaye Davies, Holly Hepburn, Haruka Chan, Coco Lennon, Annabel Webster, Ruairi McEntyre, Caspar Ilschner, Eden Kew, Levi Siaosi, Stephanie Halyburton, Deu Brink, Erin Meek, Otto Kosok, Cade Hansen, Amit Noy, Tessa Redman, Ella Driene

Spirit of the Park | Tūmatauenga: Tarikura Kapea | Toa Waaka

Readings: Letter from Captain Harry Dansey (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa) to his fiancée read by Tane Rolfe from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. Recollections of nurse Isobel Haresnape, read by Lydia Bensky from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School

Choir Supertonic: Samantha Kelly , Briony Pentecost, Sophie Youngs, Juliette Irwin, Rebecca Kate Thomson, Ellie Stewart, Martha Palmer, Natalie Williams, Emma Cameron, Hannah Timms, Emily Irwin, Claire Neil, Anne Williams, Joel Miller, Callum Iosefa Neil, Richard Kleingeld, Rondell Del Rosario, Aaron Miller, Tom Williams, Renée Iosefa Neil, Simon Jackson, Zachary Cresswell, Phill Houlihan, Fraser Pearce, Alan Keegan

Band: The Royal New Zealand Air Force Band led by David Gallaher

Carillon: Timothy Hurd QSM

Children: Aidan, AJ, Alice, Alexandros, Anna, Christos, Eve, Francesca, Hannah, Haylee, Hugh, Isabella, Kyra Lucia, Lucas, Marisa, Maytal, Manon, Pollyanna, Rebecca, Rosa, Sophie, TJ and Tom.

Cast and Crew Manager: Jessie Alsop

Special thanks to Mt Cook School and the Wellington Home Education Network and Jan Bergquist

invited to perform at the inaugural True Colours Festival in Singapore 2018, Rodney and Brydie presented a ground duet against an enormous pulsing geometric LED backdrop.

The president of Singapore invited the team over to the Palace for tea and cake.

Malia Johnston, Taiaroa Royal and Taane Mete come together to create a  powerful collage of imagery and movement that transcends time and space. Through a collaborative and co-authroship process these 3 choreographers worked together with the design team to create a surreal and transcendent work that, through strong imagry, reflects  themes of death, life, spirit, creature and culture.  The true story of Te Aokapurangi, a young maiden from Mokoia Island, influenced the starting point of this production. She was captured in battle by a tribe from the far North. Many years later she returned and single handedly saved her people from slaughter. Te Aokapurangi has been the pivotal inspiration behind this work. The story of her courage, determination and fearlessness provides Okareka with the challenge to create a vision of strength that empowers women around the world. Mana Wahine is a commanding work that will uplift the spiritual status of “the woman” within us all. This is a 70min performance that has toured extensively throughout New Zealand.  Premiered June/July 2014. On tour 2016 to Auckland and Wellington

“Mana Wahine is above all a rich fusion of choreography, music, tikanga Maori and performance practices, AV, lighting and performance design … enriched and enlivened by the dancing of five powerhouse performers.” Raewyn Whyte, Theatreview

AV Design - Rowan Pierce, Music - Victoria Kelly, Lighting - VandaKarolczak, Set Design- Tracey Collins, Costume Design - Elizabeth Whiting.  Dancers Nancy Wijohn, Bianca Hyslop, Jana Castillo, Maria Munkowits, Chrissy Kokiri

REVIEWS:

12 JULY 2014 – OTAGO DAILY TIMES

06 JULY 2014 – NZ HERALD – TAIAROA ROYAL MY HAPPY PLACE

06 JULY 2014 – KEEPING UP WITH NZ

03 JULY 2014 – NZ HERALD

03 JULY 2014 – THEATREVIEW

03 JULY 2014 – THEATRE SCENES

02 JULY 2014 – DANCE INFORMA MAGAZINE

28 JUNE 2014 – NZ THEATREVIEW

28 JUNE 2014 – NZ HERALD

15 FEBRUARY 2014 – CONTEMPORARY MAORI DANCE.COM REVIEW

Movement of the Human - in collaboration with Touch Compass - conceived, directed and produced the inaugural InMotion Matariki (June 10, 2017) Auckland’s illuminated all-wheels parade.  A fully marshalled, family-friendly all-wheels ride for bikes, scooters, wheelchairs.  The mid-winter spectacular was held at the beginning of Matariki celebrations.   The parade wound it magical journey from the Cloud along the waterfront encountering music and performance as it rolled.  The parade finished at Silo Park where participants watched a spectacular performance at the gantry featuring Touch Compass performers, alumni and special guests.

Large key floats were designed and created by Lucid Dreambike (Wellington) and public workshops were held to inspire illumination ideas for everyone’s wheels.

“Powerful, evocative, moving and beautiful”
– Alexa Wilson, Theatreview, 2007

"Dark Tourists is painfully well-named. Bleak and dislocated and caustic and critical and sharp and sinewy and voyeuristic and nihilistic and darkly comic and absolutely stunning. Its territory is a mix of Hieronymus Bosch, Bill Hammond and Samuel Beckett, in a post-modern, post-Al Gore era.”
– Jennifer Shennan, Dominion Post, 2008

A provocative dance-theatre work, Dark Tourists explores our attraction to sites of death and disaster.  In a world filled with birds, salt, empty coats and exploding televisions screens, tourists come ready to pluck souvenirs from the aftermath.

Dark Tourists was developed over an extensive creative development period and presented in the Auckland Arts Festival in 2007, and subsequently re-developed and toured to Te Whaea Theatre, Wellington, where it won ‘Best Dance Production’ in the 2008 New Zealand Fringe Festival Awards.

Dark Tourists was inspired by the term, “dark tourism,” coined by tourism scholars to describe the tourist practice of visiting sites of atrocity and disaster.  The work explored how memorial sites employ attempt to enable to tourists to “feel” the force of the past.  

Dark Tourists featured two layers: one that showed individuals struggling in the aftermath of an un-named disaster, and another that showed dark tourists who followed in its wake. The performance was a blend of dance and theatre where narrated text, dialogue, monologue and song were interwoven with choreographic sequences.  The post-catastrophic stage – a debris-strewn set featuring jackets, shoes and hair and radio tape recorders – was marked by a series of material and psychological traces.  The hanging jackets created a landscape of empty forms, shoes were carefully carried about in piles, and images of the performers’ hair were used to suggest their disappearance. These objects were responded to as if they were bodies.

Choreography and direction: Malia Johnston
Dramaturgy and co-direction: Emma Willis
Live music and composition: Eden Mulholland
Producer: Michele Powles
Cast and co-creators: Peter Daube, Paul Young, Malia Johnston, Julia Harvie, Claire Lissaman, Sean MacDonald Eden Mulholland, Sally Stockwell, Paora Taurima, Mia Blake.
Lighting: Martyn Roberts (2007), Paula VanBeek (2008)
Set design: Grant Wackrow
Marketing photos: James Ensing-Trussle
Performance photos: Philip Merry

Dark Tourists was made possible by the support of Creative New Zealand funding.

“Flip Pivot Boom is a clear vote for technique, talent and a recognisable art.” 
– Bernadette Rae

Direction + Movement design: Malia Johnston
Choreographers and Performers: Dancers from FOOTNOTE DANCE COMPANY
AV Design: Rowan Pierce
Music: Bevan Smith
Costumes + Set: Movement Of The Human

commissioned by FOOTNOTE DANCE COMPANY

“Malia Johnston's Brouhaha perfectly balances the play of light and projected image with fantastically danced movement”
– Bernadette Rae

“Malia Johnston’s Brouhaha set to Eden Mulholland’s charismatic score, was a tour de force of dance, music and light. An abstract, sophisticated work, it gathered momentum in an exuberant ball of energy…a genius at composition, producing a play board of characters searching and reaching out, each dancer occupying a separate space in a moving kaleidoscope.”
- Francesca Horsley

Direction and Movement Design: Malia Johnston
Choreographers and Performers: Dancers from New Zealand Dance Company
AV Design: Rowan Pierce
Music: Eden Mulholland
Costume and Set Design: Kasia Pol

Brouhaha is a commision by New Zealand Dance Company

On 16-17th May 2016 the Tripartite Summit was held at the ANZ viaduct events centre at the Viaduct Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand.

Delegates from Los Angeles, Guangzhou and Auckland came together for this multi-day event, which showcased Auckland’s broad business and investment landscape, expertise in key growth sectors and our unique culture and experiences.

Movement of the Human was commissioned by Tempo Dance Festival's Carrie-Rae in collaboration with Auckland City Council to make a unique and new movement work for the Summit Dinner, guests included diplomats, ambassadors and New Zealand's Prime Minister.  We brought together 6 dancers, hailing from Guangzhou’s Modern Dance Company, LA’s Contemporary Dance Company and Auckland.  With these dancers we made a new work that focused on the key themes of the summit and that ultimately created a work where the movers from each city had equal and valued input into the creation of the piece.

Rowan Pierce created dynamic AV material to support the work and to provide impact inside this arena.

Dancers: Sean MacDonald, Bianca Hyslop, Genevieve Carson, Tess Hewlett, LIU Qingyu, HE Min

For more photos of the opening please visit FLICKER

“Choreographically and visually satisfying, it also stimulates intellectually”
– Ann Hunt, Capital Times

Interweaving movement, music and moving image, Body/Fight/Time is a large-scale full-length dance piece created by Malia Johnston and Emma Willis in collaboration with Footnote Dance. Starting from ideas of the body under attack, the work playfully explores images of collision, impact and conflict. By various turns absurd, moving and exposed, the work is an engaging look at how our bodies define us.

The cast of Body/Fight/Time was an eclectic mix of some of the most interesting dancers performing across the country, ranging in experience and age from a New Zealand School of Dance student to seasoned veteran and NZ dance icon Kilda Northcote.

Body/Fight/Time employed the motif of the body and its shadow to explore physical and psychological conflict at an abstract level.  The ensemble performance used flighting as the basis for the work’s choreography, which featured movement patterns abstracted from gestures of kicking, striking, jumping and evading. The work’s scenes collapsed the distinction between inner and outer violence and explored the interconnectedness of violence between individuals and groups.

Choreography and Direction: Malia Johnston
Dramaturgy and Co-Direction: Emma Willis
Producer: Adrianne Roberts for SHOW PONY Performers and Co-Creators: Mariana Rinaldi, Kilda Northcote, Paul Young, Francis Christeller, Lucy Marinkovich, Emily Adams, Olivia McGregor, Emmanuel Reynaud, Carl Tolentino with contributions from Josh Rutter, Natalie Hona, Jingwen Xu, Alice Macann
Composer: Eden Mulholland
Set Design: John Verryt
AV Design: Rowan Pierce
Lighting Design: Brad Gledhill
Marketing Photography: Robin Kerr
Performance/Rehearsal Photography: Philip Merry

Body/Fight/Time was made possible by the support of Creative New Zealand funding.

Terrain is a movement installation performance.  It has been performed over 100 times throughout New Zealand and Australia.

An exploration of landscape, scale and place, Terrain is a performance in which the miniature and the giant collide in a distinctly human exploration of precariousness and the inevitability of change.

Presented on an installation consisting of a tiny kitset plywood stage, artificial turf, miniature props and vintage music played on a retro hi-fi, Terrain is at once profound and universal, with a distinct folk sensibility.  It playfully subverts traditional ideas about what dance can be, combining it with physical theatre, visual imagery and high energy partnering, as it if were just as much an art exhibition in motion.

Direction and Design: Malia Johnston and Guy Ryan
Choreograhers and Performers: Malia Johnston, Guy Ryan, Anita Hunziker, Luke Hana
Set Design: John Verryt
Props, Sound, Lighting: Malia Johnston and Guy Ryan

Click here for reviews

“Feral, fierce and surprisingly funny investigation of some of the deeper aspects of human nature”
– Raewyn Whyte, New Zealand Herald

Featuring two men fighting for survival in a precarious environment. Amanimal is a witty look at animals, men and the worlds they build and break apart.  The visceral and funny work features MOTH'S characteristic blend of striking performance, absurd comedy, live music and compelling audiovisual imagery.

Amanimal premiered at Q Theatre in February 2013 as part of the Auckland Fringe Festival, where it won two Auckland Fringes Awards: 2013 Best Production, Dance; Best Performance, Dance (Ross McCormack).  

The work underwent further development in 2014.

Direction: Malia Johnston
Dramaturgy and Co-Direction: Emma Willis
Original Performance and Choreography: Ross McCormack, Paul Young
Performance and Composition: Eden Mulholland
Set design: John Verryt
AV design: Rowan Pierce
Lighting design: Amber Molloy

Amanimal was made possible by the support of Creative New Zealand funding.

RNZ interview with Malia Johnston