The Māori dictionary tells us that Rua is the numeral ‘two’, and that it also means ‘both.’

Good to know because Rua is the title chosen for The New Zealand Dance Company’s contribution to Tempo Dance Festival Te Rerenga o Tere 2024. The NZDC website says, ‘it’s a ‘powerful double bill’ – two shows by two of Aotearoa’s most lauded and most experienced choreographers Louise Pōtiki Bryant and Ross McCormack.’

Correct on both counts, this brace of works is more than impressive. Pōtiki Bryant and McCormack are both Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureates and deservedly so.

I’ve had the privilege of watching (and enjoying) both Potiki Bryant and McCormack’s works for quite a long time – in McCormack’s case probably longer than either of us care to remember – so I certainly agree with the website in its assessment of both artists and their art.

The New Zealand Dance Company describes itself as ‘a sustainable, full-time arts organisation that creates and presents innovative and inspiring contemporary dance, for our audiences in Aotearoa and around the world.’

Some of those words resonate: ‘sustainable’, ‘full-time arts organisation’, and who doesn’t get excited by art that’s ‘innovative’?

The company was founded in 2011 by Shona McCullagh (also an Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate) and General Manager Frances Turner and launched in 2012. The top-notch company website tells us that the kaupapa of the organisation was (and is) ‘to break the paradigm of dance companies operating on a project-by-project basis, presenting work by one choreographer, and moving instead to a sustainable model of presenting a variety of choreographic works.’

It’s profoundly satisfying to note that our premiere arts organisations are attracting experienced, capable, and entrepreneurial board members, in the case of The New Zealand Dance Company an illustrious bunch of blokes Brendan Meek (chair), Greg Innes, Geordan Wilcox, and Stephan Deschamps in tandem with CEO and Artistic Director Moss Patterson, who between them have more degrees than a compass.

Despite the one glaring shortcoming, much respect.

A wee niggle (certainly not with the trustees nor with the company) that, in 2024, an arts company with the mana internationally of The New Zealand Dance Company, should need to have a QR code with ‘Donate Here’ on its programme. Maybe – and I’m not suggesting anything more than the metaphorical – Hon Paul Goldsmith, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, and his philistine mates, need a swift kick up the jacksie and a reminder of the profound contribution the arts (and events generally) make to their beloved New Zealand economy and that nowhere in the world do the arts exist without subsidy. Ireland, with a similar population to Aotearoa New Zealand, has the Liz Roche Company, CoisCéim, Ériu Dance Company, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Ireland, and other organisations funded through strategic partnerships with The Arts Council of Ireland – An Chomhairle Ealaíon, who, in case a further reminder is needed, have just welcomed 1,100 schools to be part of their Creative Schools programme established in 2018 while, here in Aotearoa, programmes like this have been de-funded in favour of funding an ideologically-driven, untested, mathematics package. Also worthy of note is the level of funding the Irish equivalent of Creative New Zealand has in its back pocket – €140m (NZ$250m) as part of Budget 2025 -while Creative New Zealand receives a paltry $16.6m and, from that, CNZ is, in 2024, also expected to make savings.

Grim doesn’t cover it.

I’ve had the privilege over the years of experiencing the work of CoisCéim, Ériu Dance Company, and the Irish Modern Dance Theatre and have been knocked sideways by the quality of the work CoisCéim, Ériu Dance Company, Irish Modern Dance Theatre but not one piece has outclassed the performance of Rua that I experienced two nights ago at Q Theatre in the Rangatira room.

Rua is, as predicted, an outstanding double bill comprising In Transit (premiered in 2015), a superbly conceived and wonderfully danced work by Louise Pōtiki Bryant (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe Tahu, Waitaha) and AV designer/composer Paddy Free (Pitch Black). 

In Transit, we are told, ‘delves deep into the cultural memories and transitions of Māori rituals of encounter, heritage, identity, and the traces left behind by these rituals.’ Since 2015, In Transit has played fifteen seasons around the world ‘from Paris to Liverpool, Nelson to Napier’ and, having missed it on its earlier rambles, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to catch such superb choreography, quality dancing, music, and outstanding audio-visuals at Tempo 2024. There’s an emotional unity to Pōtiki Bryant’s work that is deeply satisfying, a sense that at all times every artist – whether onstage or off – is in tune with the work and that we are the beneficiaries.

In performance, In Transit is flawless, that level of perfection that can only come from refined hard mahi. Huge congratulations are due to dancers Bianca Hyslop, Brydie Colquhoun, Eddie Elliott, ‘Isope ’Akau’ola, Jeremy Beck, Katie Rudd, along with AV designer and composer Paddy Free, lighting designer Jo Kilgour, costume designer Kasia Pol, and of course Louise Pōtiki Bryant herself.

Ross McCormack’s Matter has also been around the traps, in this case since 2016, and it’s been universally admired. McCormack directs his laser-like choreographic focus directly on a ‘social obsession with order’ in a surreal, futuristic, landscape. There’s a distinct post-apocalyptic tone to the work not dissimilar to the haunting emotional impact of more recent dystopian works such as Mazin and Druckmann’s epic The Last of Us set twenty years into a devastating pandemic – and we all know what that feels like. It’s powerful and disturbing, relentless in its vision and manifest by the absolute excellence of conception and, of course, the dancing.

Matter ‘draws inspiration from various multi-disciplinary artists, creating a world dominated by spear-like plinths that dissect and redefine the performance space.’ They certainly do, and, better, they’re not just design features but are woven successfully into the work, a work that, unlike life, ends exactly as it began. Are we wiser, enlightened, better edified by the tortuous idiosyncrasies of the journey? The questions hang, but no answers are offered. Vaccination and kindness are long since vanished into the gloom.

The impressive soundscape that underpins the work is by Jason Wright and lighting design by the ever-reliable Jo Kilgour and both ‘amplify the narrative and examine questions of purpose, indecision, and the impact of seemingly mundane objects on the human psyche.’ 

Indecision, certainly.

Matter is danced splendidly by Bianca Hyslop, Brydie Colquhoun, Eddie Elliott, ‘Isope ’Akau’ola, Jeremy Beck, and Katie Rudd, with Aleeya McFadyen and Aylin Atalay from the New Zealand School of Dance on a set designed by choreographer McCormack himself. The whole is visually and aurally stunning.

Overall, it’s like these shows have come home for the holidays (some of the artists certainly have) and revisiting these seminal works was simply an offer they couldn’t refuse. I’m personally glad they did, even if I was emotionally wiped out by the end. Satiated, and satisfied.

Leaving the theatre is always a challenge, especially after work of this quality. We leave the soft comfort of the theatre womb and exchange it for a ‘Grand Central Station at peak time’ foyer, and its often an emotional jolt. I was denied this anguish on this occasion as it was replaced by an experience that was arguably even worse. We followed a coven of elderly ladies (I can say that because I was clearly older than them) who were bitching loudly about the show being ‘much too long’ (it wasn’t) and expressing their concern as to whether Geoffrey would have emptied the dishwasher and fed the cat (Geoffrey clearly couldn’t be trusted to complete these mundane chores nor, it seems, would he make a suitable companion on a nice visit to the theatre). My heart went out to Geoffrey, no doubt ensconced at home, in the warm, with a beer and the Americas Cup.

Speaking of sport, SportNZ recommends governance boards be made up of 40% women. I think 50% is a better number but what would I know? Maybe it’s worth considering … I’ll just leave this here.

All said and done, though, Rua is top work. Well done, New Zealand Dance Company, and a continuation of a season of smart programming by festival curator Moss Patterson.

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