Holding Ground / Intensional Particle
Theatre Royal, 78 Rutherford Street, Nelson
30/10/2025 - 30/10/2025
Production Details
CREATIVE TEAM
Holding Ground
Choreographer: Moss Te Ururangi Patterson
Composition: Shayne P Carter & James Marsden
Intensional Particle
Choreographer/Dancer: Hiroaki Umeda
Image Direction: S20
The New Zealand Dance Company
A Double Bill: Holding Ground by Moss Te Ururangi Patterson / Intensional Particle by
Hiroaki Umeda
Holding Ground brings together two dynamic works that stand in striking contrast – one
grounded in place, the other in technology. Each explores how the body navigates pressure,
imbalance, and the ever-present pull of change.
A duet by Moss Te Ururangi Patterson, the titular work unfolds within a confined space, where
two dancers engage in a shifting exchange of tension and release. One anchors, the other
interrupts, evoking the challenge of staying steady while everything around you moves. With
an original score by Shayne P Carter and taonga pūoro master musician James Webster , the
work draws on deep currents of gravity and wairua. Entering a state of hypofrontality, the
dancers move instinctively – calm in the storm, present, and guided by something older than
thought.
Intensional Particle by Japanese artist Hiroaki Umeda constructs a charged sensory terrain
where light, sound, and movement converge. In this solo, the body dissolves into data – an
intricate pulse of vibration and force. What emerges is both meticulous and explosive: a
meditation on disruption, transformation, and the blurring of human and digital forms.
Together, these two works form a vivid counterpoint. Holding Ground invites us to sit in the
tension between motion and stillness, and to find within that space a renewed sense of
balance and connection.
Hawkes Bay Arts Festival
Napier Municipal Theatre
Thu 16 Oct 2025, 6:00pm
Tauranga Arts Festival
Baycourt Addison Theatre
Mon 27 Oct 2025, 5.00pm
Nelson Arts Festival
Theatre Royal Nelson
Thu 30 Oct 2025, 7:00pm
Holding Ground
Dancers: Eden Kew, Caterina Moreno
Intensional Particle
Dancer: Hiroaki Umeda
Visual Research: Ludovic Burczykowski
Image Programming: Shoya Dozono
Video Editing: Guillaume Gravier
Dance ,
70 minutes
Responding to pressure, imbalance and the ever-present pull of change
Review by Melanie Stewart 31st Oct 2025
Holding Ground brings together two powerful dance works. Holding Ground, choreographed by Moss Te Ururangi Patterson, and Intensional Particle, choreographed by Hiroaka Umeda. Each explores the body’s response to pressure, imbalance and the ever-present pull of change.
Holding Ground is performed by two talented dancers, Eden Kew and Caterina Moreno, working together in a tight space, constantly shifting between tension and release.
They move as one in unison or with contrasting movement on varying levels, sometimes flowing from movement to movement and sometimes snapping into sharp poses, creating and recreating shape and form. Only deviating once to contrast Moreno’s stillness with Kew’s acrobatic prowess.
The soundscape, an original score by Shayne P Carter and taonga pūoro master musician James Webster, flows beneath the performance with the same resonance and fluidity as the dancers.
In contrast, Intensional Particle, choreographed and performed by Hiroaki Umeda, is a sensory eruption. The lighting and sound are discordant and loud, sweeping in and out through various levels of intensity. Umeda moves with the same various levels of intensity, matching the explosiveness of the lights and contrasting it with moments of stillness.
There were times when I almost feet overcome by the visual and auditory stimuli, but I am compelled to continue watching to see where it will take me. If I were to catch a meaning from this performance, it would relate to the paroxysm of technology that threatens to overwhelm us all, and we need to hold our ground against the onslaught.
If I have one complaint, it is that the lightscape, means Umeda is often in darkness, and I can’t fully enjoy his eclectic style of dance. This is not for the faint hearted, and the strobe lighting warning should be taking seriously. But for those who enjoy seeing this art form explored and challenged, it is a sensory feast.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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