Please Let Me Remain, is A/MOTION’s debut work as an emerging project-based contemporary dance collective, founded by Aylin Atalay. The work is an intimate exploration of sisterhood through the lens of Aylin’s roots and identity as a Turkish/Pakeha woman.
Five dancers will explore how sisterhood affects the individual and the group as one entity. Women together in comfort, sharing the same mundane experiences.
The games we make up, the future we see together, the life we romanticise. The culture we are all at the root of, and the hope there are better days ahead.
Taking influence from Turkish traditions and Aylin’s interest in reflecting the human experience, the audience will witness intertwined female connections that hold up the group and carry stories, memories and values. Viewers will observe how this culture stays rooted in the individual while they are alone and how sisterhood is a bond that keeps things moving.
It is a journey of surrendering to the space together and enjoying simplicity, nostalgia, and the tangents relationships have. In contrast to this, it holds a melancholic quality when a dancer is alone. We are a result of the women who raised us. How do we continue to carve this path for others?
Performed as part of the 2026 NZ Fringe Festival.
The Gryphon Theatre, 22 Ghuznee Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011 Tuesday 24th – Thursday 26th Feb 2026, 7pm Saturday 28th Feb 2026, 3pm Tickets: Adult $25 | Concession $15 https://tickets.fringe.co.nz/event/446:8238
My senses and memories are gently stirred upon entering the Gryphon Theatre for the debut of A/MOTION Collective’s Please Let Me Remain in the Wellington Fringe Fest 26. The aroma of apple hangs in the air alongside murmurs of conversation, and I recall smoky café nooks with glowing shisha pipes, familiar in so many cities. Lighting Design by Jessie Rochford-Barber creates an intimate setting warmed by a low-hanging lamp. Kneeling around the table are five young women dressed in white, drinking tea. Smiling cheekbones and intent listening eyes are illuminated with amber tones. They are absorbed by each other’s storytelling, occasionally laughing. The central soundscape by sound designer Sibel Atalay is airy, but punchy enough to make it impossible to eavesdrop on the conversation.
The opening invites us to settle into this world influenced by the choreographer Atalay’s Turkish roots, and to absorb the elegant stage design by Kelsey Bamford. It invites me to bring my own histories and longings of sisterly connection into the room. There is white lace fabric suspended stage left with intricate patterns that reinforce the cultural architecture and localise us in Turkey. The hanging textile gives a sense of open space, evoking memory and tradition. A length of soft white translucent cloth hangs and breathes at the back of the stage, a somewhat quiet collaborator and soft partition between private and communal. Between the two hanging cloths lies a Turkish mat, eluding the eye to a place of rest.
Atalay commences the dancing, slow and considered at first, with a sensory touch of hands brushing skin and costume (by Sophie Meiklejohn) that is white with one long sleeve, adorned with fabric resembling the one above the stage. The others join in one by one, with the same sensorial quality. There is some nervous body language seen in the younger dancers that is calmed by encouraging grins from Atalay, then later by Hosking. I loved it when they continued to chat whilst dancing, as a continuation of the introduction. Each of their costumes is unique, with clever, intricate similarities.
I took immense joy in witnessing the supportive smiles as they watched each other dance or talk. I couldn’t help but reflect on how healthy this environment looks, and imagine a world where training dancers is consistently held with care and positive reinforcement. That kind of working environment leaves a mark. It can reshape how they imagine their own futures in dance. That’s culture-building.
The performance begins to build in dynamism and use of the space. We see the rhythm pulse through undulations of their torsos and arms with the beats and chimes of bells. There are moments of full unison, partner work and solo, all while smiling and laughing. They run and play around the back, hanging curtains. Their energy feels contagious, as does the music. They literally dance hypnotically back and forth diagonally down the stage till they collapse for a well-deserved rest.
We are then transported from group vitality to individual interiority. There is a sense of unrest in one of the women on the mat, and she moves behind the curtain, silhouetted: an aesthetically glorious image. Multiple mats are laid centre stage, like a call for sisterhood connection and contact, and before you know it, they are draped over each other again, chatting and listening. One gesture or motif that stands out throughout the piece is a child-like ‘pinky promise’ type action integrated into the choreography, a symbol of exclusive, deep sharing, reserved for only your closest. Atalay and Hosking reveal their familiarity and friendship as Atalay manipulates Hosking`s body with her hands as she continues to speak. They move exquisitely together with great trust, which is such a treat. Hosking shares all kinds of travel memories as the others giggle on the mats. She is talking to the audience indirectly while flawlessly dancing and sliding around the space. I am a firm believer in the importance of storytelling in women and passing on memories to their children to be retold. Still, I am not sure we needed to hear these particular stories, as up until this moment, the chatting was always drowned out by music, which felt right in keeping the intimacy. It is always a brave choice to integrate theatrical elements into dance performance, as it can disrupt the world created simply by bodies, costume, sound and light.
What follows is another festive pumping track and joyous contemporary choreography fused with some traditional Turkish dance footwork and upper-body articulations. These are really enjoyable moments of unison with original formations that both travel and weave.
There is a second moment of unrest where a dancer isolates herself, dragging her cup of tea close, dipping a finger and drawing on the ground, which then becomes a dance, until she accidentally knocks it over. At one point, her tea is topped up but overflows all over the ground as the pourer distractedly stares forward. A floor duet ensues. This is perhaps the most abstract section in terms of interaction, drawing and using the tea as a prop, but an internal struggle is physically evident, and then moved on with love and support: a common motif in the piece.
Atalay finishes the piece by covering herself with a mat, pulling it over her head, then sitting up wearing it, creating a powerful image as a shroud of protection, or a second skin. Atalay then closes the work, solitary dancing in silence through to blackout: Closure without finality, an ongoing existence.
A contemporary dance piece that stays clear in its theme and intention can feel radical in its simplicity. What a joy for these young dancers to collaborate in a work centring on sisterhood and moving things forward by interweaving different levels of experience and becoming more than symbolism. It is lived in real time. You could say that the work’s theme is not performed, but instead practised.
Please Let Me Remain is a contemporary dance work that practices what it preaches through care, sisterhood, and togetherness. Lighting, sound, movement, and costume were woven together in a balanced conversation, collectively shaping the work. A beautiful debut!
An appreciative audience were at this debut show by A/ Motion, a new Dance Collective. Aylin Atalay is Producer/Choreographer but also a lovely dancer who joins the cast alongside Sylvie Manning and Anna Hosking, and two New Zealand School of Dance students, Grace Howard and Lydia Chapman. There are strong influences of Aylin’s Turkish heritage in the movement vocabulary and in the music. This shows particularly in a very effective unison section and in sections where the phrases and movement motifs are shared. Choeographically the work is predominantly earthed in contemporary techniques and uses the floor, gestures and contracted shapes throughout. Please Let Me Remain explores relationships and sisterhood within in a small group of women who use the social comfort of tea drinking as a common denominator in their togetherness. This is also intended as a universal statement of inherited and connecting ritual. There is much smiling and giggling between these dancers and it feels rather as though we are sitting in on a teenage sleepover ?
There is little development of the relationships and in the context of the huge conflicts of our current world, the acceptance of these women to be so comfortable seems difficult for me to accept? They are young and have a naivety that allows them to be happy and satisfied in their friendship. They do not push nor find barriers in their friendships nor explore physical attraction or intimacy? The dancing was secure and used the space well with both crafted and interesting creativity. They are friends from the start to the end and glimpses of their stories are tantalising but not developed. This is clearly a choice but seems a missed opportunity to find and develop the challenges of friendships. A tea cup is dropped and spilled its contents but the rift is covered over, and the sisterhood reset. All is well.
The setting (Kelsey Bamford) and costumes (Sophie Maree) are beautifully textured and the Lighting (Jessie Rockford-Barber) and Sound ( Sibelius Atalay) are excellent throughout.
A new initiative and off to a good start within the magic of the NZFringe Festival. Thank you and I look forward to seeing how your dance pathways evolve – be brave and give every moment meaning as you set new challenges together.
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