Unitec Dance Showcase is the annual end-of-year showcase of the contemporary dance programme at Unitec. This year’s show features a programme comprised of six unique works that are all choreographed by Unitec alumni.

The show begins with Ko Te Wānanga o Wairaka tēnei. This piece opens the show beautifully and dynamically, with year 2 and year 3 students moving together harmoniously, as Unitec whānau. The work’s composition allows the students to express their versatility, as we are treated to a Haka devised especially for Unitec, and a seamless blend of Māori and contemporary dance movement styles. The students have been guided well by choreographers Chrissy Kokiri and Eddie Elliott, as they perform the material with mana and clear cultural competence and respect. The piece opens with an electrifying tī rakau section, constantly changing shape, and creating cohesion through shared rhythms. We are delighted by a gorgeously sung waiata in the middle of the piece, and the work ends with an energising Pātere speaking to the journey the students have experienced together over their time at Unitec Dance.

I am impressed by the skill of the year 2 students in Bella Wilson’s work Traces. The dancers explore the traces that are left by our embodied experience in the world and how people and places leave a mark in our memories – and indeed, their opening movements are visualized in a dynamic pairing of slow and staccato, emanating as echoes, points in time and space, the pieces that remain. The work is visually arresting and as I am watching I feel as though I am observing a series of personal stories that shift, evolve and collide with each other – physicalised by the dancers’ creating soft, light lines as individuals, and then moving together as one, sometimes as an amorphous collection of body parts, at other times as a sophisticated system, offering images of machinery, constantly deconstructing and reconstructing. The choreography offers the year 2 students a chance to demonstrate their versatility, and show their capability to embody various movement qualities – which they do with skill, strength, and grace.

Katie Burton’s Delicate Bones opens with couples intertwined, with softness and yet at times, a sense of struggle. As the dancers begin to explore the space between one another, blocks are brought into the space and are transformed into various sculptures, reflected in the dancers’ attempts to entangle and disentangle from one another, with a sense of fragility and yet, strength in groundedness. Sections of sequential movement allow the dancers to show their ability to respond to one another and time their movements expertly for effective visual impact. The dancers partner each other with generosity, care, and trust. They move with gentleness as the work demands it, but also find opportunities to demonstrate their stamina and power.

The next piece, Plastic Mountains choreographed by Tamsyn Russell, is an exploration of our continually shifting physical environment, and how we might respond to it and navigate it together.

I am struck in particular during this work by how engaging each of the dancers are, both as individuals and as a collective – they have a clear performance presence that draws the audience into the world of the work. It is a visceral, sometimes angsty, piece of dance that demands stamina from the dancers, as they traverse the stage in various directions, engaging in staccato rhythms, framing each other, and carving landscapes within the space.

There is at times a sense of uneasy dissonance, demonstrated by the separation of a solo dancer from the group, and long pauses in action where the dancers continue to hold the audience with their mere presence.

Loss and Ambling in the Fool’s Paradise is a choreographic offering from third-year student Jake Starrs. A surreal, perhaps dystopian dream world is brought to life, juxtaposing beauty with atrocity. The dancers create striking images, framing the space, and entangling bodies together. The use of humour in this work is skilful, as it allows us moments to laugh at our humanness. I particularly appreciate the precision and control the dancers show in this piece. Every movement is articulated with specificity and intention, and it is clear that the dancers are invested in the world they have created together. I commend Jake Starrs for his maturity and creative vision, and I believe that his technical, performative, and choreographic skills will be widely valued and sought after, as he transitions into the dance industry.

Bellum is a fitting ending for the show, offered by Rose Philpott in collaboration with the graduating class of 2022. Contrasting humanness and rawness with flamboyant performance and competition, the work explores the boundaries between duelling and dancing, collaboration and conflict. The dancers express raw energy and achieve individualism, while still being precise and skilful as a cohort. They are offered opportunities to display their adaptability, flowing between different movement qualities with confidence.

The bright costumes, which begin as sports gear and slowly evolve over the piece into sequinned gowns and other various elaborate ensembles, serve to emulate a sense of joy and entertainment that the dancers embody as they perform, and the piece very much feels like a celebration of the triumphs and the overcoming of trials of the past three years for the students.

The wings are stripped away at the end of the work and we get a glimpse of the backstage, as the dancers traverse both the stage and backstage through complex pathways, finding joy within chaos. The dancers’ respect for one another shines through in their partnering and their whole-hearted commitment to the work, and as a collective. I sense that they are articulate, skilled, generous, and mature dancers that will be an asset to the contemporary dance industry in Aotearoa.

Unitec Dance Showcase 2022 offers new, unique contemporary dance work that highlights the talent of emerging dance artists. I wish to acknowledge the resilience of the third-year students, who despite disruptions from the global pandemic, have achieved so much and no doubt will go on to contribute wonderful work to the contemporary dance industry. I look forward to seeing what these dancers will go on to offer and accomplish in the future.

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