DANZ
NZ Fringe Festival is an open-access multi-genre festival, loosely performing arts based and hosted in a plethora of venues around Wellington. The 2024 programme lists 27 arts genres, about 50 venues (including online) spread over 4 weeks from mid-February to mid-March. The open-access philosophy means that any artist or performer can register their event without restrictions, resulting in an eclectic, experimental, and varied programme with works ranging from professional to amateur, broadly appealing to niche.
A NZ Fringe Festival 2024 programme search for Dance brings up 27 hits, with prices ranging from free to $28 per ticket. With just a couple of sentences in each show description, there can be a bit of ambiguity with regards to the content and style of each performance. As a rough guide, we’ve sorted the 2024 Dance offerings into 7 general categories.
Contemporary dance: Rituals of Similarity by Auckland-based Dance Plant Collective is a new contemporary dance duet by Brittany and Natasha Kohler exploring individuality in twinhood. Founded in 2016 by Unitec contemporary dance graduates, Dance Plant Collective have already produced 7 full length works to date, garnering a reputation for considered choreographic processes and professionalism. Newly-founded L!ck Dance Theatre presents Lick Off My Tears, Death is Also Dying, a full length production developed from a, engaging and dramatic short work presented in the very strong New Zealand School of Dance Choreographic Season 2023 AXIS, Oli Mathiesen, Lucy Lynch and Sharvon Mortimer present The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave, an endurance-based dance work exploring techno and rave culture, EKC choreography presents The Way We Wilt a double bill season featuring a solo performed by Bailey Dewar and a duo performed by Anna Hosking and Aylin Atalay casting “an intimate look into the pursuit of joy and the fragility of the human experience”
Commercial dance: Lunacy by Molly O’Hagan combines commercial dance and singing in a work about the moon’s cycles, Ominous by Jenire explores lightening through commercial dance and physical theatre
Dance & theatre: Woodwork by Oh That Theatre Company is a solo play in 3 parts, Agape is a new dance and physical theatre work by Patrick Godinet, Death & Honey combines devised drama, physical theatre, and dance in a production by Salty Lizard Productions, Well Fare State presents Mesmerous, an immersive dance and physical theatre experience at Awhi Yoga, Show Do Café by Andança Company explores coffee and its history and place in society in Brazil and Pōneke and promises an immersive coffee experience through dance and physical theatre, The Perspective Series 0.1: Witness by established theatre company Knot theatre explores relationships with passed loved ones and invites audience members to touch and interact with fog, Manage Your Expectations by House of Sand is a one-person production by Eliza Sanders combining “a unique blend of dance, clown and absurd philosophising”
Dance & circus: Xerox by Xerox Duo offers a dystopian contemporary circus performance, with the intriguing tagline “Welcome to the Xerox experience where you get a chance at life again” (audience discretion advised for serious/darker topics), Pasodoblecircus blends comedic circus, magic and juggling with Spanish dance, produced by Athena Rose Circus After Dark is “a show for professional performers to let loose and perform acts that are not fit for traditional family-friendly circus”
Mixed genre with movement/dance: Verbs by Dandelion Meadows is a “found art” work in development free to view, Kaysee Savali presents The Wave of the Woman exploring a woman’s experience of herself and the world around her through singing, music, spoken word and movement, Erin Bickley Productions’ comedy/theatre/dance work Bars Behind Bars is set in 1920’s New York and performed at Ivy Bar, After the Storm boasts an original acoustic score by Emma Salzano and features actor-musicians in a tale of love and grief in the wake of natural disaster
Online: award-winning international independent arts programme www.CtheArts.com hosts the online performance of Displaced by Akeim Toussaint Buck (Jamaica/UK), the Broadway-style Christmas story A Night to Remember by Heart and Soul Producers (USA), and Quicksilver Dance’s (USA) Odyssea a feminist take on the epic journey with the performers using only their painted hands
Social event with movement/dance: Loose Change (Wellington Qualifier) is a regional hip hop and street dance battle, with open cyphers during the night (gold coin koha entry), Eastern Sound Collective host Fringe Freak Out! a dance party with entertainment at The Rogue and Vagabond, the annual Newtown Festival offers market stalls and entertainment stages, Fringe Late Lounge Hubbub offers music, drinks and chats late Friday and Saturday nights during the Fringe Festival
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