skip to main content
 

Fusion of Pacific and street dance a winner


An award-winning choreographer and dancer, whose work is a fusion of Pacific and street dance, is creating new work to perform at next year’s Auckland Fringe Festival, helped by a Summer Scholarship from the University of Auckland. 

Vivian Aue, a New Zealand-born Cook Islander, is a third-year student completing a Bachelor of Dance Studies at the University of Auckland. He will use his Summer Scholarship, worth $5,000, to investigate techniques for translating movement between choreographers and dancers. His research will result in a series of performances as part of the upcoming Auckland Fringe Festival, taking place in February next year.

The youngest of five, Vivian grew up performing traditional Cook Island dance from an early age, but was introduced to street dance during his teenage years at One Tree Hill College. When he started winning competitions while still at high school, he decided to set his sights on a future in dance.

Vivian’s work, which successfully merges his Pacific Island heritage with contemporary urban dance, recently won Best Choreographer, Emerging Artist and People's Choice awards at the Short and Sweet Dance Festival 2014, with his piece Opaque. Dealing with a male’s perception of love, the work was performed again earlier this month, as part of the Y Chromozome line up at the Tempo Dance Festival, to rave reviews.

The hard working twenty-one year-old, based in South Auckland, also recently returned from competing in the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in Las Vegas as part of the mega crew group Fresh Nation, made up of 40 dancers.

“I have performed and choreographed most of my life. It’s an important part of my identity and how I express myself, both as a Cook Islander and a New Zealander. I’m really looking forward to being able to spend the summer researching and creating new work,” he says.

Fusion of Pacific and street dance a winner

 
 
+ Text Size -