DANZThe Gryphon Theatre
Wellington
28 February 2026
Reviewed by Mona Williams
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A/MOTIONS’s debut work is a well-deserved and potent inclusion in this year’s Fringe Festival. It is enveloped in symbolic layers of meaning. Choreographer Aylin Atalay weaves her Turkish-and-Pakeha heritages into a veritable carpet of female wisdom, uplifting joy, camaraderie and spirited interdependence. It is danced across the breadth of feminine Life.
A contemporary dance collective of five women, A/MOTION introduces us first to a world of calm, of harmonious laughter, of shared unhurried delight while socializing over tiny glasses of Turkish tea. The atmosphere is hospitable, gentle; the lighting is soft, the perfumed smoke in the air reminds one of bakhoor in a Turkish market. The set is hung with large yesteryear crocheted tablecloths displaying myriad patterns. This is a visual expression of female creativity, complexity and contribution to everyday life. The long flowing dress costumes are layers of soft pastel textiles embroidered with ruffles and laces. Melodies and harmonies played on strings are reminiscent of kanun and oud music of the Arabic world. I also heard chimes.
Technically confident, the five women command the space, switching seamlessly with the changes in tempi. Their runs, turns, light footwork and sculptural arms interpret modern hip-hop rhythms with youthful vibrancy. Some sinuous, undulating movements highlighted their strength in ensemble formations of five, or three or in a pas de deux. Their two surprising lifts suggest a capacity for even greater expression on that third level.
Their floor work is potently symbolic; women’s bodies strewn casually on a nest of pillows, on kilim rugs and on each other. Rolling on the floor in carefully patterned formations, they wrap and unwind their bodies in sections of colourful, still beautiful, Turkish rugs although the rugs are frayed and moth holed. Thus, Turkey’s beautiful culture continues to enfold and embellish the dancers’ lives. Similarly, tea, common to both cultures, refreshes and promotes relaxation in the opening tableau. The performance for the most part is stylish, thoughtful, expressively layered and buoyant in mood.
One sequence however, seemed jarring. A dancer babbled while repeatedly rushing back and forth then ending in falls to the floor. Her words were indistinct and her repetitive floor work was rudimentary. By contrast, in a final sequence tea spills, and a dancer washes the floor with it; an example of ‘woman’s work’ experience. That dancer assumes the pose of scrubbing the floor with tea. Her tea drenched hand pats her heart to quiet and comfort tensions of accommodating distinctly different worlds; one Turkish, one Pakeha. The strength of the production remains the dancers’ obvious skill in interpreting contemporary vocabulary, as choreographed by Aylin Atalay. Take a bow everyone.
Gallery photos by Gabby Hawke and Ruby Millichamp
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