TŪĀHU: CHOREOGRAPHIC RESEARCH PROJECT
TŪĀHU: proposing a new philosophical space for Indigenous Dance
The TŪĀHU Choreographic Research Project aims to extend the vision of Te Toki Haruru, and affirm the language utilized for the performance stage and workshop environment to propose a new philosophical space for the choreographic projects of Charles Koroneho.
The traditional TŪĀHU is a sacred place for ritual practices, consisting of an enclosure containing a ceremonial platform used for divination and other mystic rites. The intention of the TŪĀHU research process is to align the traditional practice to a ‘performance of community’, in order to give possible emergent work a cultural context. From a cultural perspective it is not a traditional aspiration that is re - positioned, but one that resembles a contemporary hybrid practice; liminal, situational, culturally diverse and bound to the creative conditions surrounding it.
The TŪĀHU Choreographic Research Project aims to extend the vision of Te Toki Haruru, and affirm the language utilized for the performance stage and workshop environment to propose a new philosophical space for the choreographic projects of Charles Koroneho.
The traditional TŪĀHU is a sacred place for ritual practices, consisting of an enclosure containing a ceremonial platform used for divination and other mystic rites. The intention of the TŪĀHU research process is to align the traditional practice to a ‘performance of community’, in order to give possible emergent work a cultural context. From a cultural perspective it is not a traditional aspiration that is re - positioned, but one that resembles a contemporary hybrid practice; liminal, situational, culturally diverse and bound to the creative conditions surrounding it.
TŪĀHU: Project Vision
The TŪĀHU Choreographic Research Project will utilize a multi-layered approach; with workshop, collaborative and performance outcomes taking place under the same conceptual framework.
The intention of the project is to share and exchange at the highest level, this approach to present an evolved method of Marae Theatre practices, emphasizing aspects of the Powhiri (welcome and inclusion), Noho marae (living, immersed in the place), Take (to originate, reason, purpose) Utu (reply, reciprocity). The undertaking will also address the disciplinary driven process of performance making and attempt to align it to indigenous communal practices where actions of the sacred and profane convey the everyday and ideas of ceremony and ritual are informed by cultural contexts.
The TŪĀHU Choreographic Research Project will utilize a multi-layered approach; with workshop, collaborative and performance outcomes taking place under the same conceptual framework.
The intention of the project is to share and exchange at the highest level, this approach to present an evolved method of Marae Theatre practices, emphasizing aspects of the Powhiri (welcome and inclusion), Noho marae (living, immersed in the place), Take (to originate, reason, purpose) Utu (reply, reciprocity). The undertaking will also address the disciplinary driven process of performance making and attempt to align it to indigenous communal practices where actions of the sacred and profane convey the everyday and ideas of ceremony and ritual are informed by cultural contexts.
