January 2013

January brings director Rulan to Aotearoa , at last after 12 yrs of invitations from Maori colleagues including Aroha Crowchild, Tracey Marama Lloydd, Terri Ripeka Crawford and Jack Gray !She began up north in Ahipara, unplugged in a caravan by the beach, on ancestral homeland of Marama Lloydd. Daily outdoor dances were improvised to reflect the rhythms of waves, sun and coastlineShe headed down to Taupo hot springs, then east towards Hastings. With her first Haka Powhiri with Kahurangi Dance Theater ( directed by Tama, the brother of Aroha) , Rulan followed with a workshop for the amazing group of young cultural singers and dancers in training. She was requested to do a creative session interpreting a Maori creation story.At Houmana Bay, she was able to go onboard the traditional Waka that had sailed from Aotearoa to San Francisco and back, using ancient star navigation ! Special kia ora to Tihau Bishop and Jenny . Traveling west to Taranaki, she attended the prophecy days on Jan 18 and 19 at Parihaka, sharing her vision of DANCING EARTH as well as word of IDLE NO MORE movement.She then attended the INTERCREATE SCANZ THIRD NATURE symposium and residency, bringing together art, science and technology to address the environmental crisis. Amazing artist participants came  from Hungary, Amsterdam, London, Australia, East Coast of USA and New Zealand , and were welcomed with Maori cultural engagement. Thank you to organizers Ian, Nina and Trudy for mindfulness of this cultural protocol, and to cultural advisors Dr Huirangi and Te Urutahi, as well as Maori artists Jo Tito, Terri Ripeka Crawford and Kura for assisting these facilitations. Much exploration was done on land and water, including the waterfalls of Mt Taranaki, full moon sunset at Black Beach, and weaving of flax  . During the residency, Rulan worked with collaboration with Terri Ripeka Crawford on the solo Wai Tai Ike which draws on Terri's 5 yrs of consummate cultural and language research of feminine cosmology in preparation for her forthcoming dance opera : UKAIPO.DANCING EARTH's  short film REFLECTIONS AT THE EDGE OF WATER ( filmmakers Marion Wasserman/Elemental Designs and Louis Leray, and Rulan) was showcased at the exhibition at the award winning  Puke Ariki Museum as part of the INTERCREATE SCANZ THIRD NATURE exhibition.