Wed 22 Jun 2011 In: Hall of Fame View at Wayback View at NDHA
You could be forgiven for thinking Taane Mete came out of the womb dancing. The man is so passionate about dance he swears he will dance till he dies: "if I can't walk, well what will I do, maybe come onstage in wheelchair? I don't know. But I will definitely be involved in some form. Always," he vows. The occasion for our chat is another show from the partnership he has formed with another of New Zealand's finest dancers, Tai Royal. Together they takataapui men are the lauded Okareka Dance Company, which produces works fusing everything from traditional Maori movement to drag. This time around they present Nga Hau E Wha which is about the four elements, and debuts in the windy city of Wellington on Wednesday 29 June at Te Whaea Theatre in Newtown. "The idea originally came from the four corners of the world," Mete explains. "We originally wanted a work that could capture all cultures and unite them ... and then we brought it back around entirely to the four elements. It was a little bit of a journey but once we made that clear decision, it really became the foundation of the work." Mete says around the world many cultures, like Maori, have their own traditions and legends around the four elements, so the theme has come full circle. The work is made up of four acts; wind, water, earth and fire. The first is choreographed by Mete and Royal, the second by Royal and the fourth by Mete. The third act, earth, has been put together by Ross McCormack, a New Zealand School of Dance graduate who has worked with Australian Dance Theatre and the dynamic Ballets C dela B in Belgium. Mete and Royal saw his work in Adelaide and Mete says they wanted to get him involved in one of their shows, to bring a new dynamic. "We needed him to join forces with us to bring his flavour to the work," he says. The four acts are very different texturally, Mete says, "in the dance vocabulary and also the lighting and sound. Each act is completely different. But upon that the also link together. There is a thread that leads right through the whole work." Among the dancers in cast of eight is Jesse Wikiriwhi, known to many for his work with smooth troupe The Nancy Boys. There are also a number of students from the New Zealand School of Dance who Mete says have been working incredibly hard and helping Okareka live its vision of working with younger dancers. "We've always fostered that connection of helping young people develop their skills in becoming dancers ... physically seeing them develop in front of you is very rewarding." Mete's passion for dance, not only performing but seeing others perform, pours down the phone line as we speak. He explains the feeling he gets on stage as being totally connected "it's like I'm actually supposed to be there, like that's my place. I won't say I am always comfortable, because being onstage is sometimes very, very challenging, but I feel like I'm at my utmost creative extremes when I am actually onstage." There are plans to take Nga Hau E Wha beyond Wellington next year – it will travel to Auckland, hopefully Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. Tickets to the Wellington show are available through Ticketek. Jacqui Stanford - 22nd June 2011