Who Are We Now? The show with a question as its name starts answering
Produced by Footnote New Zealand Dance
Performed by ChoreoCo.
Choreographed by Maria Dabrowska
This year is off to a busy and thrilling start for Footnote New Zealand Dance, and it’s about to get even more exciting as we look forward to opening Who Are We Now? at Circa on the 26th of February.
Our annual three-week intensive choreography and movement workshop, Choreolab, wrapped up at the beginning of February. Forty five dancers from all over New Zealand and beyond (Australia and France, to be specific) worked with world-renowned choreographers and movement experts to deepen their understanding of physical expression. From this group, six dancers were invited to continue dancing with Footnote as ChoreoCo: a short-term company who would perform as part of the New Zealand Fringe Festival and Wellington’s Performance Arcade.
And now the time has come for ChoreoCo 2016 to shine! Six young dancers at a pivotal point in their career join one of New Zealand’s most versatile choreographers, supported by the experience of Aotearoa’s longest-running contemporary dance company. With a show titled Who Are We Now? we thought it only fair to relieve the tension by providing some answers.
I was born in Melbourne and now live in New Zealand. I’ve been dancing contemporary since the age of 7. I recently graduated from Unitec with a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts majoring in contemporary dance. Outside of dance I love to draw, listen to music and I also do massage.
I feel like dance is a unique way of expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Dance gives so much potential for what is possible with the body. I love performing!
I am looking forward to performing, to challenging my own comfort zones and seeing how much I can learn from Who Are We Now?
I come from Italy and I started dancing when I was 8. I studied ballet and folk dance in Italy, and then I moved to England to attend the London Contemporary Dance School. I came to New Zealand two years ago. I love travelling and finding myself in challenging situations.
Dancing makes me aware of lots of things. My body needs to move. There are so many experiences to explore through dance, and it’s great meeting new people to move with.
I’m so looking forward to performing Maria’s work! It will be a new experience every time we do it.
I’m from Auckland. I grew up in an artistic family, which is why I started dancing. Outside of dance I play sports, enjoy music, and hang with mates. I am the man at doing bombs!
I love dancing because of the feeling I get when I dance. The connection you get to other people through dance is a feeling that can’t really be put into words.
I’m looking forward to playing around with the concepts of Who Are We Now? on stage because I love improvisation. I am also interested to see how this work is received by different audiences.
I’m from Christchurch currently living in Auckland.
Moving, and expressing feelings, emotions, concepts through movement is just the best feeling. Constantly exploring new things with your body and with other creative minds keeps me interested in dance. It’s amazing to dance everyday!
I’m looking forward to bringing Who Are We Now? to life, interacting with the audience and playing with the performance side of things.
I am from Mt Eden, Auckland. I started dancing at The Dance Studio when I was 8 years old. I also enjoy playing the drums, reading, football and food.
The feeling I get from exploring movement and performance is really exciting and surprising. It’s these feelings that make dance interesting to me.
Who Are We Now? means performing with some crazy fun people in a beautiful city, and not knowing what is going to happen!
I am 21 from Wellington, NZ. I trained at the NZ School of Dance as a contemporary major. I’m also a model outside of dance with Kirsty Bunny Management, and have a big passion for acting. I won best New Zealand Actress for my role in the short film Water.
When I dance, I love discovering new ways of moving with my body and other bodies in a space. I also love meeting new people in the dance industry. It keeps me on my feet constantly working with different people. I love extending my dance vocabulary by learning other people’s way of moving.
I can’t wait to perform Who Are We Now?! Working with such creative, inspiring artists is an amazing experience and I can’t wait to bring Maria’s ideas to life on stage.
Maria is an established New Zealand based choreographer and dance performance artist. She has choreographed for many dance companies including Footnote New Zealand Dance, Southern Lights Dance Company, and Touch Compass, and has performed in the World of WearableArts Awards. She has choreographed for institutions including the New Zealand School of Dance, and at UNITEC for the Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts contemporary dance program.
Since 2004, Maria has created and toured numerous independent dance works: Evil Fiona’s Love Test, The Twisted Fate of Lady Snake and Doctor Charm, INK, Chance, Carnival Hound, and Do You Still Think of Me? Her work has toured to Auckland, Christchurch, Tauranga, Nelson, Dunedin, Wellington and Melbourne.
Maria has choreographed for Sleep/Wake, and for Fuse Circus in Heavenly Burlesque, Campground Chaos, Revolver and The Golden Carnie Awards. More recently she directed IN And Out of Context and Gypsy Rage Apocalypse.
Choreolab – An annual three-week intensive professional development workshop hosted by Footnote for dancers and choreographers from all over New Zealand and beyond
ChoreoCo – A short-term company created by Footnote to perform in the Fringe Festival and the Performance Arcade
Circa – One of New Zealand’s liveliest and most innovative theatres! And 2016 is their 40th birthday
Footnote – A contemporary dance company committed to creativity, risk and sustainable careers for dancers
Fringe – An annual Wellington festival presenting contemporary work in art forms including (but never limited to) audio, busking, cabaret, clowning, comedy, circus, dance, film, fashion, improvisation, music, online, physical theatre, podcast, poetry, puppetry, spoken word / storytelling, theatre, visual & digital art.
Quite often, answers lead to more questions. The only way you can truly satisfy your curiosity is to book tickets and come along to witness Who Are We Now? – a dance performance that celebrates life and the vibrancy, levity and joy that abounds when we push through the predictable and connect to something more… surprising.