Taane and fusion of music and dance
In a rundown, barren old school building in the sleepy town of Wainuiomata, a fusion of dance and music is rumbling.
Tanemahuta Gray, awardwinning dancer, choreographer and artistic director of theatre company Taki Rua, has a week remaining before he takes his production Tiki Tane Mahuta back to the stage – this time with live performances from awardwinning musicians Tiki Taane and Shapeshifter’s Sam Trevethick.
His dancers suspended from ropes, producers polishing the smallest of moves, Taane in his element, jamming on his guitar – Gray couldn’t be happier.
‘‘Hugely excited,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s been 11 years since we first got the music to where we are now and shows like these take a long time to build.
‘‘You’ve got to persevere and just push hard, but man, we’re doing it now.’’
Tiki Tane Mahuta first hit the Christchurch stage in 2015. Two years later, with more training, aerial performance and the addition of a live performance soundtrack, it’s about to start a national tour, kicking off in Napier on May 22.
The production is a narrative-driven story based on Taane’s first albums: Past, Present, Future and In The World of Light, which combines theatre, contemporary dance, kapa haka, mau rakau and hip hop.
The plot follows the tragic death of lead character Karen’s soul mate and the father of her unborn child and the responsibility of the next generation to repair the rift between broken families. Karen’s son, guided by his father’s ancestral lineage, is able to forge a path of forgiveness and bring the families together.
‘‘When I heard the music it just started telling me a story and it just slowly started to reveal characters,’’ says Gray. ‘‘[There were stories of] people I’ve known in my life and others are stories I’ve heard about people and it just started to tell their stories, stories that don’t tend to be told about people.’’
Taane recalls sitting in the show’s audience in Christchurch, seeing his albums come alive on stage thanks to the creative spark of a director he had never met.
Intense emotion swept over him.
‘‘It’s like he’s actually kind of plucked it out of me somehow and he’s taken it even further than what I have,’’ he explains.
‘‘For me, it’s a lot of personal stuff but he’s really gone in and actually characterised things and given it narrative and given an actual cohesive story.
‘‘That’s why I had to be involved... [it] blew my mind.
‘‘The first time I saw it I was pretty much crying the whole way through. The second time I really soaked it up and the third time I was like, I gotta be involved somehow, I gotta do this live, ‘cause that would be another element to this show. Already it’s amazing, but then having myself and Sam in there just to be able to interject some live energy and to be able to play off that a little bit more is something people will really enjoy as well.’’
Taane says its a career highlight. ‘‘It’s like I’ve hit a homerun with Tane [Gray],’’ he says.
‘‘I think for most musicians they would agree with that’s the dream outcome, that someone will take your music and create something else with it and he’s done something absolutely amazing.’’
Both Gray and Taane hope the production will one day make it overseas, but for now they are focusing on getting the show on the road and encouraging locals to come out and indulge in the experience.
‘‘We’re worth taking that risk to see this show, I just know it’s going to be like nothing that anyone has ever seen at all this year, it’s so different and so unique,’’ says Gray.
Tiki Tane Mahuta plays Palmerston North (May 19), Napier (May 22), Tauranga (May 24), Hamilton (May 26), Auckland (May 29), New Plymouth (May 31), Wellington (June 2), Blenheim (June 6), Ashburton (June 9), Christchurch (June 12), Oamaru (June 14), Dunedin (June 16) and Invercargill (June 20).