Sculpture in movement: Japanese dancer Shakti

With assistance from Asia:NZ’s arts programme, Japanese dancer Shakti spent one week in Auckland, experiencing New Zealand culture and working alongside Mika and director Mark James Hamilton, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Indonesian dancer Alfira, the Mika Haka Company of young Māori dancers, and a festival mix of artists and performers from around New Zealand.

Shakti studied modern dance with the legendary Martha Graham and Alvin Alley in New York, and practised yoga with the foremost gurus in India. She has famously blended Eastern dance traditions with Western jazz and contemporary rock to eye-catching effect. Shakti continues to perform worldwide earning great critical acclaim as the “dancing phoenix” and “sculpture in movement”.

In Auckland, Shakti was a featured dancer, performing a duet with Mika in the Tribal Pop Opera, Pō, which was a major event for the Pasifika Festival 2010. Her exotic and idiosyncratic dance breathed new life into the ancient Māori spirit Taniwha.

A combined audience of 1500 people experienced the evening and matinee performances in the Aotea Centre’s ASB Theatre. The evening performance was professionally filmed and recorded, and Pō can now be marketed as an event during Rugby World Cup 2011, as well as to arts festivals around New Zealand and the world.

Shakti also performed her internationally acclaimed solo work, Empire of the Senses, in an Asian dance double-billing with accomplished Indonesian dancer Alfira. Shakti also participated in the AROHA Festival’s Kura Kōrero Meet-the-Artist Series, where she discussed the intricacies of international festival touring with established local artists.

The relationship between Shakti and Mika continues to strengthen. Shakti’s visit promoted cultural exchange and mutual learning by enhancing the working relationships between premier performing artists. There is now a very natural synergy between these two artists, both onstage and off.

The Pō project has developed further through this exchange, and plans are afoot for national and international touring of this dynamic inter-cultural production.