Wellington-based Māori and Cook Islands theatre company Tawata Productions, co-founded by Hone Kouka, specialises in the creation of new multi-media work. This month they come to Auckland to present dance theatre show The Beautiful Ones, a piece where music, fashion, dance, theatre and art collide in an urban love story, written and directed by Kouka. Ahead of opening night, he shares his inspiration for the show in his own words. Kia ora. This image (main) is of me and my Mum, I think I’m about five-years-old. She passed away in 2015 but is still and will always be a major influence on me and my art. Her father, my grandfather Henare Waitoa, was a renowned and major Ngāti Porou composer of waiata, haka and moteatea – his most well known waiata is Tomo Mai composed for the return of the 24th Maori Battalion from World War II. His influence and support of artists filtered through my mother and from her to me. My parents also instilled in me a sense of social justice and pride in being Māori, which for me fits perfectly with being an artist. Before I went to Toi Whakaari in 1989 I spent a year working in Sydney ...
The post Why I wrote The Beautiful Ones appeared first on Metro Magazine.