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FOUNDER AND CREATOR
A choreographer and performance director, Malia has created a significant repertoire over the past 20 years. A recipient of the Creative New Zealand Choreographic Fellowship in 2013 Malia’s strong collaborative interests have seen her work with an incredibly diverse range of performers and arts organisations. Malia has created new works for a range of National and International arts companies.
With over 14 years of experience working on the World of Wearable Art Awards show Malia was the Artistic Director from 2007-2014 and in 2018 Will be the creative director for their 30th Anniversary show. Malia also directed the WOW show that toured to the International Arts Festival in Hong Kong in 2012.
Malia is commissioned on a regular basis to create performance works for companies and the tertiary dance environment, and has built up a significant repertoire of physical and technically focused works since 1999 and also works with theatre Director Emma Willis, with whom she has created four full length physical theatre works since 2007.
Malia is a guest choreographer and tutor at the New Zealand School of Dance and on Unitec’s dance programme and regularly creates new works for their Graduation performances. She has made over 14 works for Footnote Dance Company including Perlieu, which toured to Shanghai for the New Zealand National Day performance as part of the 2010 World Expo in China.
Early in 2015 Malia developed and directed the creative element for the Pukeahau National War Memorial Park opening in Wellington. Malia co-choreographed Mana Wahine for Okareka Dance Company alongside Tairoa Royal and Tane Mete, which toured extensively throughout New Zealand in 2014-2016 and made a new work on the New Zealand Dance Company, which toured to Europe in early 2016 titled Brouhaha.
Malia is an arts Ambassador for Te Auaha the new centre for creative industries in Wellington and will direct the opening for their building in early 2018.
alia is also the 2017 Associate Artist for ATC (Auckland Theatre Company) whom she has choreographed for and will this year embark on the development of a new multimedia and movement based work titled 'MOON'
Eden is a well-respected and prolific composer and sound producer for theatre, film and dance. He also produces and performs his own music. His take on composition can involve unexpected arrivals and departures, conventional and operatic voices, ripped apart rhythms and ethereal bridges, solidly resounding hooks and moody ascents.
His first love was dance and he has composed for an array of companies and performance artists. Eden has worked solidly as a collaborator with Malia since 1999.
Eden was the winner of the 2009 & 2010 Best Music at the Tempo Dance Festival and was nominated for a Qantas Media award for Best Music for a TV series for his work on World Kitchen, which has played in over 50 countries worldwide. His commercial work has been commissioned internationally for companies like Zoomslide Media, Radiation, 42 Below, MTV, C4 TV, TV3 and licensed to MGM and CBS.
A background in performance with a strong visual and kinaesthetic understanding has allowed Eden a particular approach to composition.
A gifted multi-instrumentalist, digital artist and vocals freedom fighter, he is known for his generous and uninhibited delivery, whether performing solo or with his bands. He carries student-of-life qualities into the studio where that preparedness to let rip and let go, and be open to new perspectives on his songs, stand his recording collaborations in good stead.
Eden has produced dozens of music videos since 2008 for his own work as well as other musicians and bands within New Zealand and Australia.
There seems to be no limit to what Eden can compoase for. Eden is also accomplished at editing and designing. A true jack of all creative trades.
Rowan is an artist who produces and exhibits work, collaboratively and individually, across a range of mediums including live performance, music, film and installation.
Often with an emphasis on the live orchestration of sound and the projected video image, Rowan is interested in provoking a sense of the unknown and the unseen in his work, dissolving real people, places and objects with the super real.
His recent projects as a live-video artist include the full-length dance work Mana Wahine with Okareka Dance Company, Brouhaha as part of Lumina (New Zealand Dance Company) and Flip Pivot Boom (Footnote Dance Company) and Rowan creates and participates in all of Movement of the Humans new development as a creative lead.
Rowan has been collaborating with Malia and co since 2011 when they first worked on Body Fight Time together and has since been a significant leader in developing multimedia and video design into all their work since.
In 2017 Rowan will design and implement the AV for the World Of Wearable Art Awards show in Wellington.
Rowan is also a musician and performer in the group Glass Vaults.
A Freelance Performance Designer, Ian Hammond’s work spans a wide range of skill sets and interests including Theatre, Graphic Design, Art Direction, Film, animation, storyboarding, events, set and costume design.
A strong collaborative leader, Ian worked for the World of Wearable Art Awards show for 5 years concentrating on AV content but also working on story boarding, scripting and elements of audience interface with social media.
Ian has worked on theatre productions for Capital E and Centrepoint and has also worked on successful projects with a range of other organisations inducing Lux, The Performance Arcade and the Prague Quadrennial.
Ian integrates the concepts of user experience and audience experience in all the work he creates.
Tūį is a descendent of Ohomairangi and Makuratawhiti of the Ngāti Ohomairangi people. Her Grandparents hail from the vessels: Te Arawa, Tainui, Mataatua, Arai-te-uru-, Tākitimu, Manuka, Kurahaupō.
A highly skilled Māori performing artist, Tūī specialises in Māori weaponry particularly with patu.
Tūi is a composer, tutor and first leader of Te Matarae-i-Ōrehu (top National Kapa Haka) and over the last 20+ years she has been a judge for Maori performing art forms from Primary through to tertiary level including senior regionals to Te Matatini.
Abigail comes from a performing arts background and has a degree in Dance. Her interest in movement and the body led her to yoga, to India, then to Melbourne and eventually to photography. through her experience with dance, choreography and yoga she has an innate interest in the body and it's relationship to a space.
Abigail is now a photographer who concentrates on the drama of natural light. Her canon has been the perfect companion for new stages in her life including motherhood, and frequent outings on a vintage styled cargo bike.
Abigail is captivated equally by movement and stillness. These are themes she explores in her personal work.
Abigail’s ability to capture people perfectly in movement together in time and space with a truthful and playful approach has developed the range of work she is able to achieve with the camera. Abigail is in demand with regards to her unique way she captures people at their most honest.
John has had an exceptionally extensive career in set and performance design. He is one of New Zealand’s leading performance designers with an extensive portfolio.
John has worked with most theatre companies in New Zealand and his designs have toured across the globe.
John has also designed comprehensively for the New Zealand Opera, Black Grace Dance Company, Douglas Wright, Auckland Theatre Company and World of Wearable Art Awards among many others.
Rodney Bell Ngāti Maniapoto is a renowned dancer and performer. His artistic expression demonstrates elements of traditional Maori culture, and at the same time he's continually seeking new ways to enhance his creative process.
Rodney received the 2017 Arts Access award for artistic achievement and the 2016 Atttude award for Artistic achievement both recognising his most recent work MEREMERE
Rodney has been dancing professionally since 1994 beginning as a founding member of Touch Compass Dance Trust, which is an internationally renowned physically integrated dance company based in Auckland, New Zealand.
In 2007, he relocated to California, U.S.A, to join AXIS Dance Company, based in Oakland, where he remained principal dancer until 2012. Since return back to New Zealand Rodney has actively work not only as an artist but also worked as an advocator and provocator towards stronger integration and voice for people with diverse requirements and backgrounds with particular interest in arts access. Rodney is currently working on a new piece that will be presented in Australia in April 2018, He travels to Singapore to present a work in the Festival of colour and will tour New Zealand in May-July 2018 with his work Meremere.
Emma Willis is a director and dramaturge who works as a Lecturer in Drama at the University of Auckland.
In 2014 she published, Theatricality, Dark Tourism and Ethical Spectatorship: Absent Others (Palgrave Macmillan) based on her doctoral research, which included award-winning performance Dark Tourists, made in collaboration with Malia Johnston.
Emma’s research has been praised for its design, execution, originality in its interdisciplinary reach and moral commitment to her subject matter. Her scholarship includes elements of theatre studies, museum studies, anthropology, history, philosophy and practical performance in both drama and dance. In 2015 she was awarded the American Theatre and Drama Society Vera Mowry Roberts Award for Research and Publication for best essay on the subject of theatre in the Americas.
Emma regularly co-creates Dance Theatre with Malia Johnston and team.
PRODUCER
Romola Lang has over 20 years experience of mixing it up, she is a story teller with a career shaped by pushing technology and interactivity to extraordinary ends. Romola specialises in producing bespoke mixed-media productions and multi-media environments. Romola has designed and produced product launches, opening ceremonies, television commercials, festivals, dance, film, interactive and multi media environments. She created the NZ Innovation Pavilion during the second Americas cup and the immersive 270° experience that was the global roaming Giant Rugby Ball. She was the VFX producer for Dreamworks production, Lumen and three seasons of the television series Spartacus. She was a finalist in the NY Festival International Film Awards for work with Auckland Airport, won bronze and was a finalist in BeST design awards for a national Vodafone tour and Interactive design and won various Axis Awards for television commercials she produced.
To deliver a production on time and on budget requires skilful communication and collaboration. Romola actively seeks expertise and opinion which she then distils. She believes that a strong result is articulated not only by lateral thinking but through clever people goaded into exceeding a brief and ultimately taking us somewhere we have never been before.
Tom has been a highly sought-after musician and composer since making his mark on the Wellington music scene in 2005. His compositions have most recently been used to support Footnote's NOW 2017 season The Rebel Pink (curated by Malia Johnston), Touch Compass' InMotion Matariki celebrations, The Labour Party of New Zealand's 2017 Campaign Launch and the Wellington Lions player's entrance.
A multi-instrumentalist with a foundation in classical piano, a forte in contemporary drums and ethnic percussion and a niche in specialist Taonga Pūoro performance (Maori traditional instruments), Tom is forging his way in a unique, compelling and dynamic direction. His commissioned works bring together the elements of his compositions with live Taonga Pūoro, keyboards and drums. Vocal and instrumental looping, rhythmic diversity and powerful compositions are all trademarks of Tom Scrase's performance within commissioned works and his solo projects.
For Footnote's The Rebel Pink, Tom devised three distinct worlds to accompany each choreographer. "Sweet Salt" had the intricacy of hip-hop, glitch and contemporary music production along with a powerful performance on drums, enlivening the senses and supporting the tight choreography. "Not All Who Launder are Washed" required the delicacy and sensitiveness to keep the choreography focused while being largely improvised. A sense of the spiritual was needed for "The Silent Partner" and a lyrical, ethereal yet grounded world that encouraged playful response from the dancers was the perfect response and finale.
Tom has also spent the better part of 7 years performing with New Zealand's leading percussion ensemble Strike. It is here that he first worked with Malia during her tenure with the World of Wearable Art Awards show. Performing with Strike has seen Tom performing at festivals in China, South Korea and across New Zealand to standing ovations. During this time he co-founded The Thomas Oliver Band which would go on to release a number one album, tour Australasia and share the stage with Joe Cocker, Cold Chisel, James Reyne and Fat Freddy's Drop.
Tom is a passionate performer who looks forward to new ideas, challenges and inspiration and who's enthusiasm brings life to any project he is involved.
Jenny Ritchie is a visual artist, aerial artist and choreographer.
Over the last 20 years she has worked for contemporary circus companies and various productions both in Aotearoa and overseas where she often finds herself in a diversity of roles; as a performer, apparatus designer, aerial choreographer.
After graduating with a Diploma in Performing Arts (CircoArts) in 2003, she co-created a performance company in New Zealand and worked as an aerial artist and choreographer.
In 2008 Jenny moved to Montreal to become part of larger international projects. She has worked for Ex Machina, Robert Lepage’s interpretation of Das Rheingold for the Metropolitan Opera of New York and has toured internationally as an aerialist in Cavalia’s Odysséo. Jenny later moved to Zurich to take on a role as a choreographic collaborator and performer for experimental aerial apparatus in the international touring show Rigolo.
Since returning to New Zealand in 2017, she has completed an Honours Degree in Visual Arts as well as collaborating with Movement of The Human and The World of Wearable Arts as aerial choreographer and performer.
Jenny also works as a textile artist for film and television projects, as well as working in the world of Stunts, a field with complimentary practices that feed into her choreographic and aerial apparatus design work.
Jenny is the co-creator and aerial designer of BELLE - Performance of Air by Movement of the Human
https://www.jennyritchie.com