Hair raising drama at annual Tauranga arts fest

Family, dance, theatre, writers, photography, music - Tauranga's multi-genre arts festival has it all.

The show Salon is sited in hairdressers The Salon at 103 The Strand, Tauranga.

Here, members of the audience find themselves up close and personal as they are exposed to the intimacies and intricacies of the lives of Hugh, Jimmy, Skarlette, Anne and Kate, in a story about who sticks around when the going gets tough, the impact of our past and the promises of the future.

The show is a prequel to Hotel. See it first if you like or see them both on the same night.

Hotel held at The Sebel Trinity Wharf is another show where you will find out what goes on behind the closed door of Room 329. In an intimate setting theatre goers will be shown on to the set to witness the twists in the unfolding stories and the interactions of some of the people who inhabit this room.

Featuring 100 per cent New Zealand music and high calibre acting, Hotel is a mesmerising, multi-award winning exploration of these characters' lives and how the room impacts on them and their behaviour.

For lovers of the art of dance, the dance programme features award-winning Ngai Tahu 32, a beautiful integration of contemporary Maori dance choreography, video projection, stunning set design and powerful sound-score from leading contemporary Maori dance company Atamira Dance, as well as Hullapolloi, a new commission from Wellington's Footnote Dance Company.

Award-winning authors make up this year's line-up for those with a literary leaning, in the readers and writers programme. Booker Prize nominee and Mister Pip author Lloyd Jones will speak with poet Elizabeth Smither about the entrancing nature of a good book, and Kiwi icon Dame Alison Holst shares from her memoirs From the Heart ahead of its November release.

Tauranga Arts Festival October 20-30. Tickets are on sale now. Details online at www.taurangafestival.co.nz