Matariki, the Maori New Year, is to be depicted through drama, movement and kapa haka.
Te Wananga o Aotearoa's School of Performing Arts students will interpret their own meaning of Matariki tonight as part of their first production of the year. The Matariki Show Case, featuring 32 performing
arts students and five staff members, starts at the creation of Maori mythology and will take the audience on a journey right through to the Polynesian migration to New Zealand.
Co-director of the show Mitsi Strickland said the production was about celebrating new beginnings and the harvesting for the Maori New Year.
For Certificate in Maori Performing Arts student Te Waihirere Mackey, 26, this was her first time on the stage.
She was nervous, excited and confident all at the same time.
Matariki meant a new beginning and tonight's show was a new beginning for Miss Mackey.
She had always wanted to study performing arts but with five children, it was put on hold for motherhood.
After watching all of Te Wananga o Aotearoa's Rotorua productions last year, she made the decision to study performing arts in 2007.
She is glad she made the move.
"I've just always been fascinated with doing performing arts. I knew I wanted to be up on stage," she said.
Now she just hoped to share her talents and help put on a good show with the rest of the cast.
Third year Bachelor of Maori Performing Arts student Phillip Selwyn, 26, can't wait to get on stage to show what Matariki means to him.
"I follow the Maori astronomical calendar and it's a real big thing for me," Mr Selwyn said. Taking on the role of Ranginui the Sky Father, Mr Selwyn described Matariki as the death of the old and the birth of the new.
"I'm really just looking forward to getting together with with the people who are going to come and see us really celebrating the Maori New Year," Mr Selwyn said.
Both Mr Selwyn and Miss Mackey hoped to one day have their own performing arts companies creating travelling productions. The production starts at 7pm at the Dr Buck Ninn Theatre at the School of Performing Arts on Malfroy Rd.
