Yesterday a dear dear friend left to return home to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since she arrived I have been out every night. For a girl that didn't think she had much of a social life and over the years has been called a Nana (more than once), I think I've done pretty good at staying alive for the last two weeks. Looking back I have had an amazing time, with amazing people, in amazing places. So this is how it went...
Wednesday 6 November
My new friend arrived.
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| This kinda looks like us, me and Alma, but with the skin colour reversed |
My new friend (Alma) arrived on
Thursday. I went to meet her, another friend and my boyfriend at a cafe.
I was anxious. When I saw her, her face was beaming, she was literally
grinning from ear to ear and embraced me as though we were long lost
friends. I was instantly comfortable and myself. We didn't stop talking
until she left.
Most Wednesday's I go to a bar in town called the Hangar. It opened on a Wednesday and my friend and I went on the first night and have been going there since it opened. We sit at the bar and have a few drinks while we catch up with whoever comes in to join us. It's nice to spend time with friends and the boys that run the bar are incredibly hard workers & make beautiful drinks. They love what they do and they are good at it.
This Wednesday was my friend's birthday so we were joined by lots of his friends. It got quite rowdy; some people made a human pyramid, a girl fell off. She's a bit of a dick so I quite enjoyed that bit. I stayed till midnight to say happy birthday (because it was actually Thursday) then I went home.
Thursday 7 November
Thursday night we went to the opening of Kowhiti. Alma was here in Aotearoa looking after the dance group from New Mexico: Dancing Earth so got us tickets to the opening night of the contemporary Maori dance festival. My first glimpse of Dancing Earth was through the window from the balcony. One dancer was bound, twisted in rubbish, one wore a gas mask and the other played a violin. They wore striking blue.
This picture is taken from the balcony before the show began. I look totally unimpressed with Tamahou's story, I probably wasn't, it was probably more that the camera was right in our face.
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| http://www.flickr.com/photos/us_embassy_newzealand/10731087615/sizes/m/in/photostream/ |
The performances were brilliant. Dancing Earth and Mas from the Torres Strait Islands stole the show. Dancing Earth opened the show and after it I felt as though I had been to New Mexico and back. Their narrative about the value of water, conservation, people's effect on the land and culture was powerful. I saw the creatures, felt the land under my feet and heard their pleas to understand their plight.
Mas from the Torres Strait Islands danced like a bird. His feet quick quick quick as he brought his ancestors to the stage.
The other piece that struck me was one by Louise Potiki-Bryant. Her piece Kiri, a conversation between a piece of clay and a clay artist was sophisticated and subtle yet every movement left me breathless. At one stage I couldn't hold it in and yelled, she's a hei tiki, look!
You can see pictures of the Kowhiti performance on the US Embassy's page at the link above.
Friday 8 November
On Friday I got to see two on my fav people in the world. These two have taught me more about myself than they will ever know. I hope we stay friends forever.
At night Alma, the BF and I went to a really cool fundraiser. Our friends helped organise a haangi (google it) and entertainment for their daughter's kohanga reo (Maori Language learning nest for preschoolers). One of my fav singers Ria Hall was performing and I love haangi. Actually, the haangi we had was the best one I've ever had in Wellington. We got to hang with cool people, eat good food and listen to good music. It was choice and for such a cool cause.
Saturday 9 November
I got up early to take the BF to work and got to go to the supermarket by myself on a Saturday morning (it's something I like to do). I then went home, got Alma and we went to Te Papa to hang with Dancing Earth and the Kowhiti whanau.
Alma and I went shopping and we met Shane one of the dancers from Albuquerque. We all went to the market and we laughed and I talked and talked and talked. I hope I meet him again. He features more in Sunday's story.
I didn't know but there was a workshop on at Te Papa being run by Dancing Earth. Of course, I couldn't not take part so I took off my shoes and started the workshop with Rulan, the choreographer & instructor for Dancing Earth. Although I had bad pants on (tight jeans) and every time I bent over my ass crack smiled at the sky, I let go of all inhibition and surrendered to Rulan and her lesson.
She taught us how to not step on the grass, to step with intention and to breathe through our bodies to the land beneath us. Part of the lesson involved getting into a group of three and being the holy trio of food; beans, corn and squash. I was a corn, and a sexy corn at that. I may have even found my calling.
After the workshop we were treated to a performance by one of the Dancing Earth family, Ria Thundercloud. Ria danced the dance of her ancestors. It was magical and beautiful, like this picture.
That night we went to the NZ Poetry Slam. Holey shit, how did I now know about this before. For those not in the know, people recite poems and they are judged by random members of the crowd, the highest and lowest scores are taken away and then the remaining scores are added to get a winner of each "round". They battle till they have a winner.
We arrived late, the bar was packed and people were clicking fingers to show they liked what was being said over the mic. We arrived for the semi-finals and what we witnessed was nothing short of astounding. Long story short, the three finalists were all young men; Michael from Dunedin (who I stalked when I was at school), Michael from Hamilton (a handsome Maori fulla) and the winner, Te Kahu also from Hamilton (also a handsome Maori fulla). They spoke about Mother's being beaten to death, about playing league to impress the father that beat you, about the dickhead your girlfriend likes that makes you look good as a boyfriend, about property agents as the scum of the earth, about the sucken ship that wreaked his home but bought his people together, about being men that write poetry.
We were there with some amazing people and if all these young people are the future of our country then that is just fine by me.
Sunday 10 November
Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, my week was completed with a day full of all the things I love. As I say, Sunday's are for doing the things that matter, with the ones that you love.
