The Return

The Return is a residency project working in a cultivated space of enquiry, connection, and a deep inward returning to stories and beings of the past. Te hokinga mai acts as the entry point for which a physicalised conversation can occur. Through the embodied practice of listening and moving deep within, ancestral beings and sacred lands and waters shall be invited into the space to become weaved and intertwined with physical forms of movement.

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What will be the focus of your residency and what are the themes, concepts, or methods you are interested in exploring through your work?

This residency project will be focussed on crafting a movement language and framework that allows for Whenua, Maunga, Awa and Ancestral Beings to arrive and engage in the art of the dancing and responding. Conversations through voice and movement will occur and the use of embodied practices including improvisation, poetry and deep inward listening will be embraced. As a work that engages with the ancestral realm, this space will be sacred and treated as a meeting place for connection and returning.

What excites you the most about this project and what are you hoping to get out of your residency?

The Return is a residency that I am very grateful and honoured to be engaging with. To be present in a space that is culturally activated by energies and memories of my past, I feel that many special moments will emerge. My true hope is too land in a space that can share a glimpse into my experience of returning home.

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A part of The Blue Room Theatre’ 2025 Residency Program.

• Artist

  Harrison Cook

• Collaborator

  Ella Rerekura