2003

Tempo° : Feel the Heat, Auckland’s Festival of Dance debuted on October 31st 2003 with a Gala at the Auckland Town Hall.

The three-week festival, spread across various venues in Auckland, presented a range of styles and mediums of dance, from workshops and performances to ‘Dance on Screen’. Students from dance schools and training institutions, covering the gamut from the Devonport School of Dance to Unitec year 1 and 2 end of year concerts, appeared in the festival. Dancemaker Productions, hailed as ‘New Zealand’s first Asian contemporary dance company’, presented Dancing on the Milky Way, by Su Ka and Yu Fen, while the collective known as Late Night Choreographers offered six short works at the TAPAC theatre. The choreographers of Late Night included Peter Vosper, Alexa Wilson, Matthew Gillanders, Beaue-Simone Frost, Mat Gibbons and Tania Bond. Tickets for this concert were $6. Rhythm ConstructioNZ, by Two Left Feet Productions, combined acrobatics, percussion, and tap dancing, labelling it ‘foot percussion for a new generation.’ Choreographers for Rhythm ConstructioNZ included Linda McFetridge and Jodi Russell joined by Richard Cesan, Amanda Chan, Shannon Wilson and musicians JT and Dave Alley and actor Andrea Bruce, all on stage at the TAPAC theatre. The Vacuum Pact Dance Company, whose members included Anna Bate, Katie Burton, Geoff Gilson and Julia Sadler (all recent graduates in Dance from Unitec) premiered The Lens, described as ‘four new dance works’ that offered ‘differing perspectives on Aotearoa New Zealand in a global context.’

In 2003 the newly opened TAPAC Theatre at Western Springs College hosted several events. TAPAC came into being owing to prolonged work by a committed team from the arts community, including former Limbs Dance Company members Joanne Kelly and Wendy Preston, sealing a partnership between Western Springs College, Auckland Council and the local community.

Community Events in 2003 included Shake a Leg- a youth dance concert held at the ASB Theatre in the Aotea Centre and the perennial Chance to Dance free dance classes at the Auckland Town Hall, utilising both the Great Hall and the Concert Chamber.