For Tempo 2009 Carrie Rae Cunningham joined the Tempo team as Assistant Producer, and with the depature of Frances Turner, Mick Hodson assumed the role of General Manager. Also new to the team this year was Matt Gillanders as the festival Videographer.

With TAPAC becoming more of the hub for the festival, O’Reilly’s programming initiated ‘back-to-back’ shows, ie. shows beginning at 6pm, 8pm, 9pm, and 10pm. Since TAPAC had it’s own bar/cafe and ample seating in the foyer, this schedule of programming over 11 days increased the festival ‘vibe’ mirroring that of other arts festivals across the country. It also confirmed just how much dance activity there was in Tamaki Makarau and the rest of the motu.

Alongside the shared programmes of short works; Fresh Cuts, Prime Cuts, Duets, Hot (Urban Dance showcase) and two Late Shows, Tempo 2009 introduced a new programme, Sacred Dance, featuring works with a spiritual or ritual basis. Choreographers Jennifer De Leon, Dee Landon, Charlene Tedrow, Monisha Kumar and Mary Jane O’Reilly offered a wide range of works, with Tedrow’s Siva Aitu especially intriguing as it explored in movement a Samoan myth of witches travelling the world and returning to Samoa.

The two Late Show programmes were designed to offer a mixture of performance styles that would cater to a public eager to experience dance at 10pm. Late Show #1 included a work by Merieke Marygold examing the life of a ballerina via text and movement. With The Rodwell Monologues Biped Productions (Lyne Pringle and Kilda Northcott) recreated works of the late Sally Rodwell and Alan Brunton of Red Mole fame. Mary Jane O’Reilly performed her solo, Witch Bitch. In Late Show #2 Cat Ruka presented a 25-minute work, Playing Savage, a ‘performative ritual that attempts to re-organize, hyper-extend and subvert some of the ideas, symbols and images that Maori women are perceived in relation to.’ Other choreographers, members of BackLit Productions, who presented shorter works in this programme were Shannon Mutu, Janine Parkes and Annabel Harrison.

Three programmes this year were centered on young performers: Tertiary Colours, The Teen Show and The Kids Show. Tertiary Colours featured works from dance education providers including The University of Auckland, AUT, Unitec, East Auckland Performing Arts and the Apollo Theatre School. Several local dance studios offered works in The Teen Show, including The Dance Studio, Marian McDermott School of Dance, Mt Eden Ballet Academy, Dance Unlimited. Pointy Dog Dance Company presented a short film directed by Carla Martell. The Kids Show also provided a platform for dance studios,with a programme of short works for younger dancers. The boys from BoyzDance 2, ranging in age from six to nine years old, included, amongst others, Oli Mathiesen and Faolan Okan. Students from the Mt Eden Ballet Academy and Dance Unlimited, East Auckland Performing Arts School and Monisha School of Dance also appeared.

Performed at the Leigh Sawmill Cafe, Morag Brownlie’s Birds of Paradise saw Tempo expand its range outside of Auckland. Described as weaving ‘dance, drama, burlesque, and comedy’ this multi-dimensioned work featured an array of dancers and singers, including Georgie Goater, Naressa Gamble, Mike Holland, dancers from Cuban Groove, Sensorie, and Ura Tabu, Tom Natoelofa, Amo Ieriko and singers Caitlin Smith, Henry Ah Foo Taripo, Erika Strata, Daniel Batten, Seonaide Lyons and Brownlie.

Non-performance events under the Tempo umbrella included Aitanga: Descendance, a Māori Contemporary Dance Summit held at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education, convened by Stephen Bradsaw; For the Record, a Dance Review Panel at TAPAC with panellists Linda Ashley, Jack Gray, Francesca Horsley, Nicholas Rowe and Jennifer Shennan and a range of studio open days, offering free dance classes at various dance studions across the city. An exhibition of photographs by John Savage of Douglas Wright’s Black Milk was on display at TAPAC and Honouring a Dancer in 2009 was dedicated to the inimitable Debra McCulloch from Limbs Dance Company and Douglas Wright and Dancers.