Victoria Hunt (New Zealand/Australia)

PRESENTED WITH THE DANCE CENTRE

Solo dance artist Victoria Hunt uses movement, sound and image to tell a story. The themes are heritage, tradition and reclamation; the subject is Hinemihi, a ceremonial meeting house that once stood in their native land Aotearoa/New Zealand. Paying tribute to their foremother, the sacred structure that was taken to England following a volcanic eruption in 1886, they merge narrative with gesture. The result is a polemical work of beauty.

Visual projection and effects, powerfully evocative sound, beautifully suggestive dancing and Hunt’s use of their native language immerse us in their heart while still leaving room for contemplation. The Māori language holds within it a truth that is communicated without the audience’s literal understanding. At times Hunt fractures themself, both visually and otherwise, but what emerges in the end is a unified work of art—powerful, persuasive and utterly unique.

There is no single word to address the depth and complexities of Victoria Hunt’s work… [It] reverberates with personal narrative [and] political tensions. —Australian Stage 

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