From the Atua singing the world into being, to when Sky Father Rakinui clashed with the Sea God Takaroa over the love of Earth Mother Papatūānuku, to when Tāne, God of the Forest, journeyed through the celestial realms to find something to adorn his father Raki, who was naked at night, Tūmahana is the unique story of creation from Te Waipounamu.

Combining multiple different disciplines – orchestra, classical dance, contemporary dance, mau rākau (Māori martial arts), Kapa Haka, theatre, Circus, Taonga Pūoro, and with a Māori narrative – Tūmahana is the first type of performance of its kind.

Though she is from Ōtautahi, and of Kāi Tahu and Ngāti Wheke descent, Artistic Director Juanita Hepi said she only heard the North Island stories when she was growing up.

“It wasn’t until I got older that I started to learn about our Kāi Tahu stories and so I thought, ‘Why don’t we learn [these] and how can we learn [about] them?’”

To this end, she partnered with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and brought together a team of performers from all backgrounds, from circus to mau rākau (Māori martial arts), dance to kapa haka, to bring to life one of the South Island’s versions of the creation story, and Tūmahana was born.

Christchurch composer Hamish Oliver took inspiration from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, which he changed, reimagined, and combined with elements of techno, more contemporary music, and Taonga Pūoro, to create a unique soundtrack for the performance.

Though the Kāi Tahu creation story has points of similarity with the North Island stories that are better known, there are also major differences. In some of the North Island stories, Takaroa (or Tangaroa), the God of the Sea, was the son of Sky Father Raki (Rangi in the North) and Earth Mother Papatūānuku . In this version however, Takaroa was actually Papatūānuku ’s husband and Raki’s rival.

Co-Director Danny Lee Syme works with the performers on the action-oriented elements, including a fight sequence between Raki and Takaroa. “I have a stage combat background and Kris (who plays Takaroa) also really loves that stuff,” Danny explained. “We love the same movies and the same battle scenes. We’re like ‘You know, that one in 300, that’s amazing’, and then we’d dissect it.”

The Atua, roughly translated to mean gods or deities, are portrayed through aerial feats performed by gymnast and circus performer Celina Nogueira and dancer Destiny Beynon.

These stories, called pūrākau, are important because they contain human truths that transcend culture, Juanita explained. “They feel like universal narratives. Very much like Shakespeare does as well, where, even though I might not connect as strongly to Othello, for example, I understand jealousy, I understand power and control, I understand intimidation and lies and truth; I understand those things on a human level. I think they are universal stories and I think that you can go to almost any culture and find [them]...told in a different way, but [with] the same kinds of concepts that have been around for millennia.”

CSO Presents: Tūmahana
Saturday 27 March, 7.30pm
Christchurch Town Hall

Juanita Hepi (Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke) Artistic Director
Danny Lee Syme Co-Director/Head Trainer
Mark McEntyre Designer
Mahina-Ina Kingi-Kaui Taonga Pūoro
Hamish Oliver Composer
David Kay Conductor

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