Footnote announces 2024 programme

This upcoming year will be a pivotal point in Footnote's history. We want everyone to come along for the ride.

Footnote exists within a rich landscape of dance artists. It is critical to us that our programme complements and expands upon the wide range of offerings in Aotearoa.

We are buzzing about our plans in 2024 to grow audiences and connect with artists up and down the country. We are ready to instigate change and build new things together on the foundations laid out for us. We are warmed up, and ready to dance.

A purple image with a photo of a dancer leaning off to one side with her arms raised. The text IYKYK National Tour 10 February to 27 March is overlaid.

IYKYK National Tour

2024 starts with the return of our critically acclaimed double-bill IYKYK (If You Know You Know), by choreographers Holly Newsome and Forest Kapo. The two works present a game-like lens of viewing the human condition - How do you win at the game of life? What are the rules of the end of the world?

Taranaki-born artist Holly Newsome choreographs the dance of life with Advance to Go. Queer, Indigenous performance artist Forest V Kapo (Te Atiawa, Ngāti Raukawa) explores how to save the world in Premonition. Both choreographers have created their works alongside lighting designer Elekis Poblete Teirney and with an immersive composition by Emi Pogoni.

"remarkable...wildly visceral and emotive" - Art Murmurs

Thin Paper, Autonomy of Synapse, Nomads, and Tokyo[-ing] 

Kota Yamazaki returns to Aotearoa to remount his 2020 work Fog, Nerves, Future, Ocean, Hello (echoes) into a new full length work, Thin Paper, Autonomy of Synapse, Nomads, and Tokyo[-ing] .

Mysterious, surprising and beautiful, this piece resulted from working across continents in a changed world. Inspired by the landscape of Wellington and the unpredictability of human behaviour, this work is buoyed by hypnotic sound design by Jesse Austin-Stewart and intricate, sculptural set design by Tokyo-based collaborators. Footnote have been invited to perform the work in Tokyo and Aichi in 2024.

“...always compelling, and relentless in its pursuit of life force.” - Theatreview

An image with a red background. There is a black and white photo of a dancer talking into a microphone, in the background are two other dancers posing on a raised platform. The words Modern God Wellington November 2024 are overlaid.

Modern God

Modern God is a brand new work being developed across the year by choreographer Jeremy Beck (A Floor, Some Thoughts, And Us 2021).

This high-powered physical work highlights the global culture of interaction with online content and how we access and trust information. All geared with a desire to go viral, the dancers go toe to toe to win over the consumer. Modern God is a technical, relentless work where we observe the absurdity of the world around us.

Community Outreach

In 2024 we are delighted to be delivering a high-quality, relevant community outreach programme. We will be working with groups across the country who are passionate about contemporary dance.

Our community outreach programme includes:

  • Delivering a masterclass program that runs alongside touring shows. Guided by our accomplished dancers, participants are taught repertoire and creative tasks from the show while also gaining entry to the performance at a subsidised rate. This experience creates a deeper understanding of both the production itself and the artists who bring it to life.

  • Providing inspiring workshops that align with NCEA Dance curriculum requirements, that teach show repertoire and share movement tasks from current creative processes. We will work with teachers to create bespoke workshops that will broaden students’ experiences.

  • Creating two brand new educational resources for NCEA dance levels 1-3 that dive deeply into choreographic works.

  • Programming schools' matinee performances and hosting Q&As alongside performances.

  • Providing relaxed performances and accessible dress rehearsals.

Professional Development

We provide unrivalled professional development programmes to freelance dancers in Aotearoa, and do it on a regular basis. We are also proud to advocate for dancers and love to assist in connecting and drawing our community closer together. We believe that supporting our dancers in Aotearoa to grow as independent artists will increase the strength of the sector.

Professional development opportunities offered by Footnote in 2024 include:

  • Choreolab, a two-week workshop held in Wellington this January. In 2024 Choreolab will be in it’s 22nd year!

  • One paid early-career dancer internship.

  • Dedicated Professional Development time in the calendar for the Footnote company dancers, including time for individual dancer-led practice, with the potential for this to have an international component.

  • International opportunities that will support the development of dance in Aotearoa.

  • Secondments for final year tertiary dance students. These provide an opportunity to gain an understanding of how a professional company operates.

Brynne Tasker-Poland