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| My Wellington tourist moment with "The Naked Man" (Solace in the Wind by Max Patte)! |
I still think of myself as an "island boy", and the land of my birth, Jamaica, has been much in the news during my six week Fulbright Specialist project in New Zealand. First there was hurricane Melissa which devastated the south western quadrant of the island. ABC News reel highlighting Black River from October 28th. My father was born and grew up just outside of Black River. Then Dr. Gabrielle Henry suffers a fall during a controversial Miss Universe pageant in Thailand on November 19th Today Show news report. A childhood friend was Miss Jamaica, and we crossed paths on her world tour during her tenure. Even as I was working on the other side of the world, the fact is that I had lived experiences with so many elements in the above news stories. A bonus of Black Grace performing in Auckland was getting to invite a high school friend from back in Jamaica, Andrew Irvine along with his wife to see the performance! |
| Opening night snap of me with Sylvie & Andrew Irvine. |
Quick scan inside The Civic Theatre in Auckland as dancers warm up on stage.
Fulbright has afforded me yet another opportunity to live my experience in New Zealand in ways that will forever deepen the impact of news stories about Aotearoa which I will encounter through the rest of my days. Having the time to be welcomed and immersed in Black Grace Dance Company's culture and aspirations was an unprecedented joy. Theatreview - Double Bill programme! This review by Dr. Ian Lochhead warms my heart with his endorsement of why choreographic legacy works are to be considered living works of Art for both dancers and their audiences.  |
| With the dancers of Black Grace Dance Company! |
Beyond working with Black Grace as my host institution, I was encouraged to participate and offer master classes and seminars in both community environments as well as with other institutions. In Auckland I was able to conduct an open master class at The Auckland Performing Arts Center (TAPAC).  |
| With master class attendees at TAPAC. |
In Wellington I had the pleasure of spending a day with the New Zealand School of Dance at their home in Toi Whakaari teaching and offering a forum to the contemporary students in their two and three year programmes.  |
| NZSD contemporary students 2025. Photos on the wall include past students with whom I have worked at the school more than a decade earlier! |
While in New Zealand I had the pleasure of attending the end of year graduation programmes for both Unitec in Auckland as a guest of Shona McCullagh, and NZSD in Wellington.  |
| With Shona and Unitec faculty at performance in Corban Estate Arts Centre, Auckland |
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| With the head of contemporary dance at NZSD in Wellington, Paula Steeds-Huston, post performance! |
Amongst reconnecting with old friends whom I have not seen since my last visit to New Zealand, I also made the time to meet some of the staff at Fulbright New Zealand in their offices on The Terrace in Wellington. FulbrightNZ newsletter gave me a highlight! I was excited to see the new (relatively) offices, and it gave me time to also wander around a section of the city I had not previously spent much time in.  |
| With some of the lead staff at Fulbright New Zealand! |
It was great to hear how Fulbright NZ are pro-actively looking to expand their Arts support, and I hope that more Kiwi dance and theatre artists will continue to seek out the programmes being funded by Fulbright to bring New Zealanders to US cities and institutions. In just a few short weeks, coming from Auckland to New York City with her own Fulbright Fellowship will be a longtime associate in the dance field Sarah Foster-Sproull.  |
| Dinner with Sarah Foster-Sproull in Auckland, and soon to meet again in NYC. |
Summarizing any project is difficult, and I am gratified that there was an outcome of performances by Black Grace of Paul Taylor's Esplanade alongside the world premiere of Neil Ieremia's If Ever There Was A Time, which were both warmly received.  |
| With Cath Cardiff, Rebecca Galloway, Richard Benge, Jane Keller, me, Salesi Le'ota |
A very special luncheon was coordinated shortly after I landed in New Zealand to reconnect in person with beloved friends and acquaintances from my earlier visits to Aotearoa, dating back as early as 1999, when none of us ever dared imagine what we might be doing 26 years later. Our stories are as varied our lives in Arts management, fundraising, access advocacy, theatre and voice performance, education, and even power lifting!
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| A view from the TranzAlpine train between Christchurch and Greymouth on the South Island. |
The physical beauty of New Zealand is metaphorically tied in my mind to their blended culture, commonly described in terms of Maori versus Pakeha and which expansively includes Pasifika identities. The landscapes, flora and fauna form a symbiotic whole, at once benign and tranquil yet unpredictable and everchanging. I hope we as people can be aware of incongruities in our own nations and cultures. Personally, I have always had to navigate new acquaintances' disconnect between my looks, my accent, my passport, my profession, and my racial versus my ethnic background.  |
| A Tui foraging in a Pohutukawa tree that was hardly bothered by taking its portrait. |
I have often been able to use my otherness in support of empathy for all sides in situations and in finding common ground. Globalization and ongoing international travel will continue to blur the lines of our personal histories and identities. As I reviewed my hundreds of photos from my trip, I remembered stopping to watch this Tui bird foraging in a blossoming Pohutukawa tree on the sidewalk outside of Te Papa Tongarewa/Museum of New Zealand in Wellington. The bird is uniquely beautiful and very distinctive from the tree and its blooms, yet it somehow blended into the tree as though camoflaged. In dance, it has always been my goal to let performers be their unique selves yet also blend seamlessly into the surrounding culture of other dancers allowing the choreography to bring them all into harmony.  |
| Issac Theatre Royal being prepared for performance. |
The hope is that this Fulbright supported project to bring Esplanade into the repertoire of Black Grace Dance Company will lead to further collaborations and international exchanges. I like to imagine that I treat every project like there will always be a next time, yet this time has to be the best it can be (in case there isn't a next)! I do love that Fulbright is not generally based on requiring a specific outcome, and their emphasis is about the process of doing as much as the Fulbrighter is comfortable with doing based on their individual expertise or interests. Outcomes in performance arts are not always quantifiable for their impact on future professionals and audiences. It is only in the telling and legacy embraced by future generations that such evidence of what was performed today has a lasting effect.  |
| Inlaid mosaic on floor of Te Papa where Australia and New Zealand are centered. |
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| Black Grace performs Esplanade. Photo: Jinki Cambronero |
This blog (FNZdance25.blogspot.com) is not an
official site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State. The
views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author (Richard Chen
See) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the
U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations.
