Coco Talanoa — Events / Page 8

Stand Up Stand Out is Auckland's premier secondary school music and dance competition - from RnB, Reggae, Folk, Rock to Jazz Ballet, contemporary to hip hop.

Stand Up, Stand Out gives Secondary School youth a chance to shine, gaining experience and exposure in front of judges from the NZ Music and Performing Arts industry.

They're also in to win more than $6k in prizes!  

Check out highlights from the finals here ...

The bag reveals as much as it conceals 

Carried Away: Bags Unpacked showcases over 150 individual bags from Auckland Museum’s collection, many on display for the first time.

Every bag has a history, a story to tell – from haute couture fashion to cultural traditions. Bags can convey social standing, practical needs or be a statement of art.

The curators of the exhibition really wanted it to be an object focused collection - a single object and what that could tell us about our community, our society and our place in New Zealand. 

A lot of the bags in the collection are very eurocentric which you can anticipate because of all the European settlers coming in and bringing their heritage, their culture and what they were used to.  

They have however, worked with the Maori & Pasifika curators in the Museum to highlight indigenous practices & techniques to help broaden that view of what a bag is and what kind of techniques are used which speaks to Maori & Pasifika place in Aotearoa.…more

Check out the action from the World Hip Hop Dance champs in Phoenix, Arizona.

New Zealand represented and had 3 crews place in the finals.

Swagganauts & Masque came 1st and 3rd respectively in the Varsity division and Lil Saintz placed 3rd in the Junior Division.  Check out Swagganauts Gold winning finals routine in the video above + Masque & Lil Saintz in the videos below 

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We catch up with your fave Pasifika music artists behind the scenes at the 2019 Pacific Music Awards including a few of our award winners plus highlights of their performances.

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Director & Editor - Shimpal Lelisi 

Camera Operators - Hayden Aull & Oliver Coddington 

Sound - Marcus Lawson 

Compile - Jared Leith 

We're in Niue at the Taoga Festival Niue Arts & Culture where NZ based Niuean artists have collaborated with festival organisers and local Niueans with performances, workshops, exhibitions and more in order for local Niueans to develop their skills.

Check out all the action here ...

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Director - Shimpal Lelisi 

Editor - Shimpal Lelisi & Mario Gaoa 

Camera/Sound Operators - Jack Tarrant 

Talent - Haanz Fa'avae Jackson & Leki Jackson-Bourke 

“14 Schools. 100 Warriors. 1 Village.”

Black Friars are back with the 3rd and final instalment of Southside Rise and have struck theatrical Gold once again. This moving, thought provoking piece has blown away it’s audience with the sheer talent, passion and professionalism from students barely old enough to vote. The show left me in absolute awe of both the students, for sharing their revolutionary stories with us, and the Black Friars for giving them the tools to do so. 

The Show!

At Southside Grammar, there’s the Hacker, the Polyfest Leader, the Artist, the Debater and the Story-teller. Each student using their unique talents to navigate their way through life as a young, brown, South Auckland student. Each student was faced with their own individual obstacle when an unforgiving Principal takes away their tools of expression.…more

Last week the conferring of a Doctor of Letters was awarded to His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta'isi Efi (former Head of State and Prime Minister of Samoa) at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

He was honoured with this beautiful pese Samoa 'Le Atunu'u Pele' by members of the St Salvators Chapel Choir, University of St Andrews in Scotland.  

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Video Credit - Creative Samoa 

We're down at the D7 Discipline Performance 'Discipline Games' where teams and individuals compete to smash out a set in 7 minutes.

GOAL?  To find the fittest D7 athlete! 

South Auckland's newest art gallery, community & consultancy space Vunilagi Vou opened in Otahuhu a week and a half ago with a large group exhibition WWJD:2 featuring predominantly local, South Auckland based artists.  We talked to Director & Artist-Curator Ema Tavola about the exhibition as well as her hopes & dreams for the gallery.

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I’m a Fijian-New Zealander with maternal heritage connecting me to England and Ireland, and paternally to the island of Dravuni, Kadavu in Fiji, and Suva, where I was born. I was brought up in England and Belgium, and finished secondary school in Wellington. I bounced around between Fiji and New Zealand until I started tertiary studies and settled in South Auckland; I’ve been here for almost 18 years now.

For the past 15 years I’ve worked as a curator, arts project manager, advisor and advocate for Pacific art and South Auckland. I started my career formally as Pacific Arts Coordinator for what was then Manukau City Council, and in that capacity was able to establish Fresh Gallery Ōtara, an exhibitions gallery in the Ōtara Town Centre.…more