AD PARNASSUM - Purapurawhetū
At the heart of this project there are points of inspiration from Māori, Mediterranean and European cultures. Ad Parnassum - Purapurawhetū pays homage to Bauhaus artist Paul Klee's painting "Ad Parnassum" through digital augmentations of Mount Parnassus as a temple or wharenui. Director Daniel Belton’s film edit and design re-choreographs the prerecorded dance to synchronise with Gillian Whitehead's score. Music steers the narrative to support nine women through interconnecting solos that link us to Delphi and the Muses of Antiquity.
Dance artist Jahra Wasasala opens the film - centipedes partner mountain ranges and dragonflies play with Wasasala as Flower of Life blueprints are seeded. Linear depictions of Mount Parnassus (after Klee’s Pyramid form), resonate with ancient and futuristic dimension. They represent the old hierarchical world - a model being superseded and rebalanced through new leadership from women. Ad Parnassum - Purapurawhetū advocates for an inclusive vision of co-creation, and wholeness for all beings and all life.
World Pemiere at The Arts Centre Christchurch Te Matatiki Toi Ora for Matariki Festival Mānawatia a Matariki as expanded cinema outdoor projection installation (Quadrangle site, June 21-July 4th 2022 hosted by Te Matatiki Toi Ora). Winter Solstice opening live dance and taonga pūoro activation (Nancy Wijohn/Kelly Nash/Alistair Fraser with Daniel Belton, Donnine Harrison, Jac Grenfell, Stuart Foster, Gillian Whitehead and Good Company Arts team). Lecture-dem with Daniel Belton and Gillian Whitehead at The Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities hosted by University of Cantebury. Puaka Matariki Festival screening and lecture-dem hosted by Dunedin Public Art Gallery. KAKUSEI Exhibition at Gallery OUT of PLACE, Nara, Japan 2023: Giclée prints and interactive film projection installation supported by the Asia New Zealand Foundation; Auckland Central Libraries Matariki 2023 Projection Installation Commission; Auckland University of Technology Media Wall Matariki Installation Commission 2023. Winner Best Art/Dance Film Athens International Art Film Festival 2023, Winner Best Female Composer Paris Women Festival 2023, Winner Best Dance Video Black Owl Festival Bodrum 2024. Funded by Creative New Zealand toi Aotearoa. Supported by Massey University, Kate Sylvester, Dunedin City Council, The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora and partners.
“Ad Parnassum – Purapurawhetū is a compelling, multi-layered work - a vision of light and warmth. In this magical space cultural boundaries intertwine and dissolve. This is an auspicious collaboration by a team of New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists” Theatreview
“A magnificently holistic piece that feels organic and divine, both alien and familiar; it’s like staring at once at a grain of sand and at the centre of a galaxy” Flat City Field Notes
The reappearance of the Matariki constellation (also known as the Pleiades) represents the end of the Māori lunar year and marks the beginning of a new year. Matariki is a time of celebration and ceremony in Aotearoa New Zealand. Daniel, Donnine Harrison and the Good Company Arts team have created a celestial voyage of beauty and coherence featuring new music from Dame Gillian Whitehead. The film unfolds in a spectacle of dance solos with Nancy Wijohn, Kelly Nash, Jahra Wasasala, Christina Guieb, Neve Pierce, Stephanie Halyburton, Lucy Marinkovich, Laura Saxon-Jones, and Kiki Miwa. Their movement catalyses the atmosphere, hue and light intensity of the film realms they traverse.
In Māori tradition, there are the nine stars of Matariki; Matariki (Alcyone) – the mother of the other stars in the constellation. Pōhutukawa – connects Matariki to the dead and is the star that carries our dead across the year (Sterope/Asterope). Tupuānuku – is tied to food that grows in the ground (Pleione). Tupuārangi – is tied to food that comes from above your head such as birds and fruit (Atlas). Waitī – is tied to food that comes from fresh water (Maia). Waitā – is tied to food that comes from salt water (Taygeta). Waipunarangi – is tied to the rain (Electra). Ururangi – is tied to the winds (Merope). Hiwaiterangi/Hiwa – is the youngest star in the cluster, the star we send our wishes to (Celaeno).
Māori refer to Women as te whare tangata (the house of humanity), recognising the vital roles Women play in providing life and nurturing future generations. Women are respected for their ability to create life - they are regarded with the same consideration as Papatūanuku (Mother Earth), the creator of all life. Whenua means both placenta and land - the afterbirth was buried, binding people to their source of life, physically through Women and spiritually to the land.
In Ad Parnassum - Purapurawhetū the dancers become part of a shared visual and sculptural language. Gillian’s music drives the total work which carries human figures in a gliding vista - a singing bowl, a celestial waka or ship brimming with movement and colour codes. The channel for union with something mystical and divine is dance. Dance activates sacred geometry with the conductive power of gesture and breath. When we look out into space we are seeing our own origins - all life is interwoven from the cellular to the cosmic.
Ko wai ngā tāngata | Creatives behind the film work AD PARNASSUM - Purapurawhetū
Daniel Belton (director, concept, designer, cameras, optics/sound post, choreo-post, film editor), Donnine Harrison (creative producer, designer), Gillian Karawe Whitehead (music composer, collaborator) with the New Zealand String Quartet and Alistair Fraser (taonga pūoro); fashion designer Kate Sylvester (couture) and the Good Company Arts digital film team featuring Jac Grenfell (motion graphics, cinema 4D/2D animation, audio design), Nigel Jenkins, Josef Belton (kinetic props), Bradon McCaughey (cameras) and Stuart Foster (spatial lighting, props, cameras). Choreographers/dance performers are Nancy Wijohn, Kelly Nash, Jahra Wasasala, Christina Guieb, Laura Saxon-Jones, Lucy-Margaux Marinkovich, Neve Pierce, Kiki Miwa and Stephanie Halyburton.