Kura Te Ua
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Kura Te Ua is a Māori performing arts practitioner, choreographer and artistic director. She specialises in kapa haka and has developed the new hybrid-form 'haka theatre'. Her company Hawaiki TŪ creates haka theatre events including in 2023 where Autaia is featuring 400 student performers.
Te Ua was born in Auckland and raised in a community of Black Power gang members in the suburbs of Glen Innes and Ōtāhuhu.[1] Te Ua is of Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Te Whakatōhea and Tūhoe descent.[2] As a teenager she joined Pounamu Huia, a performing arts training school and group.[1]
She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in performing arts from the University of Auckland.[3] In 2011 she co-founded a Māori contemporary dance and performance company, Hawaiki TŪ.[2][4] In 2023 she is studying towards a PhD with Te Wharewānanga o Awanuiārangi.[3]
Te Ua is developing a new style of performance called haka theatre, drawn from traditional dance theatre and Māori performing arts.[2] Haka theatre was first named in 2011 on a show Arohanui - The Greatest Love created by Tanemahuta Gray, Tapeta Wehi, Annette Wehi, Jim Moriarty and Helen Pearse-Otene. Te Ua was a performer in this show.[2]
In June 2023 a big haka theatre event Autaia is presented at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre featuring 400 students from six schools, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Kotuku, Ngā Puna o Waiōrea, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi Marae, Auckland Girls Grammar (Kahurangi ki Maungawhau), Manurewa High School and James Cook High School (Te Pūkenga). Each school performs for 15-minutes.[5] Te Ua is the creative director of Aitaia and it is co-produced with her company Hawaiki TŪ and Auckland Live. It is the third year for this event to be held.[6]
Autaia means “to be extraordinary” and this kaupapa encourages every single person involved to step into the world of haka theatre because on the other side awaits a pathway of passion, pride and unwavering self belief.’ (Kura Te Ua 2023)[6]
