Bianca Hyslop & Rowan Pierce
Visceral, Arresting and Immersive.
Pōhutu is a multi-disciplinary work created by choreographer Bianca Hyslop and performance designer/artist Rowan Pierce. Through a collision of bold performance and design languages, Pōhutu is physically arresting and emotionally resonant theatrical alchemy.
Bianca’s grandmother Ramari Rangiwhiua Morrison was born in Te Whakarewarewatanga-o-te-ope-tauā-a-Wahiao, Rotorua. Whakarewarewa is situated on a double fault line and is home to Pōhutu; the Southern Hemisphere’s largest active geyser. It is a place of tremendous power where the natural geothermal landscape is forever re-shaping itself.
At the age of 88, Bianca’s grandmother now has Alzheimers. Pōhutu draws parallels between her shapeshifting mind and the restless landscape of Whakarewarewa; the whenua she was born from and will return to.
The result is an impressionistic work that manifests the ephemeral, fragmented nature of identity and one’s connection to memory, time, place and loss.
Bianca Hyslop (Te Arawa, Ngāti Whakaue) and multi award winning artist Rowan Pierce are practitioners at the forefront of their respective fields of contemporary dance/movement and performance design/live art.
Based in Aotearoa/New Zealand, both artists have extensive experience and have gained success working independently as well as with top performing arts companies in Aotearoa and abroad. Companies include Atamira Dance Company, Movement of The Human, New Zealand Dance Company, Okareka Dance Company and World of Wearable Arts.
This new collaborative partnership is self-produced and together the pair create work that pushes beyond any one form of performing arts practice. Their work is an immersive performance experience that utilises various forms of storytelling including image, movement, sound, spatial/object design and beyond. This results in a universal performative language that defies genres and opens up live performance experience to new and broader audiences.
Rowan Pierce
Director Designer
rowandouglaspierce@gmail.com
+6421797511
