Taane Mete

Taane Mete (Ngāti Kahungunu,  Ngāti Koroki-Kahukura) is a rongoā Māori healer, dancer, choreographer and wellbeing teacher whose practice brings together movement, mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and holistic healing. He draws on traditional knowledge, creativity and cultural identity to support personal and collective wellbeing.

Born in Napier as the youngest of seven children, he grew up immersed in kapa haka before discovering jazz dance as a teenager. He later graduated with honours in contemporary dance from the New Zealand School of Dance and became a respected leader, mentor and advocate within Aotearoa’s dance community.

With more than 44 years of movement experience, Taane has danced with numerous companies, co-directed Okareka Dance Company and created acclaimed works including Tama Ma, Ngā Hau e Wha, Mana Wahine and many more. His practice continues to connect Māori traditions with contemporary art, healing and cultural expression.

Image credit: Taane Mete in Hīkoi by David St George

Ngaronoa Renata 

From an early age, Ngaronoa Renata (Ngāpuhi) developed a love of poetry and words. When she received her first pay as a teenager, she bought a copy of Roget’s Thesaurus to assist with her poetic writings. This led to a curiosity in ancient languages such as Māori, Sanskrit, Hebrew and Arabic. In 1989, her little whānau moved to the Waikato from Kaeo, Northland, her ancestral home.

She joined the Māori Spiritual Warrior School and a Western mystery school, the Foundation for Higher Learning, both based in the Waikato. There, Ngaronoa undertook an in-depth journey of studying ancient sacred languages and wisdom science. She clearly remembers when her father spoke on their marae in their reo. She wept when hearing the sound of their reo, as it touched her profoundly.

She acknowledges her Ngāpuhi lineage through Tuhikura and Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa through Turikatuku.

Image credit: Dominico Zapata

Tipene Ralph Matthews

Tipene was born in Heretaunga and grew up close to the calming waters of the Tukituki, sheltered by the maunga, Kahuranaki. Since his teenage years, he has been mentored by a number of kaumātua, and to these elders he acknowledges their guidance and support.

After moving north, Tipene has been based in Tāmaki Makaurau and the Kaipara and works as a composer, musician, tertiary educator and multi-media artist. He regularly collaborates on creative works that bring together waiata, kapa haka, taonga pūoro and sound worlds inspired by te tai ao.

A central kaupapa of his work is raising awareness on social justice issues and ways to advance the well-being of the people, the whenua, wai māori, and wai tai.

His collaborative works have been performed and recorded by many wonderful kaiwaiata, musicians and taonga pūoro practitioners, and by Western musical groups such as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the New Zealand Trio.

Image credit: Kiri Eriwata

Milly Grant-Koria

Milly Grant-Koria (Multi Nesian Indigenous) is an internationally recognised medicine woman, stunt woman, martial artist, youth justice mentor, cultural embodied-movement practitioner, director, writer, choreographer, composer, Songbird and representative and protector for Indigenous communities. 

She is also known for her healing practice Raah Medicinals Essential Native Medicine and has healed thousands of individuals and communities with her workshops and facilitation programmes online and in person. 

Co-director for Tūrongo Collective alongside her husband, they are the directors for the Auckland Museum's Māori Cultural experience facilitating edducative embodiment experiences for audiences around the globe.

Image credit: Milly Grant-Koria

Celeste Botha

Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Celeste Botha is a dance educator, choreographer and performer with more than 25 years’ experience. She holds a Dance Teachers Diploma from the University of Cape Town and has dedicated her career to the arts as a space for expression, connection and transformation.

Now based in Auckland, Celeste works across contemporary dance, ballet, Pilates and yoga. She teaches adult ballet at Uxbridge Arts & Culture, Pilates at Bodylight Studio, yoga through Selwyn Community Education, and contemporary dance technique at JD’s Dance Studio. She is also a qualified Les Mills BodyBalance instructor and teaches Les Mills Reformer Pilates.

Since moving to Aotearoa, Celeste has worked with Whakamana Creatives and Black Creatives Aotearoa, and performed in Taane Mete’s Hīkoi at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Her work is precise and deeply felt, grounded in connection through movement.

Image credit: Ruth Smith

Jasmin Canuel

Born in Tauranga, Jasmin has been based in Piha on the west coast of Auckland since 2012. This environment greatly influences and inspires the concepts of her paintings and dance. As a freelance contemporary dance artist, Jasmin collaborates and performs nationally and internationally, often with companies and individuals working within an indigenous framework and/or closely with the environment.

Image credit: Jasmin Canuel

Tiaki Kerei

Tiaki Kerei (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa). Since 1999, Tiaki has been a recognised contemporary Māori dancer, choreographer, writer and director. He has fostered new global directions for indigenous contemporary dance - as a visiting assistant professor at University of California Riverside, artist in residence at University of California Berkeley, at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute, Regent’s Scholar at University of California Los Angeles, and contributor to Indigenous Choreographer’s at Riverside Project. Tiaki continues to broaden perceptions of Māori contemporary embodied research as artistic director of Whakamana Creatives supported by a studio residency at TAPAC. Tiaki uses social media as a platform for writing theatre reviews, sharing glimpses of caregiving, being a gymfluencer and engaging audiences in processes to do with hauora, tikanga Māori and urban, global cultural POV.

Image credit: Tiaki Kerei

Peau Halapua

Peau has played violin for the Auckland Theatre Company, Silo Theatre, New Zealand Dance Company, Black Quartet, Fortress Europe, the Blackbird Ensemble, the Auckland Philharmonia, Auckland Chamber Orchestra, Bach Musica and Fever Candlelight concerts. She has played for Sol3Mio, L.A.B., TEEKS, Tami Neilson, Nathan Haines, SJD, Majic Pāora, Rod Stewart, Josh Groban, Disturbed, Geneva AM and THEIA. Theatre credits include Amadeus, Peter and the Wolf, Girl from the North Country, Émilie, Marae in the Sky, Possum Magic, Taniwha and Mary: The Birth of Frankenstein. Recordings for screen include Mothers of the Revolution, We Were Dangerous, Grafted, Joika, Dood Spoor, Moss & Freud and Minecraft. Peau continues her late father Dr Sitiveni Halapua’s theoretical work, facilitating talanoa on decolonising Aotearoa INGOs and currently writing about talanoa in dialogic accounting. Peau co-directs Talanoa & Development Project and its community sailing cargo boat, ‘Utuma’atu, which is based in Tonga. She is a graduate of the University of Auckland, Australian National Academy of Music and New England Conservatory of Music.

Image credit: Charles Brooks

Langakali Halapua

Langakali Halapua makes up one half of the duo NOAQ, with her sister Peau Halapua. She is a Tongan-New Zealand conductor, violinist and educator. Guided by lālanga - the Tongan practice of weaving together diverse strands - she anchors her work in collaborative, culturally grounded artistry. Langakali is a recipient of the 2023–24 & 2026 NZSO Conducting Fellowship and was selected for the 2025 Louise Crossley Conductor Workshop with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. She is music director of the West City String Orchestra, acting music director of the North Shore Concert Band, and guest conductor with the South Auckland Youth Academy Orchestra (SAYAO). Starting out on the violin in Fiji as a youngster, Langakali has performed in many musical genres on both the violin and viola. Engagements include performing and recording with the Auckland Theatre Company, Bach Musica, The Blackbird Ensemble, Fortress Europe, Majic Pāora, NZSO, Pipers Sinfonia, Sol3Mio and TEEKS. She also co-directs Talanoa Books, publishing original Tongan literature and philosophy.

Image credit: VVT

Rosemary Whitehead

Rosemary Whitehead is a professionally trained couturier and dress designer with 35 years’ experience across high-end fashion, costume and bespoke design. She trained at the New Zealand College of Fashion Design, graduating with the internationally recognised Druleigh Diploma and a Diploma in Pattern Making, before further study in corsetry at Wimbledon School of Art and Design and millinery at London College of Fashion.

In London, Rosemary worked with Kensington couturier Ritva Westenius, led production for Events Bridalwear, and became head designer for Chrisanne Clover, the international dancewear company specialising in ballroom and modern dance. Her work featured in Vogue Weddings and on Come Dancing, alongside theatrical design projects.

In New Zealand, she has worked as a stylist, costume designer, television furnishings specialist and pattern designer for brands including Workshop and Sera Lily. Her business specialises in bridal wear, costumes and bespoke pieces, while she also designs for luxury womenswear label Yvonne Bennetti.

Image credit: Rosemary Whitehead