Dance Zone at WOMAD

Putting the ‘D’ for Dance into WOMAD is a brand new Dance Zone in the Kunming Garden. The Dance Zone will include interactive dance workshops and demonstrations with live music, for all ages, featuring Brazilian workshops in samba, maculele and capoeira; hula from Hawai’i, and Chinese dragon and lion dancing. Maori and Pasifika dance workshops will also be offered in the Te Pae Pae area, and Columbian group Sidestepper will present workshops onstage.

Wellington-based performers and teachers, from Zamba Bem and Capoeira Arunde will teach dances of Brazil including samba, maculele and capoeira.  Maculelê is an Afro-Brazilian dance and a martial art where a number of people gather in a circle called a roda and use sticks. Samba is the national dance of Brazil and is perhaps one of the most energetic and exhilarating of Latin dances! Originally created by slaves brought to Brazil from Africa, Capoeira is an art form that encompasses dance, martial arts, acrobatics, music and philosophy.

The Wellington Sports and Cultural Centre Dragon Dance Team was the first New Zealand group to compete in the World Dragon Dance Championships in Hong Kong in 2010. Their spectacular and acrobatic performance involves a team of 13 highly synchronised dancers with live music. Learn some fun moves at the Dance Zone. For all ages with some baby dragons available for kids.

Whitireia Performing Arts Group mix the challenge of the Maori haka, the joy and energy of Samoa and sensual rhythms and drums of the Cook Islands.  Graduates and students from Whitireia Polytechnic in Porirua will lead a workshop exploring Pasifika dance.

Learn the authentic hula moves from Mana Maoli hula expert Kumu Hula Mehanaokala Hind and dancers from Hawai’i. Experience the unique culture of Hawai’i and get those hips moving in a fun and energetic workshop at Te Pae Pae.

Stellar line-up

Eastern European hippies, Colombian electro-acoustic trail-blazers, traditional Cambodian musicians, an award-winning Kiwi artist, a Pacific treasure, cultural performance groups from New Zealand and Hawai’i, and a stunning flags project join the WOMAD New Zealand 2011 line-up.

The newly announced artists: 17 Hippies (Germany), Sidestepper (Colombia), Mana Maoli (Hawai’i, United States), Tray So (Cambodia), Tiki Taane and the Dub Soldiers with Te Pou o Mangataawhiri (NZ), Lawrence Arabia (NZ), Will Crummer and The Rarotongans (Cook Islands/NZ), the Patea Maori Club (NZ) and Whitireia Performing Arts Group (NZ) will perform at WOMAD New Zealand 2011 at New Plymouth’s Brooklands Park and TSB Bowl from 18-20 March.

These artists join an outstanding line-up of performers from every corner of the globe delivering musical styles from calypso to afro-celtic, Inuit throat-singing to Mongolian rock, ska-fused rockabilly to electronica and everything in between.

Another new addition to WOMAD New Zealand 2011 is the Village of Wellness where festival goers can go to revive their bodies, minds and souls with massage, spiritual readings and foot spas to ease tired dancing feet. But more on that later.

Disabled services at WOMAD

Festivals can be crazy and hectic fun at the best of times….. thousands of people gliding past each other all craving a glimpse of the bands they came to see. For disabled people this can prove to be an even greater challenge.

Philip Wells is an experienced festival enthusiast who has attended over 30 festivals in his wheelchair and he knows exactly what it takes to have a well thought out and successful service for people living with disabilities. And Philip reckons WOMAD has it all. “You can just tell there has been a lot of fore-thought put into it, the friendly helpful staff and volunteers are great and the services are too”.

Philip says having things like easily accessed reserved car parking makes all the difference. Some of the other services WOMAD provides for disabled people are viewing platforms for wheelchair users at the three main stages and mobility scooters which can be used in two hour blocks.

If you want to check out the services in full you can contact Chris Herlihy at the WOMAD office on +6 759 84 12. And if you need some advice take it from Philip Wells who has been to every WOMAD since 2003: “Be careful of the hills and have a good time”.

Mind your Artist

When French speaking Renate Verbrugge (well known Taranaki artist and stone sculptor) offered to become a translator/artist minder at WOMAD New Zealand for musician Julien Jacob back in 2003, little did she realise the fun and challenges that were ahead of her. “I ended up spending everyday with Julien and his band while they were in the New Zealand, I took them to the beach, up Mt Taranaki, and then out for a few drinks.”

Renate has learnt in the many years she has been an artist minder that the most important role is making sure the artists get to and from their performances and on time, however Renate believes there is a whole lot more to it as she explains: “For me its a lot more, I see myself as one of the many faces of WOMAD New Zealand and an ambassador of our beautiful country”.

All the challenges that Renate has faced as an artist minder and translator seem to be balanced with what she describes as “beautiful moments”. She shares stories of both: “Some artists I have looked after are real superstars in their home country so of course they expected the superstar treatment here as well, but once they got use to the laid back attitude of the locals they relaxed and enjoyed the festival and their time in New Zealand immensely.  I have also dealt with some real bad boy musicians and it was always a real effort to get them to their stage on time. All hell broke loose when the bad boy band had realized that their manager had ticked the no alcohol box for their back stage requests, however the wonderful backstage WOMAD crew sorted it all out very quickly”. The beautiful moments that

Renate also treasures is forming special relationships with some of the artists she minds at WOMAD, some of those relationships last for years. Two of them are JulienJacob from the 2003 WOMAD and another is a friendship formed was with the drummer from Zap Mama from WOMAD 2005, who happens to live very close to her home town in Belgium and with whom she still spends a lot of time with when she is visiting family”.

Behind the WOMAD curtain

Happy New Year!

Chris Herlihy is one of the experienced team members working for WOMAD NZ again this year, and is hard at work with the rest of the team putting together an amazing world class festival for New Zealand to enjoy. Chris takes on three job roles throughout the year and the months leading up to the WOMAD festival.

Before the festival Chris’s roles are both Business and Logistics Manager. As the Business Manager Chris lets me in on some of the sorts of things he does leading up to the big weekend. “Organizing flights for all artists, booking accommodation for these artists while they are in New Zealand, also a large part is liaising with WOMAD Australia as they to have huge ties with the international acts that come to WOMAD NZ”. Chris tells me that there are 400 artists at this year’s WOMAD and he has booked over 200 hotel rooms. Another interesting job that Chris has organized is accommodation at a local marae for 100 of the performing artists who have requested to stay there.

As soon as WOMAD weekend hits Chris changes it up and becomes  Site Operations Manager, which means he is out and about onsite at the festival overseeing  technical elements such as coordinating gates and entrances into the festival, security, the information centre and St Johns (first aid medical care).

“Giving the best platform to the performers” is very important to Chris and the WOMAD team, this is so they are feeling happy to perform and have a positive view of the WOMAD festival and New Zealand.  One of the platforms and traditions that the artists receive when they arrive in New Zealand is a formal powhiri, which this year will be held at Owae Marae in Waitara. This event is Chris’s favorite part of the job as he describes it as a very spiritual and moving time for both him and the artists. Chris remembers how moved one artist was at last year’s powhiri. “A member from Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (New York, USA based band) turned to me and said I am blown away by this experience and my children and grandchildren will know of this moment”.

Lets Hear it for the Volunteers

Connecting with different cultures, music and people, while experiencing the wonderful world of the WOMAD festival is all part of the job if you are Ann Perquy volunteer and artist liaison for that special weekend once a year in March.

 Being part of the volunteer artist liaison team at WOMAD requires lots of energy.   There are no boundaries to Ann’s role as artist liaison. The most important aspect of the role is to “make sure the performers feel welcome so they can perform in good spirits”. Ann let us in on the sorts of things she did back stage this year at the festival “making sure the dressing rooms are set up, getting food platters ready for the artists and I also gained the task of translator for when French speaking artists arrived. Its also heaps of fun getting to know the artists, most love to make conversation about their experiences and how much they love New Zealand.”

For Ann becoming a volunteer started when she saw the 2008 WOMAD line up which included the band Toumani Diabate who are too many in New Zealand unknown but to Ann old friends that she hadn’t seen since she was back home in Belgium nine years ago.   Trying to figure out how she could reunite with old friends Ann decided to volunteer at the festival and was so happy she did as she describes the endless opportunities she received “the diversity in the programme of the performances, the people who are involved in creating the event, the atmosphere it’s an amazing festival. The chance to discover world music and listening to the artist background when they have their interviews, its just so inspiring”.  

A Stall Holders Story

Can you imagine what it takes to make and serve over two thousands coffees in one weekend?  Or how about over 500 “legendary” bacon and egg butties to hungry WOMAD punters? This would prove a challenge for most, but if you are Fran Bateman owner and operator of Sandwich Extreme café the only thing you will see or hear from her and her crew of 11 over WOMAD weekend are smiles and an unbelievable positive attitude.

There is always this amazing feeling and buzz before WOMAD.  Fran says she cannot describe it, and looks forward to the whole festival from start to finish.

The logistics involved to cater for a huge crowd over an intensive weekend is massive. Past experience tells Fran that she needs over one hundred kg bacon, fifty dozen  free range eggs and as for the coffee the team makes over one thousand cups a day so you can just imagine how much coffee is needed(Fair trade coffee of course) to survive the weekend.

Fran’s favorite moment at WOMAD would have to be: “having the performers Sharron Jones and the Dap Kings come and visit our stall, I can remember exactly what they ordered Sharron had a flat white and the Kings had long blacks and they all tried our bacon and egg butties of course. Just seeing Brooklands Park for the first time with our flags flying high and the sun shinning, I remember thinking how special it looked”.

If you are wondering where Sandwich Extreme is, the Café is located at 52 Devon Street East, New Plymouth and are onsite at the global village again next year in 2011 on WOMAD weekend.