HBAF 2025 - Holding Ground and Intensional Particle

Holding Ground
A Double Bill: Holding Ground by Moss Te Ururangi Patterson / Intensional Particle by Hiroaki Umeda

World Premiere
Performance contains flashing lights/haze

Presented with the generous support of the HBAF Patrons. Tickets available via Ticketek.

Holding Ground brings together two dynamic works that stand in striking contrast - one grounded in place, the other in technology. Each explores how the body navigates pressure, imbalance, and the ever-present pull of change.

A duet by Moss Te Ururangi Patterson, the titular work unfolds within a confined space, where two dancers engage in a shifting exchange of tension and release. One anchors, the other interrupts, evoking the challenge of staying steady while everything around you moves. With an original score by Shayne P Carter and taonga pūoro master musician James Webster, the work draws on deep currents of gravity and wairua. Entering a state of hypofrontality, the dancers move instinctively - calm in the storm, present, and guided by something older than thought.

Intensional Particle by Japanese artist Hiroaki Umeda constructs a charged sensory terrain where light, sound, and movement converge. In this solo, the body dissolves into data - an intricate pulse of vibration and force. What emerges is both meticulous and explosive: a meditation on disruption, transformation, and the blurring of human and digital forms.

Together, these two works form a vivid counterpoint. Holding Ground invites us to sit in the tension between motion and stillness, and to find within that space a renewed sense of balance and connection.


“Hiroaki Umeda immerses himself in such a perfect storm of light, video and sound that his body rarely looks human.”
- The Guardian

“Wonderfully fluid and evocative dance…wild and uplifting… an exquisite tapestry of music and motion”
- Andrew Whiteside

CREATIVE TEAM

Holding Ground
Choreographer: Moss Te Ururangi Patterson
Composition: Shayne P Carter & James Marsden
Dancers: Eden Kew, Caterina Moreno

Intensional Particle
Choreographer/Dancer: Hiroaki Umeda
Image Direction: S20
Visual Research: Ludovic Burczykowski
Image Programming: Shoya Dozono
Video Editing: Guillaume Gravier
Sound & Lighting Design: S20

For The New Zealand Dance Company
Chief Executive/Artistic Director: Moss Te Ururangi Patterson
Artistic Manager/Rehearsal Director: Caroline Bindon
Creative Producer & Head of Audience: JP Bolton
Finance & Operations Manager: Christine Rice

Phone: +64 6 835 1059

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