Movement Art Practice

11/09/2025

⚡️✨ Do you know Tiny Fest is currently running a Boosted NZ campaign to raise funds for a mini-doc series featuring our very own Ōtautahi artists, and asking the questions no one dares to ask!

We need your help, if not donating you can share the word about the project in your community. Who knows you might be supporting a friend of yours! ⚡️✨

https://www.thearts.co.nz/boosted/projects/tiny-fest-interxchange

04/07/2025

WORKSHOP ALERT🔔- UNEARTHING MOVEMENT
A Choreographic Exploration with Lexi Tuenter

Gently awaken your inner choreographer through music, art and creative language. With curiosity and play, we’ll explore your unique movement voice. Together, we’ll wander through daydreams, poetry and shared stories to inspire your own choreography.

👉Thursday 10th July
5.15-7pm
$10

Studio 1, Evolve Studios
98 Carlyle St Sydenham

Limited spaces available - please RSVP by Monday 7th July
Message Lexi, 021 0913 1402 with your name and number

Lexi Tuenter has experience in contemporary, ballet and jazz dance. She has taught a range of movement exploration classes focusing on self-expression, creativity and discovery. She is curious about our shared human experience and how the arts can be used to discover and express ourselves.

Would love to see you there!

27/06/2025

Curious about the power of community, process-driven projects, and the deeper purpose behind our latest project MANIFESTA | Party. Protest. Performance. ?

Tune in for an interview with Janaína Moraes - director of TinyFest and choreographer of MANIFESTA. premiering TOMORROW!

Here are a few interesting moments to entice you:

🔨“....I love the Portuguese word 'reparar' - it means ‘to repair,’ but also ‘to stop and notice.’ Healing isn’t about fixing; it’s about slowing down, attending to ourselves, to place, to one another. In that act of repeated attention lies our true transformative power...”

💜“....By emphasizing a process-based approach, where experimenting, making mistakes, and trusting the unknown are celebrated, we discover how resourceful our community truly is.”
— Janaína Moraes

​🎙️ Listen to the full interview with Caz Steele & Janaína Moraes for Jocat Online – The Journal of Creative Arts Therapies
👉 https://www.jocat-online.org/p-25-moraes-steele?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwLKvoxleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABp4fUl9WWuKGWUkbGUZY0_TTddJ0Cj34OALVvqyiEkA-mMTZQyH_OzFPGIwa3_aem_Eqn8J6JRvUXiMEUL8VxmSw

27/06/2025

🪇⚡TOMORROW!

Pre-show briefing to make the most of the party-protest! Tickets are selling fast - grab yours now!

Created by Brazilian-born, Aotearoa-based choreographer Janaína Moraes, MANIFESTA is a vibrant call to gather, move, and manifest new futures - together.

A party. A protest. A performance.
See you there! 💜

24/06/2025

✨ GUEST SPOTLIGHT: DziDzor Uplifting Drum and Dance ✨

DziDzor (pronounced Je-Jor) brings the vibrant joy of West African drumming and dance to MANIFESTA! Led by Ghanaian-born Agbeko De Sousa, this powerful NZ-based troupe celebrates the rhythm, spirit, and beauty of Ghanaian culture.

Adding to our amazing troupe of performers, DziDzor joins the MANIFESTA celebration with infectious energy, uniting the world’s music, movement, and joy in one unforgettable event.

🎟️ TWO SHOWS ONLY — June 28 at 3PM & 5PM
📍 Climate Action Campus
💸 Choose what you pay. Grab your tickets now!

https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2025/jun/manifesta?view=info

23/06/2025

⚡MANIFESTA - A party. A protest. A performance.
Saturday, June 28
Climate Action Campus in Christchurch

Inspired by the energy of South American carnaval traditions and the pulse of Ōtautahi’s underground rave scene, MANIFESTA is an immersive performance bringing together dance, live music, community activism, and radical joy. Created by Brazilian-born, Aotearoa-based choreographer Janaína Moraes, MANIFESTA is a vibrant call to gather, move, and manifest new futures—together.

👇This isn’t just a show.
It’s a collective body raving, raging, and reveling.
It’s an act of resistance, a ritual of celebration, and a platform for transformation.

Presented as the sixth edition of MAP’s (Movement Art Practice) Community Choreographic Project and delivered by Tiny Fest, MANIFESTA brings 15+ community dancers into a dialogue with live performances by:

Clube de Choro de Christchurch
DziDzor Uplifting Drum and Dance
ECAMAR Ōtautahi – Capoeira Angola Group

And an electrifying soundscape designed by Bea Gladding (aka Mr Meaty Boy).

💫WHAT TO EXPECT:

A multi-sensory, immersive performance
Dancing, drumming, singing, and story-making
Mask and banner creations drawn from Brazilian protest-art rituals
A space where bodies become vessels for change
Family Friendly

🎟️Choose What You Pay Tickets!
Grab yours now! https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2025/jun/manifesta?view=info

18/06/2025

✨GUEST SPOTLIGHT: Capoeira ECAMAR Ōtautahi at MANIFESTA ✨

We are thrilled to bring live music and dynamic guest performances to the stage, and we’re beyond excited to welcome ECAMAR Ōtautahi, a collective dedicated to the practice of Capoeira Angola!

🌀 But what is Capoeira?
Capoeira is a rich Brazilian cultural practice that blends dance, music, acrobatics, and martial art. Developed by Afro-Brazilian communities as an act of resilience and resistance, it lives at the intersection of fight and play, discipline and expression. To watch capoeira is to witness a story told through movement, rhythm, and connection.

💥 At MANIFESTA, ECAMAR Ōtautahi will bring their soulful, physical, and powerful presence to the stage—reminding us that resistance can be joyful, musical, and deeply communal.

🎭 Don’t miss this electric moment of cultural fusion, protest, and performance.

🎟️ TWO SHOWS ONLY — June 28 at 3pm & 5pm
📍 Climate Action Campus

Choose what you pay.
Grab your tickets now!
https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2025/jun/manifesta?view=info

10/05/2025

18/04/2025

Get to know the choreographer behind MANIFESTA ✨

We’re thrilled to introduce Janaína Moraes, the choreographer leading this year’s Community Choreographic Project!

Janaína is a Brazilian dance, research, and performance artist based in Otautahi, Christchurch with a Doctorate in Dance Studies from Waipapa Taumata Rau (University of Auckland). She has deep ties to the MAP community, having served as its Residence Coordinator, and now continues her legacy of radical movement-making as the Artistic Director of Tiny Fest.

Passionate about improvisation, relational practice, and poetics of co-dwelling, Janaína brings a unique and expansive vision to her work—blending language, dance, and community philosophy. Her practice invites us to reimagine how we share time, space, and movement.

A few words from Jana herself:
“These past months I had the opportunity to come home to be nourished by the vibrant energy of my people, putting delicious food in my belly and delving into the intense cultural cauldron of Carnaval, parties and schools of movement/music across the streets and alleys! I can't wait to bring some of these vibes to CCP this year and, hopefully, warm up our upcoming winter together!”🥳

We’re so lucky to have her leading this year’s MANIFESTA—come be a part of it!
Sign-ups close April 20."

18/04/2025

Movement is for every body. 🥰 That’s why MANIFESTA offers accessibility support for all performers—this year we will count with an Accessibility Assistant Choreographer who’s here to help you participate in ways that feel good and doable.

Josiah Morgan (Kāi Tahu/Ngāti Maniapoto) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Ōtautahi. He is excited to p/a/r/o/t/e/s/t/y with you all!

Whether you’re experienced or new to movement, we’d love to have you in the room. Let’s make space for everyone.

Inspired by Latin "carnaval" traditions and the vibrant energy of Ōtautahi’s rave scene, MANIFESTA is a party-protest uniting diverse communities through movement, performance, and activism.

Performer registrations close (Sunday) April 20th—don’t miss out!

15/04/2025

Hello hello!🙋‍♀️Come craft with us!
We are excited to announce that as part of our MANIFESTA project, we have partnered with creative spaces The White Room and Stitch-O-Mat to offer FREE community workshops!

As we build this party-protest performance, the workshops offer you an opportunity to upgrade your craft and/or sewing skills while supporting the project with their masks/heads/crowns and estandartes (fabric banners) for our Brazilian-Carnaval-meets-Ōtautahian-rave-inspired-winter-parade.

The workshops will be held from 13th May to 23th June, always on Tuesdays & Saturdays 4-7pm

👉Follow the link for more info - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2MhcJrWIttjBQ8vXW6VFPWwkxiW4XT_dJy0DP-qzQaOKrMg/viewform?usp=sharing