Taane Mete Takatāpui Talk

In this episode of Takatāpui Talk, Donald Hollingsworth sits down with dancer, choreographer and breathwork facilitator Taane Mete.

Taane shares the story of a life shaped by movement — from childhood imagination and the freedom he found in dance, to performing with some of Aotearoa’s most respected companies, exploring drag, and eventually guiding others through breathwork, yoga and healing.

This is a warm and deeply personal conversation about identity, grief, creativity, embodiment and what it means to live fully as takatāpui.

Listen as Taane reflects on the people who believed in him, the experiences that shaped him, and the importance of love, movement and connection.

Thank you for listening to Takatāpui Talk with Donald Hollingsworth.

If this kōrero resonated with you, please follow, share, and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform. Your support helps these stories reach more people across Aotearoa and beyond.

Follow Takatāpui Talk on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for episode updates, behind-the-scenes moments, and upcoming interviews.

Our conversations.
Our stories.
Our voices.

Arohanui.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Kioda and welcome to Takata Pu Talk. Today I am joined by dancer, choreographer, and breath work facilitator Tane Mete, a man whose life has been shaped by movement in every sense of the word, from performing on some of our greater stages to guiding people back to their own bodies through breath and yoga. Tane's story is one of creativity, healing, and transformation. This is Tane. Okay. It's so good to see you.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

How are you really? How am I really? Gilda Donald, thank you so much for the invitation. How am I feeling really today? Um, interesting question. I just got some news that um a composer that I was going to be working with for a new project um is unable to work on my project with me. And we've had a great relationship working over the last few years. So um I'm a little bit heavy in the heart because of that. So it's a matter of sort of navigating how one or I move to the next stage, which I know that'll be brilliant. Um, but it's always something quite quite powerful when you're deeply connected to someone, and then um, you know, the the pathway sort of widens a little bit more to make way for new things. Um but apart from that, I'm very blinking good. Thank you for asking. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

Because it kind of segues into that next question. Where are you right now in your life? And right now in your life, you're, you know, uh missing the person that you've done a lot of work with over the years.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yes, yes, that's right. And it it it but it's great though, because what that does is a part of our probably segue again into many other conversations, is that how does one navigate what's immediately uh what's for a better word coming up, or uh what's a better way to navigate a newer situation and to find new pathways to work with other people. So that that is uh what it is, and I look forward to that next journey.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

Yeah. And I imagine there's lots of listening to yourself or to our Waiua or to a number of things to find where you're gonna go next.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Absolutely, yes, but wholeheartedly where I am right now in my life. Yes, I'm pretty I am loving it. I'm enjoying it so much. There are a lot of aspects that I've worked incredibly hard for to achieve, and those benefits are certainly happening. And um, and they're just through the simple things that I enjoy now in life, and they are simply just uh simple things that I enjoy, which is nature, yes, moving the body, breathing, yeah, good kind, shelter, essentially.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

Wow, that simplifies everything, and that's just what we need, isn't it? And you know, uh Tane, I'm so excited about our interview because we're gonna who knows what sort of gamut of emotions you and I are gonna go through because I've known you myself for such a very long time. But because our viewers and listeners don't know you the way that I do and the past that we've shared together, where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Great start. I grew up in Hawke's Bay and Napier and Ahu Diddy, and I was born in the 60s, so I've lived through the 70s, 80s, 90s, etc., to the the current decline. Um and I I feel that this expanse of um years on top of years has really equipped me with some really steadfast uh grounding and steadfast opportunities that I've really enjoyed and have really taken opportunity to really deep dive into them through tasks and of course now.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

So um you're Natsukahanunu there, or you know, what is your um heritage, shall we say?

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Aye. Uh takikimu kutainu okuwaka ku tamate arakenu kohotoro tatamata kun latahu kungati kurikika kurangahapu. Um and so what that does for me is it really signifies an anchors, and I've been really thinking about Fakapapa lately, about how powerful it is in terms of because we can call back straight back to our waka and times beforehand from from the original sale over here to Old Town Ora. Uh, and it's quite incredible to actually be able to speak to that uh through our BPH and acknowledging the journey of our ancestors to bring us forth to the current time. Um, and I feel deeply grateful for the talking that have been a part of uh the ancestral storyline journey to be here and to make uh beautiful you know points of of grounding for my journey as well. And I think in terms of where I'm going at the moment, Uruwa Faro uh was a significant taukunga um in the uh Takimiwaka. And I've kind of in my own ways sort of used that impoundment of his role as taupunga uh to really draw from in my own personal journey.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

And so what sort of child were you?

SPEAKER_01 5:54

What kind of child was I? I was a I was very much I was I was a thread of my own, yeah, of my own in terms of I I journeyed through my life at the beat of my own drum. It was I was a completely you know in the 60s and being the youngest of seven siblings.

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Oh, you're the youngest.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

I was the yes, I was the portikey, I was the baby in the farm note. Yes, and growing up, I didn't really need to say much. I was kind of like a silent um child in a way, in terms of I felt like that my brothers and my sister were speaking up for me. And so I didn't say a lot as a kid, to be honest. And because I made bigger brothers and my sister through schooling, I felt protected because they were my older siblings, so I never was bullied or in any way throughout my schooling at all. I knew I was different. I probably the most aspiring thing that I did, or something that I loved in school, was that I'd always run for the dress up box. That was the Tamos sort of highlight of my day at school. I was a daydreamer. Yes. I looked out the window, I looked up into nature, I always dreamt of being in nature, and um schooling just wasn't for me, but I knew that right from the start. Yeah. You know, I knew when I was going to school, I knew that there was something much deeper um that I was connecting to it. And it wasn't learning maths and it wasn't learning geography or this simulated teaching learning, but more I felt like that my journey was more spiritual. Um yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:53

What was your favorite piece in the dress dress up box?

SPEAKER_01 7:56

It was the blue satin dress. I love that. I love that. And uh I think yeah, I used to run for this dress, and I used to um grab it, you know, tugging and pulling, and I'd put it on. And then what I'd do is I'd make scenarios with my friends around me, like I'd I'd put them in in in different seatings, and I'd kind of start to array a bit of a story. You're this, you're that person, I'm this, we're gonna create this storyline and all get up together, sit down together. And I remember when I was a little bit younger than school days, about four probably, and I would mimic and make pantomimes about current times in my day. So I remember going to a tongue, a tangi and um seeing the two Papaku, the body in the coffin. So I basically would mimic out that that scenario. I'd lay down our family yellow Lilo that we used to go to the beach on, lay that down, put my toys and my animals around me, and pretended they were all in the food air crying over uh the dead body and sort of wailing. So I'd make wailing sounds with all my pets and animals and uh sorry, and my um toys.

SPEAKER_04 9:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

And so that that was definitely one of the things that I remember about creative outlets.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

Yes, yeah. From four.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

And really from age four, yeah. From age four, yes, and then so by the time I got to school and I was dragging these dresses around in the dress-up box, I was becoming quite quite used to the fact of creative storytelling.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

And hence that led me through to my dance career much later on. But I didn't make I didn't connect dots.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

No, of course not. Not when you're four or five. Absolutely not. Were you precocious? Were you naughty? Were you I can't imagine that.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

I wasn't in my eye, I didn't think I was naughty, but in my I think I was definitely I was I was really my own my own character. My own, I was very different to all the other kids. I was very different to any of the any of my siblings in terms of I was quite silent a lot of the time. Yeah, I could easily keep myself company. I play with friends till you know the sun went down, but that was quite normal in those days, you know? Yeah, so I was um yeah, I didn't see myself as being a naughty kid, but I was very inquisitive. Yeah, and um always liked uh things that were visual in colors and sounds and music.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Yeah. How many siblings did you have? How much, how many older than you? Six. Right. And so were they did they feel compelled to protect you or because you know, like I didn't experience you said you didn't experience any bullying, but you know, were they much older than you? Was that were there people at primary school with you?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

There was actually my brother who was four years older than me was at primary school. Yeah, he was one closer, and then another, my sister and another brother was at school when I first entered into primary school, so they were around. Yep. So I never I I did feel protected in a way. You didn't need protecting. Yeah, I didn't need protecting at all, but I I I could just wander through my entire schooling knowing that uh there was a family member quite close, you know.

SPEAKER_03 11:47

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Did you feel you needed that at any stage?

SPEAKER_03 11:51

No, no, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

No, I didn't need that at all. Yeah, I didn't need it at all. But I knew that what I really enjoyed the most was anything that was physical, anything that was outdoors, and something that was creative or or it needed more of a tense sport player, like something that needed teams, or I could see through, you know, ways of connecting and making sense of physical movement, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

So you could run and and and um do long jump and all those types of things.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

You're talking about athletics or just yeah, talking about athletics and and just yeah, athletics, venturing, yes, um, lakes, swimming, yeah, um, running, yeah, uh climbing trees, you know, doing things that a lot of kids nowadays don't do, but we all did new way in our days, you know? Yeah, um, it was part of just our growing up.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

The creative aspect really started to come quite strong when I was in high school.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

And and it segueed into like I didn't really do that well at school. I was kind of just hanging around. You could pretty much say I was there to eat my lunch, really.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Um and I wasn't I'd imagine were you you know running and like you said, you're very sporty.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Well, I was, I was, but it wasn't enough to really keep me in school.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

Oh, okay. You did okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yeah.

unknown 13:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

I was easily distracted. Um, I knew that schooling wasn't my thing, you know. Um and I went to see my friends, my friends after school one time, they invited me to a dance class. So I went along and um I noticed that my friend in the dance class was going to the left, but she should have been dancing to the right. And so I'd be giving me exactions like you gotta go the other way, you gotta go the other way. And then she'd go the opposite way, but when she should have been going towards the right, so you know. So, whichever direction she went, she should have been going the other way. So I was telling her which way to go. And then the teacher noticed this, and the teacher said, Well, why don't you come and join dance classes next week?

SPEAKER_03 14:14

And this is the is it 13? I was what was her name?

SPEAKER_01 14:19

My teacher, yeah, she was amazing. Shirley Jarrett.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Shirley Jarrett.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

That was my first dance teacher.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

I feel incredible. Mrs. Jarrett, hey, Mrs. Jarrett.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Miss Jarrett? Yeah, Mrs. I think it was Shirley. We just knew her as Shirley Jarrett. Wow. We didn't call her Miss, that's all we knew her as. I think she was married, but um, yeah, she was incredible because she had uh 70s.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

That's quite relaxed calling her Shirley Jarrett.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yeah, yeah, it was actually. Um, and I really she was an incredible teacher, you know, she was very um expressive, and her upper body would move so incredibly and her legs would be fast. So um yeah, she gave me a lot of inspiration actually. Yeah. There came a time when I needed to pay for the classes, so I'd go home and I asked my mom if I could do the dance classes, if she could pay for them. And um I remember my mum saying, Well, she didn't say anything, she walked away, actually. She walked away and she came back three days later and said, Okay, I'll pay for your classes. Don't tell your father, and you have to find your own way to dance classes.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Which that wasn't hard at all.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

I could do all of that, and um continued to take up classes, and then everything from that point just rolled on and on in succession. Um I was invited to because I was so young when I left school. I was about yeah, 15, 15, 15 and a half, 16 when I left school, and um I needed social welfare at the time would keep an eye on you to make sure that you were sent way and into the workforce. And so there were schemes called the PP scheme, and I I went on one of the one of the schemes and um and they lined up on this line, and it was a lot of us 16-year-olds 15 year olds, 15-year-olds, sorry. And um this line here was to go scrub cutting, this line here was to do uh construction work, and there was a line there that was to make baby clothes. I went straight for the baby clothes line. I was like, I want to make baby clothes. I wasn't gonna do anything physical. That was I wasn't gonna do anything hard out. So I did that for one week, and then I got a call from Social Wealth who just say, Tana, we noticed that you put down dance as one of your preferred career paths, and there's an opening that's come up in Nature. So would you like to would you like the job? And I said, Well, look, I'll go for an interview. They said, Can you go for an interview? Which I did. And um my audition was stretch uh splits either way, which I could do. Of course, yes, and and a couple of other pointing your feet, and I got the job. So that was my first job at a young age, and I loved it. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

You know, when I when I uh hearing your corduroy, and you know, when I smile and laugh, the similarities, you know, it's uh even of my own childhood, and I'm not interviewing myself at the moment, but I smile and you know, because I it is so similar, and that's what makes us really special as Takatapui, you know, our childhoods, especially Takatapui Tane, we you know, we're like there's a real similarity, and I'm seeing this happen whilst interviewing others, you know, and I just it makes me feel so warm, it really does. And you know, because uh, you know, the incredible uh uh work that you do now. I'm wondering before we go any further, do you think we should have we should do some breath work? Should we start with a short breath?

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yes, let's do that, let's definitely do that. Um beautiful, what a great way to to bring the breath work in. I've been teaching breath work. Um I graduated. Well, I did my first level breath work last year, actually. And it was really powerful, incredibly powerful. And I've been teaching because I work at Aruha Wellness Retreat and teach breath work there. Would you guide me through one? I'd love to, yes. Cool. So find a relaxed place with your body feet on the ground. Yes, feet on the ground and start to, if it's here for you, close down your eye and just begin to notice your own inhale exhale without shifting it in any way. Notice the texture of the tongue and the mouth and where it sits in the mouth, and as you draw the breath in through the nose, hold for a moment, and then exhale out of the nose. Just take this very slowly to start with. And as you keep this gentle peaceful breath, the nose, the shoulders to soften the backs of the eyes. Good. And we're gonna inhale for four counts. Inhale, Taiwa, toru, fa hold, exhale out of the nose, four, three, two, one, and hold again. Deep breath in one, two, three, four, nice and relaxed. Exhale, four, three, two, one, and now as we breathe, we're gonna breathe in for five counts. Tahi.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Fa Lima. Exhale, five, four, three, two, one, inhale, three, four, five, and exhale, two, three, four, five, breathing in, breathing out. Keep going. One, two, three, four, five, exhale, four, three, two, one, breathe in, four, five, and out. Two, three, four, five, last one. Three, four, five, exhale, five, four, three, two, one, and just let that go for a moment.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Good one. You might just want to open your eyes for a moment. We're gonna take our right hand and you're gonna place your index finger and your middle finger, your uh, yes, your piece fingers, and place them on the third eye. You're gonna use your right thumb and you're gonna block your right nostril, and you're gonna inhale for four counts in the left nostril. Inhale one, two, three, four. You're gonna block with your ring finger, open your right nostril, exhale four, three, two, one. Inhale right, close, open, exhale left. Inhale left, close, open, exhale right. Inhale, right, open, exhale left. Carry on. Nice way. And then the left, exhale right. Close the open, exhale right. Keep going. Two more. In. Gentle and soft as you breathe in. Close open and out. It's that one more. Close open out. And then slowly start to release the hands. Down by your side. So just then you're washing through or activating both sides of the brain. Now you shorten. Breath. As you flush both sides. We're going to take an invisible breath. This is our last one. Imagine that you're playing hide and seek and you don't want anyone to see you. So as you breathe in through your nose, make it very, very gentle. And you're going to keep your ribs still, your chest, the cheeks on your face, the skin on your face, your eyebrows, everything is still. It's just that you're taking small breaths into your lungs and exhaling out of the nose. Exhale all the air very gently.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

In two three four, five, and out. Two, three, four, five.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Breathing in, breathing out. Inhale. Make the ribs quiet. Exhale. Breathing in. The ribs soft and still. Breathing out. Let's take one more in and exhale. And then just simply let the breath go. Just notice what you notice. Soften the eyes and the sockets. Yeah. Take a deep breath.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

And deep breath. Thank you. You know, it's um it's beautiful. Um, Tani, I've never done it before. Um, especially um, you know, uh breathing through your nose. Because it's always, you know, I've done lots of breathe through your nose, out through your mouth, breathe through your nose. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Yeah, sure. Great question. The nasal breathing helps to regulate the body and it activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Parasympathetic nervous system is the ability to rest and digest rather than activating the breath through mouth breathing. Um, and what we want to do is keep as much carbon dioxide in the body. So using the nose helps to do that. As soon as you start breathing through the mouth or you're talking and walking, it's mouth breathing immediately.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

And so we want to savor the carbon dioxide and keep it in the body. And um, which is why, and also mouth breathing, mouth breathing, there is no filter. Whereas the nasal passage, the hairs on the nose filters air. There's uh crevices and and around the face that filter air that come in. But when it comes through your mouth, there's no filter, it goes right to the lungs. Boom.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

And so it it creates a stress response in its mouth break.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Uh so it's a lot more calming for you and a lot more science, you know, and the science backing behind it is that it lowers, uh regulates the body, the blood, and it tones the vagal nerve, which is the longest cranial nerve from the brain down to the lower intestine. And it helps to bring everything, especially the breathing that we did for five, into coherence. So the brain, um, the heart, the organs, they all breathe together at the same pulse, the same rate.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Whereas if you don't bring them together, they breathe separately. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

Um that would be a very good breathing exercise for me to do in the morning, really, because I always take 10 breaths in the morning whilst, you know, uh giving good intention to my day. I mean, I've only changed a lot of the sort of a recent from having, I think I told you I had a heart failure. So anyway, it's not about me, but I do I'm really glad to have learned that because I think I'd like to practice that in the morning. No, I'm not, I don't think. I'm going to practice that way of breathing now that I understand how much better it is, you know, for for you, really, breathing through your nose.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Absolutely, absolutely. And um, it would be amazing to get better as well.

SPEAKER_03 26:30

Because you could see my chest, because that's what I'm used to, you know. My chest, it's not about that, it's about the coming through your nose, to breathe through your nose. And it will take practice, but um, I can I can see the benefits, I can hear the benefits.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Great, because it is work, breath work does take work, and basically the rule of thumb: nose for breathing, mouth for eating.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Yeah, so that's a very simple uh way to remember it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Right. I love that. Um, and that takes us, well, that segues. We were talking about it before we went into our breath work. So that's how dance became your path then. This teacher, Shirley.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

She was. She was my pathway to to really um grounding and and getting a good steadfast um way into movement. Sort of, I was very expressive with the body, but she put it into technical terms, terminology, which I learned about. And um, when it came time to learn ballet, because I already learned her discipline through jazz, um it was easier to clutch on to a different technique. And ballet was was it was interesting for my body. It wasn't natural, it didn't feel natural. But like anything with um over time and years and technique and discipline, you get to understand your body in that in that uh in that expression, to be able to extend the body and point the feet and lift the chest. What it did teach me dancing though is it gave me rigor that you whatever you do, you're just gonna stick to it. Keep a little dial, stay with it, and keep going.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

That's what ballet taught you, that just the discipline. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Yes, it did actually. And it also helped me to understand where my body was in space until I got a really good grip on contemporary dance, and then they started to marry together, and I became um more experienced and utilizing my body in an expressive way through movement. So I didn't call it ballet or even contemporary dance, it was just movement for me, even though I was categorized as a contemporary dancer.

SPEAKER_03 28:55

Um were you going once a week? Like, how did dance classes work for you then?

SPEAKER_01 29:05

It was literally once a week um when I first started off, and then uh and then I started going a couple of times a week just to get some more practice in. Um, when I was in the dance company, infusion dance company in Napier, that was a full-time job. So you got to do ballet every day. You know, they kind of put my body into shapes, and I would just follow what they were, because that's the only way I could learn. And then when I entered the New Zealand School of Dance, that was full-on training six days a week, um, with highly technical teachers and facilitators that would lead you along the way, pathway. And that's where I really began to understand who I was too as a performer. But it really wasn't until yeah, and then it kind of I started dancing in professional companies, and that was incredible.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

I'm I'm really interested in um, you know, because you grew up in a little town, you know, we all think we live in big cities, but we grow and how so when your when your when did your father find out that you were dancing, that you were learning to dance?

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Yeah, well, um, obviously mum must have told him how I was to preparing, you know, obviously at some stage, but I didn't I didn't feel the and my brothers they were fine, you know, like hello said I was going off dancing. Yeah, um and I got no hassle from them.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

Surprised. Were they?

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Yeah, no, they weren't surprised that I was, you know, because I was a little bit more flamboyant than the other boys. Um and so they thought, well, that's pretty natural for them, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

Yeah, for Tane, yeah. Yes. And did they come to performance?

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Did your father come to one ever? Like no, no, he didn't. No, he didn't. He didn't come to a performance. My dad died quite early, actually, when I was um yeah, when I was quite young, he he passed away. Um, so he didn't get the chance to s to sort of see me fully fledged. Yes. Um I I'd probably only been dancing a few, probably three couple of years before he passed away. And but my mum was a great supporter. How did you dance?

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Dad passing away. Were you 14, 15 sort of thing when he passed?

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Yeah, I was. I was, yeah. And um, yeah, it was it was, you know, death is quite something I I I didn't I don't believe that I grieved as well as I could have, but then again, I didn't really know what grieving was because when it's your own family member, you're kind of just in it, you know. And I found that it was quite full-on a lot later on in life when I really started to accept it. Um, to be honest, the big epiphany for me about my father's death and feeling like I let something go. I was actually in a breath class, breath work class with my tutor, um Johannes Eggberts, and I was in the midst of this full-on act of breathing where you push the breath in and out of your mouth, so you're you're activating, and you there was an emotional release where um during the class I could see during the breath work, I could I saw images of my brother and my father. They came in, and um I felt this immense kind of gratitude that I could actually acknowledge his passing because he was smiling, and I saw him smiling, and so was a brother of mine that passed away. And I they both came in and I felt like this immense release knowing that they were happy, and that I felt like I had acknowledged and uh both of their deaths, and it it was a really powerful release, and that was what really gave me the the impetus to believe in the breath work and to really um lock into it because it's quite uh transformational. Um that's powerful too. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was powerful actually, it was incredible. So the journey that I'm on now in terms of art, dance, making dance, teaching yoga, teaching breath work, experiencing breath work, my own individual movement practice journey of yoga. Um, it's really kept me and kept me quite anchored to all the aspects that I've been doing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

A place of freedom too, though. Did you feel more yeah? It wasn't really through dark you, I mean, you would have felt a certain amount of freedom, I imagine, during your contemporary dance career, but you know, I it just sounds to me that you had a lot more freedom, you felt more open, you were experiencing the grief of your brother and your father, and you know you'd not experience that before. Had you, really?

SPEAKER_01 34:23

No, no. Um, no, I hadn't. And um the great thing that dance did do is it gave me this this this ability to move within my body and express and talk about things that I probably weren't able to voice verbally, but I was able to express physically. Um, and that was through the various dance companies that I used to work in at the time: Black Crace Dance Company, um, Douglas Wright Dance Company, Micro Parameter Commotion Company, and a small stint with the Brawl New Zealand ballet. Um, so there was all of this vocabulary that I was building within my body, and also for the dance companies that allowed me to express physically, but connecting from all of the dots really came when I started marrying the breath work and the yoga together.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

And it became like a one-package kind of um one-stop shop.

SPEAKER_03 35:27

So, you know, where I when I first met you, I met finalias, Cornisha. I was a host there, you know, with Marco and we're having a great time. So that was essentially a side hustle for you because I didn't really understand the elements of your um dance career. I didn't, yeah, especially at that time.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

No, no, well, um, yeah, what did this mean to you at that time?

SPEAKER_03 35:53

What did it mean to you at that time?

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Yes. Well, I um the evolution of my creative self into dance, yes, and then going to dance school and then dancing for all of the companies. And then um my my um male boyfriend at the time, uh, my boyfriend at the time, him and I were together 26 years, and I think in that time he was so incredibly uh supportive of my dance and my ability to create. And drag really was it came it came slowly, like I kept watching the drag shows around town at Auckland, like the Buckwheat's and Berthas, and all these incredible performers. And I was very intrigued, but I'd never be had experience with drag. And then um, when I first did a drag show, I mean I got through, but it wasn't a slick performance, and I started to develop the the character and cornesia, and um I like big black powerful vocals and big movement, and so I was able to marry the dance and uh drag uh persona together, um, which I loved, but no one in the gay community at that time really knew that I who I was as a dancer, or some did, some did, but not all.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Not to the extent of what I'm learning, yeah, what I've learned over the years. So, you know, you talk about the big performers that you used to love to uh perform to. I remember this one show that was so funny. You dressed in a fat suit and you did physical by Olivia Newton John.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Do you remember that? That's right. I do remember Epsilon. Yeah. And then I'd be on this bike and I'd be biking on this um in a fat suit like a bike in a fat suit, and I'm pretending that I was eating and all those things, and let's get physical. Then the curtain would close and I'd be like this person revealed after great weight loss, and I'd be in the kind of the same outfit, but with my real body, I took off the suit. Yes. So a huge contrast because I was physically fit and very toned as a drag artist, and um and it went off. It just totally went off, actually. And I could kick my legs and do high kicks and big things and all the things that the other queens.

SPEAKER_03 38:26

All the things, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

All the things the other drag queens couldn't do, I could do. So um it was yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:33

Was there a standout for you? Because I mean that was a stand up for me. It was just so funny. That was such a great show.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Yeah, I loved that one actually, and I loved all the Paddy LaBelle numbers that I did as well. I loved Patty LaBelle, and um, so I performed a lot of her her acts as well, her her um numbers. Yeah, and some of them were ballads and some of them were really full on. Um, but yeah, Cornisha was really giving me license to really be evocative and um explorational and really actually helped me to come into my my fullness of Takatapui and um to embody you know the divine masculine and feminine in one because you know culturally as you know that Takatapui, we we held we were knowledge keepers in our in our communities, we held knowledge, we were um had talking about roles and were deeply connected to earth towards spirituality as well. So it was quite a significant role that took up we had. And I think that through my journey now that I'm experiencing, I'm able to interlock all of that incredible knowledge through into how I deliver my classes and facilitations. Yeah, yeah. It's been it's been amazing for me.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

Has Kornisha come out in any moment of recent times?

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Um, not of recent times, actually. Um I went to Splore this year, actually. It was the very last floor and I dressed up. It was beautiful. Did you? And it was time just uh let loose a little bit. You know, I had I had diamond hands all over my head and my makeup and sort of beautiful costuming, which I love. Um yeah, it's just a really I mean it's quite liberating, it's incredibly liberating. And uh that's what I love about the characters and the my pathway of dance because it lets me do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:52

So with all your with the dance, your dance career, any any standout shows that you wanted to share with us that people might even know, really?

SPEAKER_01 41:03

Yeah, well, Jerusalem was probably one of my um favorite shows that I ever performed with Michael, my uh with um Michael Parmita. It was probably one of the bigger shows that was here in Old Taylor and um dance companies that that happened back in the day. I think we had something like we ate 14 performers, which was quite a lot. And it is um yeah, maybe even 16, 14, 14 performers, yeah. Um, and we toured the country, which was incredible, it was an amazing show, and um what was we got to really what was it about?

SPEAKER_03 41:46

What was Jerusalem about? What was the premise of the briefly?

SPEAKER_01 41:50

It was it was it was poems by James Gay Baxter, and um really his his journey through his poems and being able to connect to Wanganui, down the Wanganui and Jerusalem, and there uh there's an area around and around there where he was, and he the last stages of his life where he became quite a figure in his community. Um so we really expelled and really, really um uh extrapolated and increased the sort of uh his power within the community through dance. Um it was a beautiful work, and I really, really loved it. Black Grace Dance Company. I mean, that was incredible as well, yeah, and quite expressive. Yes. But there are lots of works that I make now for the Auckland Art Gallery, and I've been making this year will be my fifth work that I'll make for them as a part of their Mathariki season. Okay, good, good. Yeah, and um so I've been really enjoying those works, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

Okay, is it solo work though, the for the art gallery? Is it just you?

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Um, I have performed solo works for them um with uh another singer, Taisha Tahari and I did the very very first one Potakawa in 2022, and then 2023 I did um yeah, I'm I've done a series and this year. I'm up to number five, and that work is called Piazza. And so it performs on July the 10th and 11th this year. And I'll also be traveling to Canada as well this year in August to facilitate the practice of um fitness and programming for a dancer and more training, more training, training dancers. So the focus is there is to train dancers. So I like the journey that it does, and you're able to travel quite a lot with movement and dance.

SPEAKER_03 43:58

Okay, so with With your overseas travel, I suppose your Wananga, you know, uh uh overseas. Do you how do you find um your way, your modus operandi in Wananga compared to say other established dancer choreographer trainers? You know, um, is there a sense of tiao Māori, you know, the way that we do things, takatapui tanga, like do you do you see difference?

SPEAKER_01 44:32

Definitely, absolutely. Because, you know, um, for starters, I'll have lenses of all all kinds through movement and dance, also through facilitation, the whole water perspective, and the embracement of Takatapui, uh divine feminine, divine masculine, and being able to lean into all of those areas and respond and bounce off simultaneously, because the lens of someone who's who is completely two-spirited is very different from anyone else.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

And I can really um and I really value that because um, and I'm at an age in my life, I'm at a time in my life, I'm at a at the pinnacle of my life where um I embrace it all and I don't hold back on anything, you know. And even conversational-wise, and yeah, it's just who I am, it's just who I you know, um, who I'm embodied and who I become. And not that I'm attached to the becoming, but it's just like I've lived a long life of expression, so it's just really coming true.

SPEAKER_00 45:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:39

So you must be able to share something quite different to the to your learners, to the do you call them learners? To your to your learners, you know, and and yeah, to all like other choreographers that may may come in and watch you. I might come and have a look at one of your classes. I I'm not sure how how you know.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I'm very, I'm very um aware of and I can read bodies and and expression and personalities quite um clearly. And you just gotta get a good sense of where a person is at. However, I'm I'm not a mind reader, but I can sort of get a sense and gauge through the room, how I can navigate and touch everyone in terms of connecting with them, I should say. Connect with them in language and connect them then with choreography, and also check in on their whole water, their well-being.

unknown 46:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

So there's lots of avenues that I can connect to through yoga, dance, breath work, pardon me, um, movement, meditation, yeah. If people are getting triggered, or even words that carry weight, yes, and how to slow them down so they can be accented.

SPEAKER_03 46:55

That and that's your difference, that's your point of difference, really, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 46:58

And I it is, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:00

When you get feedback, what sort of feedback have you gotten before from you know, people that you've trained or worked with or one other with?

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Yeah, it's it's I think it's the ability to to be mindful of just how valuable they are in the room. Yeah. And not just a number.

unknown 47:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

And to be spoken to like a performer and like somebody who really contributes, and that has effect and um and that has integrity in whatever they do, because they're a part of the equation. I couldn't create that without them, and they certainly couldn't be a part of the whole puzzle without me. So it's a shared collaboration. So I believe that you've got to treat them accordingly, and they're not just shapes that need to people that need to just do shapes only.

SPEAKER_03 47:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_03 47:52

No, it totally does. Because I I imagine people that you are training or teaching are um they're all different. They are just to be treated differently. They're not a number, just like you said before, you know, they're not a number. And I mean, I think with your breath work and thing, this is what I'm hearing, is that you're you're you're really making your students or your learners present and where they are, yeah. And that's really what they would appreciate too, because you're not just treating them like a number and they feel present in your company, you know?

SPEAKER_01 48:30

Yes, yes, I would say that too, actually. And I hope that they um feel that when I'm facilitating, and I hope that they feel um yeah, yeah. And it's also knowing just how much to give them.

SPEAKER_02 48:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

And a practice, because I know what a dancer needs to get warm. I I know that I've been there, I've done that. So I know what specific areas to work on and how to work on those areas, as well as giving them information that soon we'll be moving this into choreography, and soon we'll be moving into wellness and everything simultaneously. So, yeah, it comes with, I mean, I I come equipped, but able to to navigate all of those spheres.

SPEAKER_03 49:18

It's like the tree of life, really, but it's like the tree of dance, isn't it? All these different things to create um perfect movement. Well, not perfect movement, you know, like great movement.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

Aye, aye, yes. And I love the the ability to storytell with the body and be able to become that storyteller um just by moving the body or um which direction you shift to or from. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

So um certainly what I'm hearing is that that's what breath work taught you about yourself, really, then isn't it? The situation with your father, your brother, it taught you to grieve, even years and years on. It taught you to have a true, because you know, grief is so powerful as well. And you know, it doesn't sound like you've suppressed it. It was always there, but it was in a box that was possibly tied up.

SPEAKER_01 50:13

Yeah, it was just kind of like it had been put on the shelf. Yeah, you're your grief isn't happening now, but I'll put you on the shelf and now I'm able to come back. I have the tools to come back and revisit those shelves and clear the clear them and you know, do a bit of dusting at the same time, yeah, so to speak. Yeah, you know, just to give myself, as you've mentioned, and I can feel definitely the freedom to be able to move and progress more forward, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:42

So you're sharing this work now. Why is it important to say the Takatapui community?

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Yeah, I I um, you know, just being who we are and just being in the way that we express, because what I love about young people, um, the Takotapu community is that we're very vital and we're very um you know, we have incredible stories and we have ways to articulate these emotional, physical experiences, expression, but just having a platform to do that. And what I what I sense and what I feel when I'm around um beautiful Rainbow community, the Kotawe community, is that there is this uh wholesomeness of safety, um, but also abundance, I'd have to say, and uh the ability to to just observe. But I I love all the you know, my generation coming through, our coming out stories. And I think as we move and navigate through the world, there are always coming out stories that we even tell to others. The first time they've heard our story, that's another kind of coming out to them. Um but actually it's just us being ourselves, it's having the ability to be free with who we are and feel uncomfortable in that.

SPEAKER_03 52:16

So, how can breath um for those carrying say trauma or anxiety, how can breath work help them?

SPEAKER_01 52:26

Definitely, most definitely. Firstly, it would get them in touch with their body, their physical sense, the response that the breath has, internally, externally, and you know, in the in the galaxy in their own sphere.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

And the power in and connecting them not only to ground but also to universe, that we are vibration. Every single human being has a vibration. We are all deeply connected. Um, we're not just individuals that walk around eight billion, eight billion point something billion people with our eyes fixed to a screen. No, if we we're we're all connected, we are all the same. If we allow ourselves to be, you can either be connected or disconnected, it's choice. Um, and I really hope, and I give um support to anyone in our community to learn a little bit more about the breath. Um, and I hope to do, and I'm sure I will be facilitating some community classes with our Dakata Bui Fando.

SPEAKER_03 53:33

I really hope that this um this our our conversation, our cordured door, and because you know, people will be listening. That's definitely the um that's definitely what I want. That's my drive with these incredible stories that I've been able to curate. And this one's so important because um something as important as breath, because what I've always learned from it is breath is your life. And when you're listening to it, you're listening to yourself live. Especially if you're not distracted by anything. When you really focus, you're focusing on your life. That's the raw material of breath, really. For me, this that's the that's my opinion of it. And it's once you've learned that, wow, you know.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

That's a 100%, and you explained it so beautifully, poignantly, that it is it's a deep connection to yourself. And um, there are so many distractions in the world, and we can keep ourselves from it and distracted, or you can turn face and back into yourself and be present, just listen and observe those beautiful qualities of how the breath's moving in and out of your body, and the um the biochemical and all of the scientific uh knowledge that helps to reinforce why the breath is so important.

SPEAKER_03 54:56

Yeah, yeah. But it's really simple, it's breath in that shit. Yeah, and people forget. So, what's the really so I mean we we we've certainly gone through breath this uh this this evening, which I've just loved. What is something that could guide our audience, which they could practice themselves in the morning, you know, when they start their day?

SPEAKER_01 55:22

Yeah, I would say a good time to, you know, as soon as you're awake, um, you know, try not to drink or or do anything, not don't try not to do much. Yep. Probably just go and have a pee and then just sit back and sit up and then just start listening to your breath. You know, just do a check-in. Hello, am I? I could be feeling a bit groggy from the night before, and then just slowly start breathing, just very slow breaths in and out of the nose. Um I just realized that my my phone just says 10%, so I'm gonna have to go and get my charger.

SPEAKER_03 55:57

Well, that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

Um yeah, um, but it yeah, the power of it is that it lets you be present in it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:09

And uh yeah, that would be a great start to someone's, and it's like you said before, breathing through your nose.

SPEAKER_01 56:16

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 56:17

Nose is for breathing, your mouth is for eating. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

Yes, yes. Yeah, yes. Um, and what has become evident is that there's probably more than half the world are mouth breeders. Yeah, I'm probably one of them. Probably 70% of the world, even more, maybe 80% of the world is mouth breeding. So we're just trying to trip start back and come back to nasal.

SPEAKER_03 56:43

So there you go, uh our audience. You know, no nose breathing, uh, sorry, mouth breeding, uh, breathing, mouth breeding, mouth breathing is not is not the way to go. All right, Tana this with everybody. I know you're have you got so this this is something that I do with all my Munuhri, which is I do fast five questions. Questions that you might not think about, you'll just answer really quickly, okay? If you wanted to. Sure, sure, sure. What would you tell your younger self?

SPEAKER_01 57:15

I would tell my younger self to stick with it and trust. And when I'm saying stick with it and trust is the journey. Just keep on the journey and don't look back. I mean, we're always gonna look back, but just keep moving. Just keep moving.

SPEAKER_03 57:31

Because you felt like you weren't doing that.

SPEAKER_01 57:34

I was always doing that, but um, you know, my my um is sometimes you lose track along the way, you know. There's this little avenue there, and you go off there, and you go about there, you stop there, and you you stay there for too much time, and then you've got to get back on the road again.

SPEAKER_03 57:49

Just find a step.

SPEAKER_01 57:50

So just stick to your journey and go for it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:54

One daily practice?

SPEAKER_01 57:56

One daily practice, breath work. So just be still and breathe in and out of the nose.

SPEAKER_03 58:03

What brings you joy?

SPEAKER_01 58:05

Movement and a cup of coffee in the morning. One cup of coffee. Black coffee, sugar? How do you have it? No, there's just white, uh a little bit of milk with my with my coffee, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:18

Uh what do people need more of?

SPEAKER_01 58:22

Love.

SPEAKER_03 58:23

It's true. Yeah, what does thriving look like?

SPEAKER_01 58:27

Striving is when you can have quality, beautiful kind. You're moving your body, you've got a roof over your head, and you're warm. You're thriving if you've got all of those.

SPEAKER_03 58:41

Yeah, not a phone.

SPEAKER_01 58:43

Not a phone. No, no.

SPEAKER_03 58:46

Thank you so much, Tani. I just wanted to acknowledge your journey for from those days to now. It's really been beautiful to witness, and thank you for sharing with us.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

Thank you so much, Donald. I really love this.