Beyond the Stage - 2026 in Review
Beyond the Stage
2026 Impacts & Insights
Footnote New Zealand Dance is a leading producer of contemporary dance in Aotearoa.
We commission, create and present ambitious new work with independent choreographers, brought to life by our core ensemble of dancers. Together, we offer space for bold ideas, multiple voices and creative experimentation.
We are committed to fostering a strong and sustainable future for dance by supporting dance artists and independent choreographers through collaboration, professional development and the commissioning of new work.
Our art is responsive and enduring. Our audiences grow alongside us through relevant education programmes and outstanding performances.
We want our audiences to feel.
We want our communities to thrive.
We want to meaningfully contribute to cultural conversations across Aotearoa and beyond.
We are dedicated to enriching Aotearoa and beyond by amplifying dance as an art form through our three areas of Artistic Delivery:
Performance | Community Outreach | Professional Development
Performance
Modern God by Jeremy Beck, photo by Phil Tasker-Poland
Modern God
Modern God by Jeremy Beck premiered in 2025 to instant acclaim, and returned in 2026 for an extended return season at Circa Theatre, before touring to Hawkes Bay and Kerikeri.
This high-powered show, straddling the realms of contemporary dance and physical theatre, delves into the intricate web of global internet culture. It's a unique opportunity to dissect our interactions with the online world, from its absurdity and speed to its utility and potential dangers.
“breathtaking tour de force of artistry”
Big Low Dream by Jessie McCall, photo by Andrew Turner
Big Low Dream
Big Low Dream by Jessie McCall is a new full length work that premiered in October at the Hannah Playhouse Wellington, before touring to Christchurch and Auckland, where it was presented as a part of the 2026 Tempo Dance Festival.
A a new contemporary dance work about what we reach for, together, in the dark. Choreographer Jessie McCall looks to dream logic - unruly, queer, ethically imaginative, as a way to hold onto meaning in a time of overlapping crises. Paradises slip their frames. Unexpected pleasures co-inhabit with the unthinkable. Spectacle flirts with collapse.
“Big Low Dream is a realm unto itself. The piece is a visual art feast of loaded imagery that explores the unconscious mind and the boundaries of reality and fantasy. Big Low Dream crosses genres: it is as much performance art as it is dance, as it is installation.
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CubaDupa
Decant, CubaDupa 2026. Photo by Hiro Tiroaka
The 2026 CubaDupa street festival saw Footnote collaborate on some very special performances with local arts groups. Decant brought bold moves and electric energy to Cuba Street in this one hour, fully improvised performance experiment, the Footnote company dancers joined forces with musicians Ruby Solly (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Pākehā), Jesse Austin-Stewart and Elliot Vaughan for a wild ride of movement and sound. Sound in Motion was a daring, fully improvised performance bringing dance and live music together in real time. A CubaDupa collision of three Wellington icons - WIDance, Orchestra Wellington, and Footnote - this work unfolds differently every moment, shaped by spontaneous exchange between musicians and dancers.
“This was my top highlight from CubaDupa 2026. Stumbling upon the performance in Hannahs Courtyard, and was mesmerised. So passionate and beautiful.”
Massey University Collaboration
Photo: Jane Wilcox
For the past two years, Footnote has collaborated with the Massey University School of Music & Screen Arts students on a private creative project, developing choreographic skills in our company dancers and collaboration with the musicians and sound design students. This year Cecilia Wilcox and Airu Matsuda choreographed a site-specific piece inside the Massey Great Hall to an audience of invited guests.
Community Outreach
Education
“I just wanted to say a massive thank you to those from Footnote who ran the dance workshops with our students. The Footnote Dancers were all great with the students both supporting and challenging them. This was a very new experience for most of the students, and they came away with their minds and movement vocabulary expanded and opened.”
Footnote’s Education programme engaged with rangatahi across the country, teaching dance workshops across 16 schools, offering masterclasses at touring centres, and providing NCEA Dance teaching resouces.
Over 1585 rangatahi were impacted by Footnote in 2026.
Pōneke Festival of Contemporary Dance
FEVER|DREAM by Ballet Collective Aotearoa
With 2026 seeing the third year of the festival, the Pōneke Festival of Contemporary Dance welcomed Wellington City Council as new festival partner, presenting this year’s performance programme at the Hannah Playhouse, and the residency programme at the newly opened Toi Aro.
Alongside the performance programme, there were some new offerings for the community: Open Dance - a free event to come together in movement, a lively community debate, and the first Dance on Screen Film Competition.
“Such a nourishing, creative week. I found it really beneficial for forming and maintaining connections with others, keeping creativity flowing, and supporting the arts.”
Footnote Dance Studios
Footnote has been at our current studio premises for the past two years, after having to leave our original home of over 30 years. Footnote’s three staff and four company dancers work in the studios full time year round, bringing artistic expression to life, ready to be shared with the public. We host choreographic residencies, and hold open morning class every weekday at our studios, welcoming in the wider Pōneke independent dance community.
We also have a family of external users and hirers who breathe life into the studios outside of our working hours. A well appointed, fairly priced and centrally located studio has proven popular with the Wellington creative sector and we love sharing our home with them.
“Access to Footnote New Zealand Dance’s studios at a community rate has been instrumental in enabling us to provide affordable opportunities for Wellington-based dancers and artists to participate in high-quality dance productions. Without this support, the cost of studio hire would likely mean passing significant rehearsal costs on to dancers, creating a barrier to participation.”
Professional Development
Choreolab 2026, photo by Tiana Kraft-Soffe
Choreolab
“Throughout the workshops there were many opportunities to expand on my own practice, learn from the practices of other artists, and dance with so many bodies in one space.
Choreolab is such a treasure to have - this is the only consistent workshop in NZ that provides 2 weeks of full-time learning and exploration.”
Choreolab is Aotearoa’s longest running professional development workshop series for contemporary dancers, and the only one of its kind in Aotearoa. Since 2002, Footnote New Zealand Dance has brought together dance practitioners from across the country and internationally to connect and develop their artistic practice.
This year’s tutors included Antony Hamilton, Rodney Bell, Jessie McCall, Celia Hext and Sebastian Geilings.
Secondments
In 2026 we offered 19 secondment positions to dancers still in their tertiary training. This opportunity allows them to work with the company for a short period of time to understand what a professional dance company is like.
