Dance Upon Our Earth - Stories that tell of the dances of life.

By Tanya Batt

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This campaign was successful and closed on 21/07/2019 at 10:00 PM.

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About

Dance Upon Our Earth - Stories That Tell Of The Dances Of Life.

Project 2019-05-09 15:09:11 +1200

Thanks to everyone who's helped the campaign reach its minimum target - big Batty claps and flaps of appreciation. The campaign finishes this Sunday and I'm hoping we might be able to reach $4000. We've recently worked out we'll need to employ someone to help mix down the tracks we record - something we'd hoped we'd be able to do with the technology we have - but it's a 'computer says no' situation!! . So if you had intended to pledge and still want to, there's still time to pre order an album or enjoy some Bat -mosphere with one of the other reward choices. Our dates are all locked in for an August recording session in Kerikeri - it's going to be great!

 

 

A new audio collection of earth based movement stories for children by the creator of 'Dance Upon a Time'. Explore the life of the long finned eel, dance the story of the earth's pollinators, move the cycle of water on our planet with your body and much more. From explosive volcanoes through to the story of our oceans - connect to the our earth through music, movement and story.

This album will be recorded in August 2019 with the fabulous musical talents of Peter Forster and Craig Denham (who created the music for Dance Upon a Time). Funds will be used to cover the costs of recording & producing the album.

 

ABOUT THE PEOPLE INVOLVED

Tanya Batt is a qualified teacher (BEd, Dip Teaching ECE), performance storyteller, children’s author and is an early childhood specialist in  Arts Education.

With a tertiary background in Education, Psychology, Communication and Performing Arts. She has been invited to present workshops, papers and perform in over 20 different countries over the last 29 year. She has lectured and provided courses/ workshops for tertiary colleges and technical institutes, public kindergarten associations, schools, Playcentres, Kindercares, Barnardos, and many other community groups and education service providers as well as being invited to perform in arts and storytelling festivals throughout New Zealand and around the world.

She is the author of three teaching books in the areas of storytelling, drama and dance education and a published children’s writer.

Tanya creatively directs the ‘Once Upon An Island Charitable Trust based on Waiheke Island and has produced seven storytelling festivals, created the ‘The Story Centre’ and an extensive body of community arts projects.

 She believes that delight and curiosity form the basis of life long learning www.imagined-worlds.net

Craig Denham is talented and versatile session musician who hails from Northland, New Zealand. He plays a vast array of instruments and his passion for music is evident in his style and is readily picked up by audiences. Craig’s love of music extends into ventures with theatre, storytelling, dance and street theatre troupes. His playing has been described as vibrant and energetic. He is currently based in Prague www.CraigDenham.com

 Peter Forster is a versatile musician, composer and instrument maker who plays a variety of instruments. He builds guitars and wooden flutes, and is currently making a cello. Peter is passionate about the healing power of music 

 

 

  

 

 

Comments

Updates 11

Thank you for your support

11/11/2019 at 7:42 PM

Kia Ora - The last of the emails sending out the digital downloads of Dance Upon Our Earth, were emailed out today and all the CDs have been posted. All that remains is a BIG thank you from me for your support. I'm hugely grateful and apologies for the delay in getting out the rewards - the album's arrival coincided with a Cycling Festival I was involved with here on Waiheke. Would love to hear your feedback on the album - so do drop me a line. Kind wishes, TanyaDance Upon Our Earth Album cover

You need to pledge to see this update.

The final push

18/07/2019 at 6:43 PM

Thanks to everyone who's helped the campaign reached its minimum target - big Batty claps and flaps of appreciation. The campaign finishes this Sunday and I'm hoping we might be able to reach $4000. Since Craig arrived back in NZ, we've had a tech talk and worked out we'll need to employ someone to help mix down the tracks we record - something we'd hoped we'd be able to do with the technology we have - but it's a 'computer says no' situation!! . So if you had intended to pledge and still want to, there's still time to pre order an album or enjoy some Bat -mosphere with one of the other reward choices. Our dates are all locked in for an August recording session in Kerikeri - it's going to be great! And I had an update from artist Kirsty Barlow - the rough for the album cover artwork - exciting!!

 

 

 

 

Rough of Album Cover

Celebrating with a Story

09/07/2019 at 7:50 AM

Hip -hip hooray! My minimum target has been reached! A BIG batty clap for your support and generosity.The campaign still has nearly two weeks to run - so I'll be continuing to fundraise and any extra funds raised will be used towards my 'millionaires wish list' I created yesterday! (funny run of events detailed below if you're interested).

However I thought I would celebrate reaching my target on my Pledgeme Campaign with the gift of a  story! We were asked to record a story for a storytelling festival in the UK called Festival at the Edge (FATE). Pete and I performed onsite last year in Shropshire. We thought you might enjoy  it too - a very quirky Finnish tale – a testament to, too long winters.

I spent yesterday investigating the formation of the earth, tectonic plates, molten worlds, Pangaea and more. I'll  be dancing the material  today at 11am here on Waiheke Island at the Sustainability Centre as part of Plastic Free July – do join us if you're in the locale :-)

Our greatest wealth is what we have to share

08/07/2019 at 8:22 AM

So this morning I woke up a millionaire!! Seemingly my Pledgeme campaign had reached it’s goal and then exceeded it by $1,253,780!! Wow I thought – I could invite the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to do some of the musical scores, I could self publish an accompanying teaching resource to go with the audio, pay more artists and musicians to be involved, give copies of the CDs away for free to New Zealand schools & ECE centres, work on more teaching resources and donate money to groups who are doing the mahi restoring wetlands, saving native bats and working with bee health. BUT it quickly became obvious that some kind person making a pledge had go a bit muddled – easy enough to do online on keyboards!! (we’re working to rectify this). But even knowing that it was an ‘error’, I still felt like I really had been given $1,000,000 plus dollars – like the universe just wanted to remind me that what I was doing was valuable and that I really am the richest woman in the world, being able to do and share what I love. Thanks to everyone who has Pledged – we are actually very nearly at the goal – just a few hundred dollars away – and I’m sure the good people at Pledgeme will sort it all out. Should we go over the goal – I’ll use any extra money towards my wish list above. The whole experience has inspired me to donate $1 from each album sold to an environmental group – I’m open to suggestions J

Hooray $3175 and counting down.. or is that up!

07/07/2019 at 8:32 AM

 

 

Hooray and whoop, whoop! Yesterday my Pledgeme campaign reached $3175.00! A heartfelt thank you to all of those people who have pledged. This week our local paper the, Gulf News, ran an article talking about the kaupapa of the album and the Pledgeme campaign. A BIG thank you to Erin and the Gulf News team for sharing my story. This Tuesday (9th July) I'm running a workshop, as part of Plastic Free July, for children/families on Waiheke Island who'd like to come along and dance some of the material on the new album. It will be held at the Sustainability Centre at 11am. The cost is $5 - with all proceeds going towards the costs of producing the album. So if you're on Waiheke please do come along and if not, there's still time to pre purchase your copy of 'Dance Upon Our Earth' or other batt -mospheric experiences!

 

Article in Gulf News

Deep knowing

06/07/2019 at 6:56 AM

What I love about working with children is what we learn together.

To me questions are so important – deep questioning propels us into the heart of things.

Reflecting back on a previous session about the earths relationship with the sun and moon, one of the children asked me today, how the fire got onto the sun?

“That’s an interesting question,” I respond.

Another child explains the sun is in fact exploding gases (both children are 4 -5 years)

“But, “she says, “ How did it get there?”

And I think, yes how did we arrive at the reality we are experiencing in this moment?

I explain that I don’t know the answers to all of their questions but I love them asking them and that together we can look for answers to these questions.

 

Some one else explains that there are people called scientists who know the answers to these questions.

There is some agreement about this statement. I offer the thought that scientists can change their minds about what they know. When we discover something new that refutes what we thought to be true, our world changes – and we talk about how people once though the world was flat.

 

Then I say to them, “I have a question for you.”

We have been dancing the story of the long fin eels/tuna today, their life cycle.

“How do the baby eels know their way back to the rivers/lakes/ wetlands, where their parents came from?”

 

There are many responses to this – maybe their parents left footprints, maybe they could smell their way, maybe they just remembered.

 

I ask, “Is there something you know that nobody has ever told you. Something you’ve never read or seen or experienced, something that you simply know?” I wonder quietly to myself – are we lost animals, who has forgotten our deep knowing? Or is this the game – the journey? To play as if you have lost something precious, so you can experience the joy of it’s rediscovery.

 

How are we like those tuna? And will our deep knowing lead us home?

 

 

 

 

 

The dance of water

05/07/2019 at 9:20 AM

Today is Friday and I'll be dancing this afternoon with the children here on the eco village the material for my new album, Dance Upon Our Earth. In the first session I shared with the children we danced the story of water.
We investigated – what was water and where did it come from?
The children and I danced all the different experiences they had had of water from the natural sources of the moana, the awa, the lakes, rain, waterfalls to the human mediated experiences of water tanks, taps and hoses. One of my favourite moments was dancing taps and hoses – controlled and wild squirting water. We discussed the water in our own bodies and the roll all these bodies of water have in our well being and the well being of our planet.
Water lends itself wonderfully to movement with wonderfully evocative language - splashing, swirling, tumbling, cascading, rolling, crashing – maybe because we are largely water ourselves, born into water and of a watery planet, we find this dance so compelling.
Our ideas distilled into the dance of the water cycle – evaporation, condensation and precipitation – we danced the clouds, the thunder/lightening and rain, the gushing, rushing water as it races from a rain born puddle, to a rivulet, to a stream, river and down into the moana, where the waves crash and roll. Then droplet by droplet we are called by Tama-nui-te – ra back to the sky where our journey begins again, as the clouds gather. the circular dance of cycles that we repeat several times.

We’ve been working with existing music, but in August Craig, Pete and I will be working together to create music that supports these stories, calling us all to dance.
If you’d like to dance the story of water, you can pre purchase a copy of the album through the Pledge me campaign (clikc on the link)https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/…/6102-dance-upon-our-earth-stor… if you don’t want to sign up online you can donate directly to my bank account, with your name (ASB Tanya Batt 12-3048-0369695-51).Albums are $30 each and your support is greatly appreciated. A nui thank you to all those who have supported so far - I'm 75% full :-)Water dancing

The fabulous Kirsty

03/07/2019 at 5:55 PM

Very exciting! Today I have found the artist to work with to create the artwork for ‘Dance Upon Our Earth’ (the current featured artwork is borrowed from my Elemental album and created by Helen Bacon) Her name is Kirsty Barlow

She’s a kiwi artist based in Canada. I came across one of her posts on Facebook – she’d posted a picture she’d done of Buffy Sainte -Marie, a singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. Buffy was one of my childhood songstresses – discovered in my parent’s vinyl collection. I’ll take it as auspicious tohu, we’ve been connected by Buffy – a musical social activist. I’m so looking forward to collaborating and creating with Kirsty. Prepurchase a copy of the album and you too can enjoy Kirsty's fabulous artwork.

http://kristybarlow.com/

Buffy

 

 

 

Tuna Tales

02/07/2019 at 9:22 PM

The creation of a wetlands sanctuary for the long finned tuna/eel at the Awaawaroa Eco Village is a testament to what can happen when children grow up connected to their environment and other life forms.

As a teenager and resident of the Awaawaroa Bay Eco Village, Tilde Sorensen proposed that the wetlands where we live have a rahui placed upon it, preventing the fishing of the long fins. Tilde had discovered that that these eels, endemic to Aotearoa, have no protection and rank as endangered as some of the kiwi.

Tilde’s passion for the long fins propelled us as a community on a journey, which included helping create ‘Velvet’, a tapestry tuna created by schools, early childhood centres and environmental groups across the country and then swum to parliament to call for protection of these animals, commissioning resident Waiheke carver Danny Shortland to carve the story of Tuna Roa. The unveiling of the carving celebrated the ‘opening’ of the sanctuary at the Eco Village.  

 

One of the stories on the album ‘Dance Upon Our Earth’ is about the life cycle of these remarkable animals, the mysterious ‘water dragons’ of our wetlands. To date mystery shrouds the life of this creature who is greatly deserving or our care and attention, as is its habitat. Only 5% of New Zealand’s wetlands remain un altered.

Dancing the story of the long fins, will raise our awareness of this animal, it’s uniqueness and how our well being, is connected to its.

Long Finned Tuna

Dancing the story of our native bat, pekapeka.

26/06/2019 at 12:08 AM

To workshop the material for this album, I'm working with the children who live on the eco village with me (and some of their friends) every Friday afternoon. The children are between the ages of less than 1 year and 10 years .We meet togther in the community house for 45  minutes - 1 hour and dance ideas. Last week we danced the story of our only indeginous mammal in NZ, the bat (pekapeka). I always begin by asking the children what they already know about the idea/creature/phenonema we're going to dance, and their ideas are fed into the explorations. We had a great time exploring echolocation, and how it is to 'see' with your ears. I'll be writing teaching notes to accompany the album, which will include some of extension ideas we've used. Here is a snippet of the action, story dance of the pekapeka.

    Pledgers 60

    Penelope brown
    21/07/2019 at 9:43pm

    "Wonderful Tanya thank you for creating magic in this world!"

    Tracy McCready
    21/07/2019 at 12:34pm
    Campbell Farquhar
    19/07/2019 at 9:33am
    Pala Fisher
    18/07/2019 at 1:24am
    Andy
    15/07/2019 at 3:42am
    Gina Goad
    09/07/2019 at 6:38pm

    "Tanya, you’re the best. Go well my friend :) x x x"

    Ariel Philipa Wadick
    08/07/2019 at 10:24pm
    Karyn Burgess
    08/07/2019 at 9:06pm
    Mike
    08/07/2019 at 7:55pm

    "Great project. All the best. Mike and Jeanne"

    Anna Dawson
    08/07/2019 at 6:28pm

    "Love your work Tanya. Joshi and Ola won't make the workshop this Tuesday but we look forward to enjoying Dance Upon Our Earth as a whanau. "

    Valemma Wright
    08/07/2019 at 2:14pm
    Trisha Joe
    08/07/2019 at 12:19pm

    "congratulations Tanya - your dedication and passion is inspirational"

    Anonymous pledger
    07/07/2019 at 8:01pm
    Debra Wallace
    06/07/2019 at 6:09pm
    Elaine Ng
    06/07/2019 at 12:21pm

    "All the best, Tanya! xx"

    Elaine Ng
    06/07/2019 at 12:19pm

    "All the best, Tanya! xx"

    Elke Leggett
    06/07/2019 at 8:29am
    Elke Leggett
    06/07/2019 at 8:26am
    Julie Killick
    05/07/2019 at 9:31pm
    Susan Scott
    05/07/2019 at 5:54pm
    Lisa Talbot
    05/07/2019 at 5:32pm
    Jenny wilkinson
    05/07/2019 at 4:24pm

    "Good luck with everything. can't wait to hear your new creation."

    mel
    05/07/2019 at 11:30am
    Margaret Martin
    04/07/2019 at 11:48pm
    Anonymous pledger
    04/07/2019 at 7:37pm

    "I hope you get the support you well deserve"

    Baz Caitcheon
    01/07/2019 at 8:14pm
    Linda Hodson
    01/07/2019 at 5:39pm
    Kathy Voyles
    01/07/2019 at 1:53pm

    "So looking forward to hearing this! "

    becs.johnston
    28/06/2019 at 1:54pm
    Kashmir Rose
    27/06/2019 at 7:10pm

    "A wonderful woman doing extraordinary things! May this koha support your work to blossom. "

    Followers

    Followers of Dance Upon Our Earth - Stories that tell of the dances of life.

    Dance Upon Our Earth - Stories That Tell Of The Dances Of Life.

    Project 2019-05-09 15:09:11 +1200

    Thanks to everyone who's helped the campaign reach its minimum target - big Batty claps and flaps of appreciation. The campaign finishes this Sunday and I'm hoping we might be able to reach $4000. We've recently worked out we'll need to employ someone to help mix down the tracks we record - something we'd hoped we'd be able to do with the technology we have - but it's a 'computer says no' situation!! . So if you had intended to pledge and still want to, there's still time to pre order an album or enjoy some Bat -mosphere with one of the other reward choices. Our dates are all locked in for an August recording session in Kerikeri - it's going to be great!

     

     

    A new audio collection of earth based movement stories for children by the creator of 'Dance Upon a Time'. Explore the life of the long finned eel, dance the story of the earth's pollinators, move the cycle of water on our planet with your body and much more. From explosive volcanoes through to the story of our oceans - connect to the our earth through music, movement and story.

    This album will be recorded in August 2019 with the fabulous musical talents of Peter Forster and Craig Denham (who created the music for Dance Upon a Time). Funds will be used to cover the costs of recording & producing the album.

     

    ABOUT THE PEOPLE INVOLVED

    Tanya Batt is a qualified teacher (BEd, Dip Teaching ECE), performance storyteller, children’s author and is an early childhood specialist in  Arts Education.

    With a tertiary background in Education, Psychology, Communication and Performing Arts. She has been invited to present workshops, papers and perform in over 20 different countries over the last 29 year. She has lectured and provided courses/ workshops for tertiary colleges and technical institutes, public kindergarten associations, schools, Playcentres, Kindercares, Barnardos, and many other community groups and education service providers as well as being invited to perform in arts and storytelling festivals throughout New Zealand and around the world.

    She is the author of three teaching books in the areas of storytelling, drama and dance education and a published children’s writer.

    Tanya creatively directs the ‘Once Upon An Island Charitable Trust based on Waiheke Island and has produced seven storytelling festivals, created the ‘The Story Centre’ and an extensive body of community arts projects.

     She believes that delight and curiosity form the basis of life long learning www.imagined-worlds.net

    Craig Denham is talented and versatile session musician who hails from Northland, New Zealand. He plays a vast array of instruments and his passion for music is evident in his style and is readily picked up by audiences. Craig’s love of music extends into ventures with theatre, storytelling, dance and street theatre troupes. His playing has been described as vibrant and energetic. He is currently based in Prague www.CraigDenham.com

     Peter Forster is a versatile musician, composer and instrument maker who plays a variety of instruments. He builds guitars and wooden flutes, and is currently making a cello. Peter is passionate about the healing power of music 

     

     

      

     

     

    Comments

    Thank you for your support

    11/11/2019 at 7:42 PM

    Kia Ora - The last of the emails sending out the digital downloads of Dance Upon Our Earth, were emailed out today and all the CDs have been posted. All that remains is a BIG thank you from me for your support. I'm hugely grateful and apologies for the delay in getting out the rewards - the album's arrival coincided with a Cycling Festival I was involved with here on Waiheke. Would love to hear your feedback on the album - so do drop me a line. Kind wishes, TanyaDance Upon Our Earth Album cover

    You need to pledge to see this update.

    The final push

    18/07/2019 at 6:43 PM

    Thanks to everyone who's helped the campaign reached its minimum target - big Batty claps and flaps of appreciation. The campaign finishes this Sunday and I'm hoping we might be able to reach $4000. Since Craig arrived back in NZ, we've had a tech talk and worked out we'll need to employ someone to help mix down the tracks we record - something we'd hoped we'd be able to do with the technology we have - but it's a 'computer says no' situation!! . So if you had intended to pledge and still want to, there's still time to pre order an album or enjoy some Bat -mosphere with one of the other reward choices. Our dates are all locked in for an August recording session in Kerikeri - it's going to be great! And I had an update from artist Kirsty Barlow - the rough for the album cover artwork - exciting!!

     

     

     

     

    Rough of Album Cover

    Celebrating with a Story

    09/07/2019 at 7:50 AM

    Hip -hip hooray! My minimum target has been reached! A BIG batty clap for your support and generosity.The campaign still has nearly two weeks to run - so I'll be continuing to fundraise and any extra funds raised will be used towards my 'millionaires wish list' I created yesterday! (funny run of events detailed below if you're interested).

    However I thought I would celebrate reaching my target on my Pledgeme Campaign with the gift of a  story! We were asked to record a story for a storytelling festival in the UK called Festival at the Edge (FATE). Pete and I performed onsite last year in Shropshire. We thought you might enjoy  it too - a very quirky Finnish tale – a testament to, too long winters.

    I spent yesterday investigating the formation of the earth, tectonic plates, molten worlds, Pangaea and more. I'll  be dancing the material  today at 11am here on Waiheke Island at the Sustainability Centre as part of Plastic Free July – do join us if you're in the locale :-)

    Our greatest wealth is what we have to share

    08/07/2019 at 8:22 AM

    So this morning I woke up a millionaire!! Seemingly my Pledgeme campaign had reached it’s goal and then exceeded it by $1,253,780!! Wow I thought – I could invite the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to do some of the musical scores, I could self publish an accompanying teaching resource to go with the audio, pay more artists and musicians to be involved, give copies of the CDs away for free to New Zealand schools & ECE centres, work on more teaching resources and donate money to groups who are doing the mahi restoring wetlands, saving native bats and working with bee health. BUT it quickly became obvious that some kind person making a pledge had go a bit muddled – easy enough to do online on keyboards!! (we’re working to rectify this). But even knowing that it was an ‘error’, I still felt like I really had been given $1,000,000 plus dollars – like the universe just wanted to remind me that what I was doing was valuable and that I really am the richest woman in the world, being able to do and share what I love. Thanks to everyone who has Pledged – we are actually very nearly at the goal – just a few hundred dollars away – and I’m sure the good people at Pledgeme will sort it all out. Should we go over the goal – I’ll use any extra money towards my wish list above. The whole experience has inspired me to donate $1 from each album sold to an environmental group – I’m open to suggestions J

    Hooray $3175 and counting down.. or is that up!

    07/07/2019 at 8:32 AM

     

     

    Hooray and whoop, whoop! Yesterday my Pledgeme campaign reached $3175.00! A heartfelt thank you to all of those people who have pledged. This week our local paper the, Gulf News, ran an article talking about the kaupapa of the album and the Pledgeme campaign. A BIG thank you to Erin and the Gulf News team for sharing my story. This Tuesday (9th July) I'm running a workshop, as part of Plastic Free July, for children/families on Waiheke Island who'd like to come along and dance some of the material on the new album. It will be held at the Sustainability Centre at 11am. The cost is $5 - with all proceeds going towards the costs of producing the album. So if you're on Waiheke please do come along and if not, there's still time to pre purchase your copy of 'Dance Upon Our Earth' or other batt -mospheric experiences!

     

    Article in Gulf News

    Deep knowing

    06/07/2019 at 6:56 AM

    What I love about working with children is what we learn together.

    To me questions are so important – deep questioning propels us into the heart of things.

    Reflecting back on a previous session about the earths relationship with the sun and moon, one of the children asked me today, how the fire got onto the sun?

    “That’s an interesting question,” I respond.

    Another child explains the sun is in fact exploding gases (both children are 4 -5 years)

    “But, “she says, “ How did it get there?”

    And I think, yes how did we arrive at the reality we are experiencing in this moment?

    I explain that I don’t know the answers to all of their questions but I love them asking them and that together we can look for answers to these questions.

     

    Some one else explains that there are people called scientists who know the answers to these questions.

    There is some agreement about this statement. I offer the thought that scientists can change their minds about what they know. When we discover something new that refutes what we thought to be true, our world changes – and we talk about how people once though the world was flat.

     

    Then I say to them, “I have a question for you.”

    We have been dancing the story of the long fin eels/tuna today, their life cycle.

    “How do the baby eels know their way back to the rivers/lakes/ wetlands, where their parents came from?”

     

    There are many responses to this – maybe their parents left footprints, maybe they could smell their way, maybe they just remembered.

     

    I ask, “Is there something you know that nobody has ever told you. Something you’ve never read or seen or experienced, something that you simply know?” I wonder quietly to myself – are we lost animals, who has forgotten our deep knowing? Or is this the game – the journey? To play as if you have lost something precious, so you can experience the joy of it’s rediscovery.

     

    How are we like those tuna? And will our deep knowing lead us home?

     

     

     

     

     

    The dance of water

    05/07/2019 at 9:20 AM

    Today is Friday and I'll be dancing this afternoon with the children here on the eco village the material for my new album, Dance Upon Our Earth. In the first session I shared with the children we danced the story of water.
    We investigated – what was water and where did it come from?
    The children and I danced all the different experiences they had had of water from the natural sources of the moana, the awa, the lakes, rain, waterfalls to the human mediated experiences of water tanks, taps and hoses. One of my favourite moments was dancing taps and hoses – controlled and wild squirting water. We discussed the water in our own bodies and the roll all these bodies of water have in our well being and the well being of our planet.
    Water lends itself wonderfully to movement with wonderfully evocative language - splashing, swirling, tumbling, cascading, rolling, crashing – maybe because we are largely water ourselves, born into water and of a watery planet, we find this dance so compelling.
    Our ideas distilled into the dance of the water cycle – evaporation, condensation and precipitation – we danced the clouds, the thunder/lightening and rain, the gushing, rushing water as it races from a rain born puddle, to a rivulet, to a stream, river and down into the moana, where the waves crash and roll. Then droplet by droplet we are called by Tama-nui-te – ra back to the sky where our journey begins again, as the clouds gather. the circular dance of cycles that we repeat several times.

    We’ve been working with existing music, but in August Craig, Pete and I will be working together to create music that supports these stories, calling us all to dance.
    If you’d like to dance the story of water, you can pre purchase a copy of the album through the Pledge me campaign (clikc on the link)https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/…/6102-dance-upon-our-earth-stor… if you don’t want to sign up online you can donate directly to my bank account, with your name (ASB Tanya Batt 12-3048-0369695-51).Albums are $30 each and your support is greatly appreciated. A nui thank you to all those who have supported so far - I'm 75% full :-)Water dancing

    The fabulous Kirsty

    03/07/2019 at 5:55 PM

    Very exciting! Today I have found the artist to work with to create the artwork for ‘Dance Upon Our Earth’ (the current featured artwork is borrowed from my Elemental album and created by Helen Bacon) Her name is Kirsty Barlow

    She’s a kiwi artist based in Canada. I came across one of her posts on Facebook – she’d posted a picture she’d done of Buffy Sainte -Marie, a singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. Buffy was one of my childhood songstresses – discovered in my parent’s vinyl collection. I’ll take it as auspicious tohu, we’ve been connected by Buffy – a musical social activist. I’m so looking forward to collaborating and creating with Kirsty. Prepurchase a copy of the album and you too can enjoy Kirsty's fabulous artwork.

    http://kristybarlow.com/

    Buffy

     

     

     

    Tuna Tales

    02/07/2019 at 9:22 PM

    The creation of a wetlands sanctuary for the long finned tuna/eel at the Awaawaroa Eco Village is a testament to what can happen when children grow up connected to their environment and other life forms.

    As a teenager and resident of the Awaawaroa Bay Eco Village, Tilde Sorensen proposed that the wetlands where we live have a rahui placed upon it, preventing the fishing of the long fins. Tilde had discovered that that these eels, endemic to Aotearoa, have no protection and rank as endangered as some of the kiwi.

    Tilde’s passion for the long fins propelled us as a community on a journey, which included helping create ‘Velvet’, a tapestry tuna created by schools, early childhood centres and environmental groups across the country and then swum to parliament to call for protection of these animals, commissioning resident Waiheke carver Danny Shortland to carve the story of Tuna Roa. The unveiling of the carving celebrated the ‘opening’ of the sanctuary at the Eco Village.  

     

    One of the stories on the album ‘Dance Upon Our Earth’ is about the life cycle of these remarkable animals, the mysterious ‘water dragons’ of our wetlands. To date mystery shrouds the life of this creature who is greatly deserving or our care and attention, as is its habitat. Only 5% of New Zealand’s wetlands remain un altered.

    Dancing the story of the long fins, will raise our awareness of this animal, it’s uniqueness and how our well being, is connected to its.

    Long Finned Tuna

    Dancing the story of our native bat, pekapeka.

    26/06/2019 at 12:08 AM

    To workshop the material for this album, I'm working with the children who live on the eco village with me (and some of their friends) every Friday afternoon. The children are between the ages of less than 1 year and 10 years .We meet togther in the community house for 45  minutes - 1 hour and dance ideas. Last week we danced the story of our only indeginous mammal in NZ, the bat (pekapeka). I always begin by asking the children what they already know about the idea/creature/phenonema we're going to dance, and their ideas are fed into the explorations. We had a great time exploring echolocation, and how it is to 'see' with your ears. I'll be writing teaching notes to accompany the album, which will include some of extension ideas we've used. Here is a snippet of the action, story dance of the pekapeka.

      Penelope brown
      21/07/2019 at 9:43pm

      "Wonderful Tanya thank you for creating magic in this world!"

      Tracy McCready
      21/07/2019 at 12:34pm
      Campbell Farquhar
      19/07/2019 at 9:33am
      Pala Fisher
      18/07/2019 at 1:24am
      Andy
      15/07/2019 at 3:42am
      Gina Goad
      09/07/2019 at 6:38pm

      "Tanya, you’re the best. Go well my friend :) x x x"

      Ariel Philipa Wadick
      08/07/2019 at 10:24pm
      Karyn Burgess
      08/07/2019 at 9:06pm
      Mike
      08/07/2019 at 7:55pm

      "Great project. All the best. Mike and Jeanne"

      Anna Dawson
      08/07/2019 at 6:28pm

      "Love your work Tanya. Joshi and Ola won't make the workshop this Tuesday but we look forward to enjoying Dance Upon Our Earth as a whanau. "

      Valemma Wright
      08/07/2019 at 2:14pm
      Trisha Joe
      08/07/2019 at 12:19pm

      "congratulations Tanya - your dedication and passion is inspirational"

      Anonymous pledger
      07/07/2019 at 8:01pm
      Debra Wallace
      06/07/2019 at 6:09pm
      Elaine Ng
      06/07/2019 at 12:21pm

      "All the best, Tanya! xx"

      Elaine Ng
      06/07/2019 at 12:19pm

      "All the best, Tanya! xx"

      Elke Leggett
      06/07/2019 at 8:29am
      Elke Leggett
      06/07/2019 at 8:26am
      Julie Killick
      05/07/2019 at 9:31pm
      Susan Scott
      05/07/2019 at 5:54pm
      Lisa Talbot
      05/07/2019 at 5:32pm
      Jenny wilkinson
      05/07/2019 at 4:24pm

      "Good luck with everything. can't wait to hear your new creation."

      mel
      05/07/2019 at 11:30am
      Margaret Martin
      04/07/2019 at 11:48pm
      Anonymous pledger
      04/07/2019 at 7:37pm

      "I hope you get the support you well deserve"

      Baz Caitcheon
      01/07/2019 at 8:14pm
      Linda Hodson
      01/07/2019 at 5:39pm
      Kathy Voyles
      01/07/2019 at 1:53pm

      "So looking forward to hearing this! "

      becs.johnston
      28/06/2019 at 1:54pm
      Kashmir Rose
      27/06/2019 at 7:10pm

      "A wonderful woman doing extraordinary things! May this koha support your work to blossom. "

      Followers of Dance Upon Our Earth - Stories that tell of the dances of life.

      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 21/07/2019 at 10:00 PM.