Mamuka is a magical dance piece for children, performed by two dancers. The piece employs puppetry and papier mache headpieces to support the dancers in creating various movements of different woodland creatures, all centred around mythical fairies.
The choreography was captivating; the young people in the audience (as well as us older people) were drawn into the world created by the dancers and their headpieces, with their physical vocabulary adjusting to create multiple layers of this world.
What was truly enjoyable was that the movement vocabulary wasn’t simplified for children; it used complex imagery and technique based in modern dance, which elevated the performance.