Te Atamira is delighted to host Jahra Wasasala as part of our 2022 Matariki programme.

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Jahra Wasasala is a world-builder, movement psychopomp, dancer, choreographer and writer of realms of Viti/Fiji and Palagi descent, based in Aotearoa (New Zealand). A student of mythology, her own bloodline and deepening her work within ancestral contexts, Jahra utilises her training and specialisation within performance activation, various street dance style techniques and poetic/voice soundscape as a means for shape-shifting and storytelling through public and personal embodiments.

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Jahra’s solo and company embodiment works have toured across festivals and performance seasons across Aotearoa , Australia, Hawai’i, New York, Berlin, Guahån and Canada. Jahra has created commissioned embodiments for institutions such as the Auckland War Memorial Museum in Aotearoa, The Banff Centre in Calgary, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC., and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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Facilitation and mentoring roles are also an integral part of Jahra'a practice, working towards enabling others to develop their personal languages within word and flesh.

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Jahra was a featured performer in Ta'alili Company's world premiere of Faces of Nature as a part of Pacific Dance Festival 2021, and is co-director of THE NEST: Street Styles Solo Dance Festival, the first Street Styles Solo Dance Festival in Aotearoa NZ.

Jahra is known for her transcending performances, conjuring voice and otherworldly physicality and is in development for her full-length dance work KALOUGATA.

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Wound is a short film directed by Frances Carter, using sounds contributed by Samara Alofa and Paloma Schneideman, and featuring movement and words by Jahra Wasasala.

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Click here to view Jahra Wasasala's website.

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Image: Jocelyn Janon

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