It’s the middle of winter. It’s very cold. We’re playing at night. I’m wearing two vests, two t-shirts, two pairs of leggings and a long skirt underneath my summer Batucada uniform.
But what total fun! A brilliant experience, and well worth braving the cold for (and we were super-hot!).
We were thrilled to be invited to take part in the celebrations for the re-opening of the St James Theatre in the centre of Wellington. It’s been closed for three years getting earthquake strengthened, so it was brilliant to be included in the wide range of performance groups taking part.
We began with a small group of drummers and dancers parading through town towards the St James, meeting up with parades of other performance groups approaching from all directions to kick off the celebrations.
Throughout the evening, many of Wellington’s rich and varied treasure trove of singers, dancers and performance groups of all kinds entertained the crowds outside the theatre. Wellington Batucada was honoured to be chosen to provide the final show of the evening.
What a beautiful day to celebrate International Dance Day.
Te Papa positively sparkled on the sunny waterfront, the audience was huge, filling the space at Te Marae completely, and we had a wonderful time showcasing the dances of samba.
It’s always the same when you do any sort of filming – it always starts later than planned, and there’s always heaps of waiting around. Fortunately for us, our good friends at El Barrio had provided part of their bar as our official Green Room, which meant that we had somewhere to store our stuff, get ready, hang out, socialise, and maybe even have a beer or two. What could be better?
Oh how we love Newtown Fair.
You get there super-early (wearing your band uniform, most likely), spend an hour or a few meandering through the streets looking at all the stalls and buying stuff, eating yummy food from everywhere in the world, and answering many questions from people about when the band will be playing. Everyone looks forward to the Batucada parade, it seems.
What a weekend! Sunday in particular was a very big day for us…
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From composer John Psathas:
It’s always fantastic when your music develops a life of its own. I have been very lucky that this has happened to several of my pieces, but how it happened with CubaSonic (2019) is unlike any other. Often you think a piece is given life through multiple performances – CubaSonic only had (and probably will only ever have) one. What defined this project was that it was totally contextualised by the state of the world at the time.
Premiered at the end of March 2021, much of the world was still in lockdown with live performances feeling like they were a thing from the pre-Covid era. At the time it was just unimaginable that hundreds of musicians could perform a work spanning three blocks in a massive city-wide festival. I think that the result of such a mass performance in the then-current circumstances created a really powerful and unexpected feeling of togetherness.
People came to me afterwards highly emotionalised, talking about how moved they were, and the sense of joy they felt in being a part of such a massed experience. CubaDupa usually provides the city with an injection of positive energy and after being cancelled in 2020, its return in 2021 was extra special, symbolising a return to normality or at least a step in that direction.
John Psathas, In Focus: CubaSonic (2019)
CubaSonic trailer video. Video by CubaDupa and CreateNowNZ.
Here it is! Our one-and-only World Premiere super-exclusive performance of CubaSonic by John Psathas.
CubaSonic highlight clip from the premiere performance. Video by CubaDupa and CreateNowNZ.
We had so much fun being part of such a glorious, family-friendly day of food, stalls and entertainment. The community spirit of so many bright and beautiful people was absolutely fabulous. Big ups to Dani and her crew from the Community Centre for an amazing day. Thanks to Tommy Etuata too for capturing all that community goodness in this video as we drummed and danced in the heart of Aro Valley.
A beautiful day, at a beautiful Wellington community event – what could be better? We were thrilled to be asked to open for the famous ArOlympics this year. It was our pleasure!
Wellington Batucada drummers and dancers at the Aro Fair 2021. Video by Tom S Etuata.
This is our second time performing at Round the Bays, and once again it was a very early (7.45am!) start for this great community event. We resurrected our CubaDupa 2018 costumes (shhh don’t tell anyone, but this is my favourite ever Batucada outfit!) which meant we were colourful and eye-catching for the runners as they thundered past.
What an epic night!
First a street performance at the corner of Eva and Dixon Streets, then a gig in the Eva Beva Bar, and finally upstairs to El Barrio.
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