Internationally acclaimed Auckland choreographer Lemi Ponifasio has been awarded the 2008 Creative New Zealand Choreographic Fellowship. Worth $65,000, it is the largest choreographic fellowship available in New Zealand. The artistic director and founder of MAU Dance Company, Ponifasio is a prolific creator of dance works and has continued to develop an impressive international following.

Image: From Tempest by Lemi Ponifasio.Internationally acclaimed Auckland choreographer Lemi Ponifasio has been awarded the 2008 Creative New Zealand Choreographic Fellowship. Worth $65,000, it is the largest choreographic fellowship available in New Zealand. The artistic director and founder of MAU Dance Company, Ponifasio is a prolific creator of dance works and has continued to develop an impressive international following.

Image: From Tempest by Lemi Ponifasio.Ponifasio's work has been presented in Venice, Vienna, Holland, London, Brussels, Adelaide, Prague and Germany. He is a curator for the London International Festival of Theatre, and also creates performance projects with communities throughout New Zealand and the Pacific region under the MAU Forum.

Lemi Ponifasio will use the fellowship to develop a new dance work, Birds with Sky Mirrors.

Ponifasio's latest work Tempest had its world premiere at the Vienna Festival earlier this year featuring Tuhoe activist Tame Iti and refugee Ahmed Zaoui.

Ponifasio and his Company MAU have just performed Requiem at the London International Festival of Theatre and have been invited to return in 2008 with their production Tempest. The tour will also take the company to three other European countries and has been supported with a $35,000 Creative New Zealand grant.

Ponifasio has also been invited to stage Requiem at the Lincoln Centre for Performing Arts in New York in 2008. This prestigious invitation to the United States has been supported by a $45,000 grant from Creative New Zealand.

The Fellowship will take place from November 2007 to November 2008. Creative New Zealand developed the Choreographic Fellowship for senior artists and previous recipients include Douglas Wright and Michael Parmenter.

5/11/07