“Whāia te iti kahuraki, ki te tuohu koe, me he mauka teitei.” “Seek the treasure you value most dearly, and if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.”

This whakataukī is about perseverance and endurance, and is a central theme for Ōtautahi-born Kahuraki Bronsson-George’s show.

Kahuraki created this show in his third year of the Circus course at Whitireia, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, as a way of exploring his whakapapa and Māoritaka, combining Māori theatre with Circus arts. His inspiration was the show Māui: One Man Against the Gods, by Taki Rua Theatre Company in 2006.

In a show that makes use of dynamic movement, storytelling, te reo Māori in mita Kāi Tahu and projected imagery, Iti Kahuraki has been described as “visceral, heart-warming and important.”