Christchurch, New Zealand - April 18-21 2025

David McMicken was invited to attend and present at the 2025 Seasoned Biannual Dance Symposium - Maturity in Movement, held in Christchurch (Ōtautahi). This symposium is for the older adults. The three days were filled with classes and workshops, conversations and forums, sharing of skills and ideas, and concluded with a performance evening - Bloom
The symposium had a very strong current of Maori culture throughout and the chance to share what David had done in the First Nations Space with people from New Zealand was excellent.

It was a great opportunity to benchmark our work with older adults against another country and culture.   

Words From David McMicken
Workshop 1. Va(porous) - I was easily able to facilitate 40 people in a gymnasium through some very guided and structured improvisational scores. This was affirming to me. It was a joy to see so many mature movers tackling some complex tasks
Workshop 2. Teaching Grey Panther Repertoire. 35participants. I chose to teach a work that had a very strong connection to Darwin and the buildup. I did this to impart a bit of cultural exchange. The workshop also offered a chance to perform the work the next night at Bloom performance night. 25 participants chose to perform.
For the workshops I ran, many people commented on how they appreciated how the activity was appropriate to their stage in life as dancers. The Seasoned Maturity in Movement set its starting age as 35, whereas we set our age at 60. There were many more participants in the 50-80 bracket.

My favourite workshop that I partook in was “Māori Embodied Knowledge in Dance Education” run by Rawiri Hindle  (Victoria University of Wellington, School of Educational Psychology and Pedagogy). Rawiri was an excellent facilitator, and to see the strength of Maori Culture that he carried in his body and voice was exhilarating. There was such love of Maori culture in the symposium, and to see an extended group of diverse dancers revelling in this knowledge was exciting. I wish for that In Australia, although the one language helps.
An important thing I will carry with me and into my practice is a renewed vigour for First Nations-led activity. My connection with Rawiri was strengthened by the 35 years of work I have done in remote and Indigenous contexts in the Northern Territory. He will remain a friend, and we have agreed to maintain contact.

New Zealand has a lot of older trained dancers that are simply not present in Darwin, so to be able to push my work both as a facilitator and participant was important. The professional development I gained just in this area alone was important. There are several older adult groups, and one in particular, Crows Feet Collective, wants to further exchange with Tracks and the Grey Panthers. We will begin by sharing repertoire remotely.
Given we have an aging population in Australia, alongside a general ageist sense that they are a burden on society, it was joyous to affirm the role of the Elder, and to see how dance provides a creative, physical, community basis for aging well. Bodies are universal.
Overall

It was an honour to be asked to work at the Seasoned Symposium Maturity in Movement, held in Christchurch, New Zealand, over Easter. To be in the space with 120 vibrant mature movers, to partake in dance classes, workshops and conversations, to be able to facilitate 2 workshops, including teaching repertoire from the Grey Panthers, and then to perform in Bloom on the final night with 30 Seasoned Dancers, so inspiring. And to see how entrenched the Maori Culture was throughout the event, especially through Rawiri Hindle. Thanks to the organisers, especially Tracy Scott and Fleur de Thier. David