The Royal New Zealand Ballet celebrates its platinum anniversary this month with Lightscapes. Over the decades, Christchurch’s community of studios and teachers has produced many a company member. One of these is former principal dancer Abigail Boyle. After a false start to her dancing career and some time off, Abigail came to Christchurch to study under Sherilyn Kennedy at the city’s acclaimed International Ballet Company. Through that, in 2006, she was part of a group of South Island dancers invited to spend a week in Wellington at the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s rehearsal studios. That’s when she was spotted by then Artistic Director Gary Harris and invited to join the national company. Looking back on her 13 years with the company, Abigail remembers the family feel, the lack of hierarchy and the camaraderie. Everyone had their own superpower or speciality. Others were better at this or that – leaps, fluidity, artistry....

After a three-year hiatus, New Zealand Fashion Week is back in August as big and bold as ever to again champion local and international designers and showcase their collections. Leading the charge from New Zealand designers is Kharl WiRepa. The haute couture wunderkind from Rotorua has already taken on London and Paris fashion weeks and was the first Māori designer to be featured in Vogue. Kharl will present two shows during New Zealand Fashion Week: Kahuria, as it is now named. His luxurious designs reflect his cultural heritage while also pushing boundaries. His affluent and fashionable clients seek elegance and style, often with a bit of shock factor. All New Zealand-made, each garment will showcase the designer’s vision. There are plenty of opportunities for the public to be part of the action as Auckland’s Viaduct Events Centre is transformed into an immersive fashion hub from 29 August – 2 September. More...

For Kiran Dass, programme lead for WORD Christchurch 2023, the future is bright for writing and publishing in Aotearoa New Zealand. Kiran is part of a new team behind Ōtautahi’s premier literary festival, which features over 130 writers, thinkers, poets and performers and over 80 events from 23 – 27 August. Venues include The Piano, Tūranga, The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora, and Little Andromeda. Kiran sees the literary talent in Aotearoa going from strength to strength. Small, independent publishing houses are on the rise, and the bigger publishers are catching on to fresh and exciting voices that tap into the things New Zealanders care about. The voices and stories being championed and published are also increasingly diverse. Capturing all that in the WORD Christchurch programme has been a steep learning curve for the new crew. The result is a programme that strikes a balance between tried-and-true gems and fresh and...

A retrospective exhibition honouring one of New Zealand’s most decorated and best-loved contemporary artists, Dame Robin White, opens this weekend at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. In the last of four shows across Aotearoa, Robin White: Te Whanaketanga | Something is Happening Here will showcase about 50 iconic, diverse and innovative works. The exhibition, developed by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, profiles White’s celebrated 50-year career in contemporary art and demonstrates the cultural significance of her work in Aotearoa and beyond. Co-curators Dr Sarah Farrar, Head of Curatorial and Learning at Auckland Art Gallery, and Dr Nina Tonga, Curator Contemporary Art at Te Papa, sourced the collection from public art galleries and generous private owners throughout the country. Dr Farrar says White’s paintings of the 1970s drew acclaim for their stylised depiction of everyday, small-town Kiwi life. “Inspired by...

It really is 20 years since Bic Runga released Beautiful Collision. She tells Cityscape about its genesis, and how much she is looking forward to bringing the songs back to Christchurch in an anniversary concert. Performing Beautiful Collision in Ōtautahi will bring back a flood of memories no doubt? Yes it's always really fun to play Christchurch and see old friends. I haven't lived there since the late ‘90s but I still look forward to being there, it does feel like coming home. What are your recollections of putting the album together? Making Beautiful Collision was a good time in my life. I wasn't sure what to do with myself after high school. I failed to get into art school so I got a job at the CD Store in Cashel Mall. After a year I moved to Auckland and pursued music instead. My first album, Drive, did well – it...

For Christchurch band Pieces of Molly, the last few years have been a whirlwind of recording, performing and rubbing shoulders with their idols backstage. It’s been a blast. Forget that warning about meeting your heroes. The Datsuns were awesome, and lovely guys as well, says singer and guitarist Ewen. So were Shihad when Pieces of Molly opened for them at the James Hay Theatre in September. And Head Like A Hole. And US band Sasquatch, who they supported on an Australia and New Zealand tour last year. In fact, says other guitarist Sam, all the musicians they have met have treated the band like friends and been really generous in sharing their knowledge. Pieces of Molly came together when Ewen, Doug and Sam met at Jazz School. There was a break while Ewen was overseas, then the band reformed when he got back. The current lineup has been around for six...

The doors are open on the reshuffle of Christchurch’s gallery and museum spaces, with a Christchurch Art Gallery and Canterbury Museum collab showing at the art gallery and an exhibition at the Centre of Contemporary Art marking that gallery’s reopening. As we reported in January, Canterbury Museum has closed its doors for five years for a major redevelopment. A decision to open a pop-up museum on the first floor of the nearby CoCA building has enabled that gallery to reopen on the ground floor after prohibitive costs for upgrades to its 1968 modernist building shut the doors in May last year. While we await the museum pop-up’s opening at CoCA, the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū exhibition Ship Nails and Tail Feathers beautifully illustrates the potential for collaboration between gallery and museum. Taonga (treasures) from each collection have been handpicked by curators from both institutions, making for an unusual...

It’s our newest public holiday, unique to Aotearoa. Matariki marks the start of the new year in these islands, the start of a new growing cycle and time to remember, celebrate and look to the future. The star cluster Matariki rises during Pipiri (June/July) and becomes visible before sunrise as a faint sparkle of tiny dots above the north-east horizon. As Polynesian settlers adapted to their new land of Aotearoa, they realised that the rising of the star cluster signalled the start of a new growing cycle. How the stars looked also carried a signal – clear bright stars are a good omen, while hazy stars foretell a cold, harsh winter. When the cluster disappears in April/May, it is time to preserve crops for the winter season. Matariki is also said to mark the moment the spirits of those who have died over the past year become stars. After centuries of...

After 10 years learning his craft on the international opera scene, Kiwi baritone Julien Van Mellaerts is home for the role of Guglielmo in New Zealand Opera's Cosi fan Tutte. He tells Cityscape he’s having a ball in rehearsals and also reacquainting himself with steak and cheese pies. With your growing international success, how often do you get to perform at home these days? Sadly not as much as I would like. Luckily I was back last September and October for the At the World's Edge Festival in Central Otago, now for a couple of months with New Zealand Opera and again later this year for Wozzeck with Orchestra Wellington, but that is out of the ordinary, haha. I hadn’t been home for 3½ years before last September, and in 10 years abroad now I think I’ve only been back several times. But I am hoping to change that! Take us...

Not everyone made sourdough during the lockdown. Some of us explored the glorious world of slow cooking and revelled in discovering the deep, rich flavours of often overlooked cuts of meat made tender by time. We’re converts now, looking forward to the cooler months when we can get the tools out. It helps that there’s such a wonderful range of options, from high-tech standalone slow cookers to heritage cast-iron Dutch ovens guaranteed for three generations. Then there’s the Le Creuset range, coveted by cooks since ages ago for their quality and also their good looks. Hearts and pumpkins have joined the range of classic round casseroles. So let’s get started! Here’s a delicious slow-cook recipe to warm up your winter. Bon appétit! The Middle East meets the Canterbury Plains in this mouth-watering Le Creuset recipe. Serves 4 - 6. Ingredients olive oil4 small lamb shanks, trimmedsalt and pepper20g store-bought Moroccan or...

Nathan Anthony fell back in love with slow cooking during the lockdown. He even set up a food blog, Bored of Lunch, to spread the word about the joys of the Dutch oven. Out of that came Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Slow Cooker Book, packed with dishes from pastas and risottos to curries and family favourites. How did you fall in love with slow cooking? My mum always had one growing up and the food always tasted great – delicious stews and curries. When I went to university I started using my slow cooker because it was easy. It allowed me to put my dinner on to cook in the morning, go to lectures and complete my university work without fighting with my housemates to use the hob. Plus it’s healthier and tasty, no need for oil. Sounds like convenience played a big part? Definitely. Even after finishing university working...

From public to private, large to intimate, Ōtautahi Christchurch  is well served by its selection of art galleries. Take a tour with us around 10 of the best. 01 - CHRISTCHURCH ART GALLERY TE PUNA O WAIWHETŪ // Start with the city’s public gallery, an impressive glass-fronted building in Montreal Street where you’ll find everything from the classics to contemporary works. christchurchartgallery.org.nz 02 - FIKSATE // The bridge between the streets and the galleries, Fiksate is an urban art hub unlike anything else in the country. It’s gritty, it’s on the edge, and it’s just a real cool space to be in. fiksate.com 03 - WINDSOR GALLERY // Having been in the business for over 100 years, Windsor Gallery has kept up with the times and sports an excellent collection of contemporary original works from over 30 artists, including Joel Hart, Andris Apse, Anneke Bester and Svetlana Orinko. windsorgallery.co.nz 04 -...

If anyone can be called a ‘Christchurch writer’, it’s Carl Nixon. He’s never felt the need to look elsewhere than Ōtautahi and the South Island for either setting or characters. He talks to Cityscape about his new novel, The Waters, which traces 40 years in the life of a Christchurch family. You do like the adage ‘Write what you know’, don’t you? I think writing what you know allows me to get all the details right, which makes the writing feel authentic. Also in order to sustain a long-term writing project you need to feel passionate about it. Writing about places and people that you're familiar with is, for me anyway, more motivating than a completely imagined world. Having said that, my third novel, The Virgin and the Whale, was a historical story set in 1920, which involved a lot of research. How long has this story been bubbling away? What...

Is it just us or is central Christchurch looking more and more like Paris, London or Milan? Seeing a dog in your local café or restaurant is becoming commonplace. We have so many dog-friendly businesses now, it would be easier to list the unfriendly ones. But what’s the view like from the other side of the counter? And what do the dogs think? A new Food Act in 2014 removed prohibitions on animals being allowed in food premises. Businesses can now choose to let dogs into customer dining areas as long as they manage any risks to food safety. In Christchurch the council has also got on board. A new dog control policy and bylaw in 2016 replaced a mishmash of regulations with one easy-to-understand rule for the entire central city – dogs on a leash are good to go. The change allows leashed dogs in Cathedral Square, Victoria Square, New...

Theatre director Justin Lewis happily admits to sometimes making life difficult for himself. And for his creative partner of 25 years, Jacob Rajan. Why else write a play featuring a choir that changes every night and whose members don’t know the plot? It’s not a theatrical conceit designed to show how clever the Indian Ink collaborators are. That’s beyond doubt anyway. No, for Justin, the concept is central to how their new play works. The audience gets to see how the chorus members respond in real time to what’s going on around them, remembering that they have not seen the play before. The play in question is Dirty Work: An Ode to Joy, No.11 to come out of the Indian Ink partnership, which started with a roar 25 years ago with Krishnan’s Dairy. That play is still our most successful independent show. It has toured nationally and internationally, several times to...

Breakout indie musician Jazmine Mary is bringing songs of hope in an often cruel world to Christchurch after releasing a second album, Dog. Jazmine Mary is one persona of Jazmine Rose Phillips, a complex artist who defies categorisation and says simply ‘It’s all me’. You seem to keenly reject explaining yourself or your art. Why is that? Explanations are for people on trial. I make music and art as myself. All I know is how to do and be that. The reason I make music and art is to connect in a space outside of words and all the fake little things we build around us. It is a knowing and a need. I don't explain it because I cannot and I wouldn't dare. Where does ‘Dog’ fit in your development as a musician? Big departure or continuation? It is all one big continuation. Hard to depart from something that is...

More and more research is pointing to time in nature being good for us. Why is that? Not sure, but Catherine Knight has some really interesting theories. Like many of us these days, Catherine Knight often works from home. When she does and she feels like a break, it’s a short walk to a riverside track through replanted native bush and a remnant stand of kohekohe. Birdsong filters through the silence. “Everyone should have a place nearby like that,” she says. The observation is both personal and professional. Dr Catherine Knight is a Senior Associate at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, and Honorary Research Associate at the School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University. In her book Nature and Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand: Exploring the connection, Catherine argues for the restoration of “neighbourhood nature” – places that all New Zealanders can freely access,...

Maisey Rika is bringing her Matariki-inspired songs to Ōtautahi as part of the city’s celestial celebrations. A pioneer in what has become an explosion in Te Reo music-making, Maisey reflects on a career guided by her love of waiata. Your photo is very striking. Can you tell us about the shoot? Thank you very much. I think it’s the setting. I grew up with Abe Mora, who took the photo. The red korowai is from Toi Māori. The black and white dress is from Rotorua designer Adrienne Whitewood. The hei tiki was carved by Rikki Peters. That was the first photoshoot since receiving my moko kauae. The photo is taken by one of our waahi tapu (sacred places) here in Whakataane, Te Ana o Muriwai (Muriwai’s Cave). I love the exposed roots of the old pōhutukawa tree and the green kawakawa plants that surround this site. The red, black and white...