The Pacific Dance Festival will make a vibrant return to South Auckland this June, bringing a powerful and expanded programme that celebrates contemporary Pacific identity in Aotearoa. The festival will gather artists from across the Moana, reaffirming South Auckland's position as the cultural epicentre of the Pacific diaspora.
This year’s event will be hosted across several key community and arts venues, including the Māngere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, Te Oro Music and Arts Centre in Glen Innes, and Toi Tū – Studio One Toi Tū in central Auckland. In a significant extension of its reach, a special presentation will also take place in Kerikeri in July to coincide with the Matariki season, bringing the festival’s artistic vision to Te Taitokerau.
The 2026 programme is a dynamic showcase of Pacific creativity, spanning traditional, contemporary, and street-based dance. It will feature a diverse range of voices, from established cultural leaders to emerging choreographers and youth performers, highlighting the innovation and storytelling prowess within the community. This year also sees the launch of a new visual identity for the festival, created by Ōtara-based designer Jesse Gibson (CocoShakim), which reflects a bold, future-focused Pan-Moana aesthetic.
A declaration of modern Pacific identity
Festival Director Iosefa Enari MNZM says the 2026 festival is a definitive statement about the current state of Pacific artistry in Aotearoa and beyond. The event aims to spotlight the innovation, powerful storytelling, and cultural leadership flourishing within the community, moving beyond traditional perceptions of Pacific performance.
Pacific Dance Festival 2026 is a declaration of who we are now - a diverse, global, future-focused Pacific. Our artists are innovators, storytellers and cultural leaders. This year we honour the full Moana, from Micronesia to Polynesia, and we do it from South Auckland- the home of Pacific creativity.
The diverse lineup features artists with heritage from Wallis & Futuna (ʻUvea), Kiribati, Rotuma, Samoa, Aotearoa, and the Indigenous Pacific diaspora of Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington). This wide representation underscores the festival's commitment to showcasing the full breadth of Pasifika cultures. South Auckland, with its deep-rooted history of Pacific settlement, provides a fitting backdrop for this cultural celebration. The area has long been a hub where culture is not only preserved but also reimagined and pushed into new territories.
This legacy of cultural celebration is part of a wider Auckland story. The city has long been a global centre for Pacific culture, famously hosting the annual Pasifika Festival since 1993, which has grown into the world's largest event of its kind. The Pacific Dance Festival builds on this history, providing a specialised platform for dance practitioners to explore and express the nuances of contemporary identity.
Festival highlights span generations and cultures
The festival will open on 5-6 June at the Māngere Arts Centre with Call to Wallis by acclaimed choreographer Justin Haiu. The powerful contemporary work, which honours ʻUvean identity and ancestral memory, blends street and cultural dance forms to explore themes of belonging and the magnetic pull of home. The performance places a rare and welcome spotlight on the culture of Wallis and Futuna, whose people make up a small but significant community in New Zealand.
On 9 June, the MOANA Showcase will present a series of new, cutting-edge works from Aotearoa’s leading dance institutions, including Unitec – Te Pūkenga School of Dance, the University of Auckland's Dance Studies programme, and the New Zealand School of Dance. This one-night-only event at the Māngere Arts Centre serves as a crucial platform for the next generation of Pacific choreographers and performers to make their mark.
A compelling triple bill on 11 June, also at Māngere Arts Centre, will feature three distinct works exploring themes of identity, memory, and transformation. The evening includes Julia Mage’au Gray's fierce, feminist, Melanesian-led work In the Fale. It will be presented alongside Kamataga (The Beginning) by rising talents Kapieri Samisoni and Antonio Matagi. Completing the trio is Vignette of the Frigate [Bird] by emerging Samoan choreographer Viliamu Yandall, a contemporary piece reflecting on the complex emotional landscape of migration and shifting concepts of home.
Youth and community at the forefront
A key focus of the festival is fostering intergenerational knowledge transfer and empowering youth leadership. This is exemplified by the performance from the Marewen Kiribati Youth Group on 12 June at the Māngere Arts Centre. This performance by Te Rabakau Kiribati Unit from Finlayson Park School is led by educator Erika Taeang and centres on the preservation of language, heritage, and cultural continuity. It provides a vital stage for the Kiribati community, one of the smaller but growing Pacific populations in Auckland, to share its unique culture. This focus on empowering students echoes the work of local educators who champion grassroots community development through school programmes.
From Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Shifting Centre - The Circle, directed by Sefa Tunupopo, will bring its high-energy performance to the festival from 15-16 June. First seen at the Kia Mau Festival in 2025, this contemporary Indigenous work examines how communities can support one another through acts of collective liberation and celebration. From Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Shifting Centre - The Circle, directed by Sefa Tunupopo, will bring its high-energy performance to the festival from 15-16 June. First seen at the Kia Mau Festival in 2025, this contemporary Indigenous work examines how communities can support one another through acts of collective liberation and celebration. After this, residents can also look forward to the upcoming Muay Thai trials.
The Pacific Dance Festival continues to be a cornerstone of the nation's cultural calendar. As the national arts development agency Creative New Zealand often notes, supporting and showcasing the diversity of New Zealand's artists is essential for a vibrant, healthy, and connected society. With its expanded programme and deep community connections, the 2026 festival is set to be a powerful expression of where Pacific Aotearoa is today.
The full programme and booking information can be found on the official Pacific Dance NZ website.
