Born From Culture — James Mitchal Fenwick

The Georgia chapter is properly made. Eighty dancers from the Apkhazeti Ensemble at the Chronicle of Georgia, choreography by Bachana Chanturia, shot in 67km/h winds across three costume changes, and it looks like nothing else in that feed. The Aotearoa chapter followed last month, built on haka, waiata and whakapapa. Fenwick credits the ensembles and the choreographers by name, which is more than most people who fly in do. But the tagline is ancient tradition, modern eyes, and the eyes are always his. A format that treats each culture as the next chapter will eventually spend the thing that made the first one good. Come back when a chapter is directed by someone from the place it is about.