Pacific Dance Festival 2026 - A bold, future-focused celebration of Pacific creativity
Mauri!
The 2026 season marks a major evolution for Pacific Dance NZ as it unveils a reimagined Festival — a bold, future‑focused celebration of Pacific creativity in Aotearoa. This year’s festival arrives at a time when the world feels fractured and uncertain, yet Pacific creativity continues to offer connection, identity, and hope. The 2026 programme reflects this moment with a bold, design‑led, future‑focused lineup that reimagines what a Pacific arts festival can be. It is contemporary, ambitious, and unapologetically pan‑Moana — spanning Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia — and it centres the communities who shape the cultural identity of modern New Zealand.
Returning to South Auckland, the cultural heart of the Pacific diaspora, the festival expands across Māngere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, Toi Tū (Auckland City), Te Oro (Glen Innes), and Kerikeri for a special Matariki season. This year’s programme signals a decisive shift for Pacific Dance NZ: elevating smaller island nations often left out of mainstream narratives, championing emerging Indigenous voices, and positioning Pacific dance as a site of innovation, cultural leadership, and future‑building. In a global climate marked by division, the festival stands as a reminder of the power of Pacific identity — expansive, interwoven, and evolving.
A Pan‑Moana Lineup Rooted in Identity, Innovation and Representation
The 2026 festival brings together artists from Wallis & Futuna (ʻUvea), Kiribati, Rotuma, Samoa, Aotearoa, and the Indigenous Pacific diaspora of Te Whanganui‑a‑Tara. This breadth is intentional — a recognition that Pacific identity in Aotearoa is not singular, but a constellation of cultures, languages, and histories. The festival’s new visual identity, created by Ōtara designer Jesse Gibson (CocoShakim), reflects this evolution through a contemporary, futurist design language that anchors the season. Festival Director Iosefa Enari MNZM says:
“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.”
Image credit: Marewen Kiribati Youth
2026 FESTIVAL PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
CALL TO WALLIS — Justin Haiu
A powerful contemporary work honouring ʻUvean identity and ancestral memory.
5–6 June | Māngere Arts Centre
MOANA SHOWCASE
Aotearoa’s leading dance institutions present new Pacific works.
9 June | Māngere Arts Centre
TRIPLE BILL : KAMATAGA × IN THE FALE x VIGNETTE OF THE FRIGATE (BIRD)
Three contemporary works exploring identity, beginnings, and Melanesian womanhood.
11 June | Māngere Arts Centre
MAREWEN KIRIBATI YOUTH GROUP — Full Show
A vibrant celebration of Kiribati culture and youth leadership.
12 June | Māngere Arts Centre
SHIFTING CENTRE — THE CIRCLE
Explosive contemporary dance from Wellington’s Indigenous collective.
15–16 June | Māngere Arts Centre
SAMOAN LANGUAGE WEEK WORKSHOPS
Community movement workshops celebrating Gagana Samoa.
4 - 5 June | Toi Tū & Te Oro
MATARIKI PERFORMANCE — CALL TO WALLIS
A special Matariki season performance in Te Tai Tokerau.
12 July | Kerikeri
Image credit: Shifting Centre - The Circle
A Call to Aotearoa: Celebrate Pacific Creativity in a Changing World
In a global moment marked by division and uncertainty, Pacific Dance Festival 2026 offers something rare — a space of connection, joy, identity, and cultural pride. These works remind us of who we are, what we carry, and how movement can bring communities together across generations and islands.
The festival invites Aotearoa to show up for Pacific artists, support the creative sector, and celebrate the uniqueness Pacific communities bring to the cultural landscape.
Gather your friends, bring your whānau, and be part of a festival that reflects the future of Aotearoa — bold, diverse, and proudly Pacific.
Tickets on sale from 1st May, 12pm and full programme details will be available at pacificdance.org.nz
