Performed exquisitely by third year cohorts from New Zealand School of Dance and University of Auckland’s Dance Studies, these brazen, visceral and rebellious dance works explore what it means to be watched, to perform and to make your way in this unstable world.

Don’t miss the future of contemporary dance in Aotearoa, turned up loud.

SHOWPONY

Choreographed by Matte Roffe, SHOWPONY is a bold, theatrical contemporary dance work created through the New Zealand School of Dance. Originally made on the 2024 second and third-year students, the work has since been developed with the current 2026 third-year cohort, whose physicality, experiences and perspectives bring new layers to the work.

Part spectacle, part confession, SHOWPONY pulls at the polished surface of performance and asks what sits underneath. It looks at the performer as both athlete and offering: trained to entertain, impress, hold the room and keep going long after the body has begun to say no. Beneath the humour, precision, glitter and momentum is a deeper question around validation, endurance, self-worth and the cost of constantly proving yourself.

As the work evolves with the 2026 students, it gathers new layers of meaning through their individual experiences and collective presence. SHOWPONY honours the intensity, absurdity and vulnerability of performance, while asking what it really means to be seen.

What does it mean to be a performer? What does it cost to keep giving? And what remains when the lights drop, the audience leaves and the applause fades?