DOI: 10.1017/tmd.2026.10048 ISSN: 3033-4233
Common Ground: Sharing Diverse Ceremony from Australia and Japan in Aotearoa New Zealand
Georgia Curran, Reuben Brown, Jesse Hodgetts, Marin NaruseAbstract
This article describes a ceremonial performance in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand of unique Indigenous song traditions from Australia and Amami Islands, Japan. We overview histories of sharing these traditions, provide background to the groups and their ceremonial song-dance traditions, and analyse the significance of those that they chose to perform through reflections from the ceremony leaders and performers. We argue that shared performances of Indigenous song and dance, like the Wellington Ceremony, reawaken and deepen connections between groups tracing back to Deep Time and in doing so strengthen community efforts to sustain important song-dance traditions.