Moana magic: Pacific Dance Festival 2026 opens in Māngere with biggest line-up yet

The cultural heart of South Auckland is set to come alive tonight as the Pacific Dance Festival 2026 opens in Māngere, launching a two-and-a-half-week celebration of Pasifika movement, story and identity.

The festival returns to venues across Tāmaki Makaurau including Māngere Arts Centre | Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, Te Oro Music and Arts Centre, and Studio One Toi Tū before heading north to Kerikeri for a special Matariki programme.

Iosefa Enari MNZM, the Festival Director, tells Pacific Days that this year’s event comes at a time when communities are looking for connection and representation more than ever.

“We're just here to serve our community and to get their shows on the road across Aotearoa and abroad,” he says. “Across the Pacific and Australia, which are our big markets at the moment.

Enari says the 2026 festival is the most diverse in its 13-year history.

“We have works from Papua New Guinea artists, Uvean artists from Wallis and Futuna, Rotuman, and Niuean artists,” he says.

“One of my personal favourites is the Karibati youth dance, Marewen. I'm really delighted to have the Karibati community as part of this year's line-up.”

Opening the festival tonight, is Call to Wallis by acclaimed Uvea choreographer Justin Haiu.

He blends contemporary movement, street dance, and traditional forms to honour Uvean identity and ancestral memory while also reflecting the wider Pacific diaspora experience.

Watch Iosefa Enari's full interview below.

Audiences can expect a packed programme including a triple bill on 11 June.

This includes In the Fale, a feminist, Melanesian-led work by Julia Mage’au Gray, alongside Kamataga (The Beginning) by Rotuman artists Kapieri Samisoni and Antonio Matagi, and Viliamu Yandall’s 10-dancer ensemble, Vignette of the Frigate [Bird].

On 12 June, the Marewen Kiribati Youth Group will bring their cultural pride to the stage. The group is made up of students from Finlayson Park School, home to the only Kiribati bilingual unit in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Enari says seeing young audiences at matinee shows has proven to him how strong the appetite for Pacific culture in schools.

“It just sort of taught me the importance of our culture,” he says. “Of our Pacific culture for schools and allowing schools to bring their children to shows so they can see Pacific culture on stage.”

Rotuman show, Kamataga (The Beginning). Photo/Supplied

Alongside performances, the festival also runs community workshops including Sāmoan Language Week activities and well-being sessions, continuing its role as a space for learning and connection too.

The festival will travel to Wellington and Invercargill, but Enari says his long-term dream is to take the event further into regional communities, especially places with growing Pacific youth populations like Northland.

mgu0-The 2023 Census shows Northland’s Pacific population has grown by 25.8 per cent in five years, with a strong proportion of young people.

“Our intention is to continue to grow the festival and take it to places that can't afford to come here to our beautiful city, Auckland,” Enari said.

As opening begins in Māngere, the message from organisers is simple: come and support the creativity, talent and spirit of the Moana. It promises to be nothing short of “seki” (awesome).

Full Pacific Dance Festival programme here.