Wahine toa CLUB WAACK director: ‘At the heart is a story of human resilience’

What makes a great waacking dancer?

Drama, musicality, creativity and individuality according to Prowl Productions creative director and waacking specialist Hayley Walters-Tekahika (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Kahungunu).

Born and raised in South Auckland Walters-Tekahika founded Prowl Productions in 2022 to create and hold space for femme and street dance styles.

Pioneered by the Black and Spanish gay community in Los Angeles during the 1970s, waacking is characterised by arm movements and posing embedded within disco culture amid protests and oppression.

CLUB WAACK pays homage to the art form through a queer Aotearoa lens grounded in community and Walters-Tekahika says audiences will be introduced to a whole new dance culture.

“My co-director Andrew Cornish and I have really put in the work to craft a well-thought-out and absolutely entertaining show filled with a cast of queer, POC (people of colour) and ally creatives,” says Walters-Tekahika.

“The storylines, the characters, the relationships, the waacking - are just fabulous!"

"At the heart of the piece is a story of human resilience, CLUB WAACK promises to be a charged piece that explores the queer and POC experience in both the 70s and today."

Through sharing the street art style in affordable open public classes, warmly inviting especially to POC and queer communities, Prowl Productions is generating an uplifting community movement.

“There’s not a lot of spaces for people who come under a minority umbrella to feel safe and connect and have their stories heard and try something new for the first time and not feel self-conscious,” says Walters-Tekahika.

“Having our communities turn up for us will validate these spaces, voices and stories of minority communities."

"Help us decolonise these white systems and spaces through queer street dance!”

CLUB WAACK​ by Prowl Productions​ is on at Basement Theatre​ from September 12 - 16.

​​CLUB WAACK. ​Image/Instagram