Choreographer, dancer, and video installation artist Louise Potiki-Bryant was named The NZ Listener’s “best new choreographer” in 2003 for her work Te aroha me te mamae presented by Atamira Dance Collective. In 2003 she was supported by Toi Maori Aotearoa as a Toi Maori choreographer. This support lead to the development of the work Ngai Tahu 32 which premiered at the Tempo Festival (2004) in Auckland. This work toured nationally in August 2005.

Potiki-Bryant has choreographed and performed with the Atamira Dance Collective since 2000, creating four new works for the company. Whare Tangata, described as ‘a strong and beautiful work’ in The NZ Listener, Paepae, which was presented at the Auckland Celebration of the Arts 2001, Te aroha me te mamae and Ngai Tahu 32, her most recent work, which was named “Best Contemporary Dance Production” for 2004 by The NZ Listener.

As the Ngai Tahu Artist in Residence at the Otago Poytechnic School of Arts in 2003, Potiki-Bryant produced the installation, performance and film Whakaruruhau - he mihi ke Araiteuru, which will feature in the Pasifika Styles exhibition at the University of Cambridge in 2006.