* Welcome to Dream Catchers, a series about New Zealanders living in the United Kingdom. I'm Hilary Timmins. This is a series that will enthral and inspire us as we meet some of those Kiwis living their dreams and taking a little piece of New Zealand to the rest of the world. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018 A melting pot of galleries, theatres and museums, London is one of the world's most culturally influential cities. And with Europe on its doorstep, it has become a cultural tapestry of diversity. Over the last 50 years, one group has become an integral part of New Zealand life in the United Kingdom and given us a unique international identity ` Ngati Ranana. Ngati Ranana are the United Kingdom's foremost kapa haka group. Led by their founding member and honorary president, Esther Kerr-Jessop, they've come a long way from humble beginnings in a small London flat in Putney. We didn't consciously start a Maori club; it just happened. When I first arrived, there would've been about five, five Maori people, that we knew one another. And we didn't know any others. (GROUP SING WAIATA) Growing up on a large sheep farm near Torere in the Bay of Plenty, Esther's first experiences of kapa haka began in the playground at primary school. Finishing her schooling, she went on to study radiography in Auckland before making the decision to travel to London. I think, um,... growing up in New Zealand, the way we were growing up ` because, you know, I grew up in a bilingual family ` going round to the pa and having the Maori culture side, I think I was just curious about my father's side. Esther left New Zealand on board the Rangitoto just before Christmas 1957. It would be an emotional farewell, with the Auckland Maori Club singing wharfside. This haunting send-off inspired fellow passengers to encourage Esther and her girlfriend to start a kapa haka group on board ship. And after arriving in London, their small Putney flat would soon become known as Putney Pa. We started gathering at our flat, and we had one or two phone calls from people on board ship, who had said, 'Look, can we get together and just sing some of those songs we were singing on the boat?' And so the answer was yes. And, uh... And word just went out to other New Zealanders. 'Come along. We'll make it a Tuesday night. And,... you know, if you meet other people ` it doesn't matter what nationality they are ` if they're interested in Maori culture ` singing and that ` bring them along. As the group's size and reputation grew, so did the requests to perform, with one particularly large request to represent New Zealand at the Albert Hall. Then, of course, only two of us had Maori kakahu. Um, and so I put a notice up in New Zealand House, asking for Maori piupiu, Maori skirts. And they had lots of replies ` all over London. Travelled all over London; not one was a Maori piupiu. Hawaiian skirts, Tahitian skirts... (CHUCKLES) And, um,... we didn't have time for people to write home for... for kakahu. So... we had Selwyn Wilson, who was over from Elam School of Art in Auckland, and he came up with this idea. He said, 'Look, I've got a feeling we can make piupiu out of milk straws.' And then Selwyn had a great big brush, and he painted a Maori design. I mean, this is, you know` It's quite sacrilegious when I think of it now. And, um... But when you moved it like that, it just moved like a piupiu. (GROUP PERFORM WAIATA) Following their success at Albert Hall, Ngati Ranana were soon offered a permanent space in New Zealand House, adding cultural gravitas to all our commemorative occasions and celebrations. (GROUP PERFORM ENERGETICALLY) In 1992, Esther was honoured with a Queen's Service Medal for her contribution to Ngati Ranana. She has also been a recipient of the Sir Kingi Ihaka award, a UK New Zealander of the Year and, most recently, received a lifetime achievement acknowledgement from the London New Zealand Society. ALL CHANT: # A, upane, ka upane, whiti te ra! # Hi! # I think there are several reasons why Ngati Ranana is important and why` in fact, why it has just carried on ` it's continued ` because we don't... consciously... keep it going. It keeps itself going. So there is obviously a need for it. And I know` To say 'a home away from home'. But it really is a home away from home. It's somewhere where people can leave New Zealand and come and feel safe. When Esther boarded the Rangitoto, bound for England, she intended to stay only two years. Instead, she married, raised three children of her own here and helped create a family and a home in the United Kingdom for us all. ALL SING: # Ka mate ahau... # I te aroha e. # Um, I feel a Kiwi. I feel I'm a New Zealander. I feel I'm from here, because of my dad. Um... I just feel me, you know? It's... And I'm fiercely proud of... every part of me. (GROUP FINISH WAIATA) * (RELAXED MUSIC) London's Southbank is a hub of arts and culture, attracting millions of visitors every year. This vibrant destination is home to many of the world's most prestigious arts organisations, including one of the most innovative dance companies of the 20th century. Rambert is one of the oldest contemporary dance companies in the UK. And leading it into the future is New Zealander Mark Baldwin. I started as artistic director of Rambert in November of,... um, 2002. And I've been here ever since. Uh, the thing about taking on the directorship of Rambert at that time is that we were given this land, this piece of land on Southbank, and then it was my job to not only run the company and be artistic director ` which means I choose the work. I choose the dancers. I choose the choreographers. Um, I help choose the composers and the music. I help choose the designers. And I... spearheaded the capital campaign to build this incredible building, which is for the whole dance sector, not just for Rambert, the company of 22 dancers. (DARK, MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYS) It's about helping young people develop their choreographic skills. It's about, you know, working with young composers so they get a really educated notion of what it's like to write for dance. As a student, Mark received a scholarship to Elam School of Art in Auckland, but it was dance that was his passion, and he became a founding member of New Zealand's leading contemporary dance company, Limbs, before being invited to join the Royal New Zealand Ballet. But because I was at art school, I think I was always focused on this idea that I would be a choreographer, and I ended up choreographing quite a few of the early Limbs pieces. Mark would later travel to the to do an international course for choreographers and composers. It was during this time he would have his first introduction to Rambert when he was asked to perform in The Tempest. In 1987, he would join them permanently and left eventually to set up his own successful dance company in 1992. Since his return to Rambert as artistic director, Mark has won the company two Olivier Awards ` the theatre world's highest accolade ` and in 2016, he received an OBE for his contribution to dance. And I think, you know, I came with different ideas, which is always good for a company that's, you know, 90 years old now. The company was very white when I joined. We have lots of dancers from black and ethnic minority backgrounds, which is great for me, cos I'm half-Fijian. We've got two dancers who were in the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Lucy Balfour, the Kiwi from Christchurch, and she's actually brought something really different. She's often a favourite with audiences. She's very strong-looking. She's very musical. She was a principal in the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and so she's hugely experienced. She's wonderfully focused. She can concentrate. She's, as I said, extremely musical. The dancers here are very very technical and athletic, because we don't know what the choreographers are going to ask them. But we need them to be fit. We need them to train in two different techniques, classical ballet and contemporary dance ` contemporary dance to make sure the torso is really active, and classical ballet for the sort of geometry and refined... When we mix those two together, you get this incredible physical attack with ballet from the hips down and contemporary from the hips up. (ORCHESTRA PLAY CLASSICAL MUSIC) There's a lot of competition in London, especially at our theatre at Sadler's Wells. The whole time, I'm looking for something which is accessible and also something that takes the art form in a new... direction. The thing is to believe in yourself, and I think Kiwis are very good at that. And I nurture that within the dancers. That's the message I can give ` Whatever it is you're doing, just go for it and believe in yourself and see what happens. Next up, we meet the Kiwi in charge of festivals at one of the world's most recognisable events centres. * (MUSIC BUILDS) Originally called the Millennium Dome, London's O2 is one of the United Kingdom's most recognisable landmarks. Built to celebrate the beginning of the third millennium, its 12 yellow support towers represent each month of the year and hour on the clock. Rebranded as the O2, it reopened its doors as an entertainment venue in 2007 and now boasts the world's busiest music arena. Its festival and events director is New Zealander Milly Olykan. So, um, we're here in the O2, and it is a venue for hire, and promoters are hiring this venue most nights of the week. What we do as a company is we're like, 'Well, we want to put on our own shows as well,' and we can instead use the entire venue ` not just the arena but all of our little bars and restaurants and cinemas and things that we have here ` to create festivals. So what I do is I basically promote and produce exclusively for this building, the O2. And the point of difference is that we're putting on festivals, and the big, kind of, famous and successful one that we've been doing is a country music festival, Country to Country. Country to Country has become the biggest country musical festival in the UK, attracting more than 80,000 people over three days. Milly is also on the board of the Country Music Association of America, which is made up of 75 of the most powerful and influential industry members in country music. I'm from the country. I basically grew up milking a house cow and living in a very remote part of New Zealand in the South Island, near Tai Tapu, and going to a school with 50 kids in it. Yeah, it was a pretty rural upbringing. It was fantastic. Milly's first job in New Zealand was as a stage manager at Dunedin's Fortune Theatre. Moving to Auckland, she worked for New Zealand Musician Magazine, was event coordinator at the St James Theatre and started managing Kiwi band The Brunettes. I really felt like they had a chance, at that time, of... going somewhere. They were very cool, and there was a new kind of guitar sound and '60s girl group vibes going on. So I was managing them, and I sent their CD to everybody in the world. Milly's belief paid off, and the band was invited to tour America with The Shins. (THE BRUNETTES' 'BRUNETTES AGAINST BUBBLEGUM YOUTH') For me, it was a massive undertaking. I was driving, like, sometimes 15 hours. They were doing a show. I was packing up the van, selling the merch, putting them back in, driving some more sometimes, staying and kicking them out of bed in the morning. It was like that all the time. So it was exciting. It was exhausting. But it was, like,... amazing. # B-A... # B-Y. # I love to call you, # baby. It gave me a lot of great experience that I've been able to put into my career. # My sugar, # my honey. # Don't care if it sounds cliche. The band went on to tour America five times before coming to London, where Milly would decide to stay. And despite her experience, she had to start from scratch to break into the competitive music industry here, eventually finding work at a classical music company, where she quickly identified they weren't making the most of one of their festivals in Italy. Gave me an opportunity to develop some stuff, and I put on wine tastings and cooking demonstrations and literary walks and a little film festival within the festival, and that really brought out the whole festival element. And so I think I probably had the skill set at that point just to... and the confidence, I guess, just to try it and see how it would go, and it went really well. And I think, when you work for someone as well, they do want... they do want to hear about your ideas. Like, if you've got good ideas, people like it. If you've got good ideas and enthusiasm and passion, people do like that. And I think they were just like, 'Well, if you think this can work, do it.' And it was great. And it was at one of those festivals that Robert Redford was a guest, and I had this little film programme going, and I think he and I had a really nice connection, and I think he liked what he saw as well. And that gave me an opportunity to work on his festival when he brought it to London, which was Sundance London. I like being here. I get to enjoy the festival maybe a little bit more here. That was in 2012, and it was working with Robert Redford on Sundance London that first brought Milly into working for the O2, producing its annual festivals and developing new content. I like to keep doing things that are new and creative. I don't wanna just keep churning out the same thing. I mean, I really do believe in being passionate. I think... You know, I have to obviously learn the business as well, and there's some things that I'm better at than others, and I think... I think... self-belief and following through with what you really` what you're interested in and what you really believe ` that is what drives me. # ...the spaceship, # I know it must be kismet. (MUSIC CONTINUES) And I had big dreams as a Kiwi kid. I always had big dreams. (CHUCKLES) London's Guildhall School of Drama has produced a roll call of famous acting talent, including Daniel Craig, Damian Lewis, Lily James, Michelle Dockery and Ewan McGregor. And all of them have had one New Zealander in common ` Professor Ken Rea. So, what I'm training is the imagination ` how do you find an imagination that is... fresh and lively... and unexpected? So that actors can go out creating a sense of danger. You know, I have what I sometimes call a vintage year. Sometimes, you can sort of tell it. It's interesting about the chemistry of groups that when you find someone like, say, Orlando Bloom ` he became very famous ` but if you look at the photo sheet of his year group, he wasn't the only one. There were other people. That year group produced three international movie stars. So there's something about the chemistry of the energy where they challenge each other and make it exciting for each other, where it's just not cool to be mediocre. I was very interested in the fact that, of all the people` Maybe I've taught 1000 people here at Guildhall, and a good handful of those people have achieved international fame ` people like Ewan McGregor, Daniel Craig, Orlando Bloom,... Hayley Atwell, um,... Joseph Fiennes. You know, I could go on. Damian Lewis. So what were they doing in my classes and the others that the rest were not? And what could I do to help increase that number? So that set me to thinking, 'What are the qualities of an actor who really stands out? 'And... what can I do in my teaching that brings out that quality?' So those three things ` gravitas, presence, charisma ` they're the kind of holy grails that everyone wants a piece of. You must believe in yourself. You must be prepared to take risks. Accept failure as a necessary step towards success, because if you think, 'Oh, I've gotta get it right all the time,' it will lead you to safe choices, and that won't lead to anything exciting. We need to find a way to reproduce the imperfections of normal human beings. And it's very important in something like Chekhov ` you can't all have the same rhythm or be moving in the same way. You have got to be the very best you can be, because the standards here in Britain and in London are so high. For theatre, the world of the theatre, there is no better place to be in the world. Everything passes through London. But it has to be so good. You have to be the best. I'm lucky enough to work with the very best team in one of the best drama schools in the world. Ken was first introduced to the world of theatre at Rotorua Boys' High School and went on to study drama in Auckland. From that at university, a group of us formed a theatre company, an experimental theatre company, because at this time, remember, there were amazing things going on in the world ` the anti-Vietnam protests and a whole counter-culture movement. You know, there was Woodstock going on. Woodstock. There was the psychedelic movement, all that drug culture. And it was an incredibly exciting time, and culture and theatre was at the centre of that. And so we started up a theatre company, and that began as street theatre. So we were on the streets, making masks and protesting about the Vietnam War. And out of that, we started to do more formal pieces of theatre based at Auckland University, and that was the beginning of the Living Theatre Troupe. It was a fantastic moment in New Zealand culture, when people were throwing everything up in the air and saying, 'Look, theatre can be like this; it can be like that.' And we, as a young generation of people in their 20s, had such confidence and really believed we could change the world. Later, I went to the Mercury Theatre, and that was regarded as selling out and going to the establishment, because we were a very radical theatre company. As a professional actor, Ken would be in constant work for the next 10 years before travelling the world, studying theatre. I arrived in England with all this research. I'd been going around with a tape recorder, interviewing Balinese dancers and Kabuki actors and Noh actors and Kathakali actors. And I arrived with this research nobody had ever heard of and started writing in journals and newspapers. And that led to a side career in journalism and working as a theatre critic for The Guardian. And I was offered work at Guildhall very soon... and sort of stayed. And the interesting thing about... being a Kiwi in Britain... is you go through different stages. First, you go through the chameleon stage. You try and disappear, and you try and be English, and you kind of lose your identity, your individuality. And then years later, you realise 'that's not me', and you're able to reach the confidence where you can find your true self, as it were. So ironically,... I feel more Kiwi now than I did about 35 years ago. I can just be at ease in that and know that what I have to offer here at Guildhall or in the corporate world in Britain and throughout Europe is unique to me, but I draw on the strengths of what I gain from being a New Zealander, and I can be proud of that heritage. Captions by Alex Walker. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018