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Body Island blends Māori cosmology, cutting-edge dance and ConTact C.A.R.E therapy into award-winning shows, healing sessions and immersive courses.

Two people, one dressed in a long satin white skirt, fur vest, and veil, and the other in a dark suit, pose against a plain background, with the person in the satin skirt standing with their arms raised behind.
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Kelly Nash

Creative Director/ Producer, Artist & Performer

Choreography

Kelly Nash is involved in many aspects of Aotearoa's Contemporary dance and Performance scene. An initiator and member of many companies that have forged a path for contemporary dance in NZ, she also established a professional dance career that has spanned over 25 years, performing and touring both abroad and locally. Her involvement in Douglas Wright Dancers, Curve Dance Collective and Atamira Dance Company, has been instrumental in her growth as a movement director, choreographer, teacher and producer and she is the current Interim Artistic Manager for Atamira Dance Company.

Kelly is Co-director of Body Island and Co-CEO of ConTact C.A.R.E Central with her partner Nancy Wijohn.

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Kelly’s skill is working collectively and holistically with strong sensitivities to understanding different cultural contexts, with a background in trauma therapy. Alongside both her choreographic development and professional dance career Kelly has also extensively trained in body somatic practices such as Alexander Technique, Remedial massage and ConTact C.A.R.E.

She is a foundation instructor and practitioner of ConTact C.A.R.E - a system to release frozen body contractions. This practice is hugely influential, informing how Kelly works choreographically, how she teaches movement and used on a one on one basis for therapy.

Directing and choreographing both full length and short works, Kelly won Most Outstanding Dance Work in Metro Magazine and Best Short Production and Best Stage Design for the Tempo Dance festival for the work ‘Souvenirs of what I once described as happiness’. She was also awarded the Tup Lang Choreographic award to create “MEME skin”and “Indigenarcy” toured to multi centres in the USA and Hawaii. She was most recently Co-Directing and rehearsal directing for “Te Wheke”, touring the USA, with a highlight of performing at the Joyce Theatre in New York.

Recently a dancer for Daniel Belton’s Intercultural/Interarts/Multimedia Web-VR Project with Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead/New Zealand String Quartet and Taonga Pūoro titled ‘Ad Parnassum -purupuruwhetū’ and dancer and mentor for Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce’s show ‘He huia Kia Manawa’ for the AAF.

As a director for the Te Ha Te Ka films they have been awarded “Best First Time Director” at the Japan International Film Festival, Toronto Indie Filmmakers Festival, Munich New Wave short film festival and Seoul International Short Film Festival. Winner of ‘Best Nature film” and ‘Best Sound Design” at the LA Experimental Dance and Music Festival. Official Selection for Roma Short film Festival, Experimental Dance and Music Film Festival LA, Tokyo International short film festival, Maoriland Film Festival, ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival, Kia Mau Festival, Earth Beat Festival NZ and Matriarchs Festival Canada.

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Nancy Wijohn

Director / Creative Producer / Artist
& Performer

Nancy Wijohn is a multi-disciplinary artist and producer with deep roots in movement, kaupapa Māori, and somatic intelligence. With an athletic background in competitive netball, rugby, and touch, her foundation in agility and discipline translated naturally into the world of performing arts. She graduated from Unitec’s Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts in 2007.

Nancy began her professional dance career with Atamira Dance Company in 2008, performing and touring extensively across Aotearoa, the USA, Canada, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. Her choreographic works for the company include Tuhoe Whakapapa (2010), Paarua (2013), and Pito (2016), contributing original kaupapa Māori narratives to Atamira’s growing repertoire.

From 2012 to 2023, Nancy was an original cast member of Ōkāreka Dance Company’s internationally acclaimed Mana Wahine, touring to Holland, Australia, Canada, Tahiti, Hawai’i, and across Aotearoa. She also tutored on the company’s summer school programme, supporting the next generation of Māori and Pacific dance artists.

A woman performing a dance or act on a cobblestone bridge, wearing a gray jacket and red skirt, with a crowd of onlookers and historic buildings in Prague in the background.

In May 2025, Nancy led the premiere of Mythosoma at the Yirramboi Festival in Naarm/Melbourne. As the lead producer, she managed the full scope of the production — from creative management and artist contracting to financial delivery and tour logistics.

Nancy is the Co-Founder of Body Island, a kaupapa-driven dance and performance platform, and Co-CEO of ConTact C.A.R.E Central, where she works alongside her partner Kelly Nash to integrate Te Ao Māori, indigenous healing modalities, holistic well-being, and takatāpui/queer-led leadership into bodywork and creative practice.

Known for her integrity, presence, and leadership both on and off stage, Nancy brings heart, grit, and vision to every project she touches.

Carol Brown’s Flood in PQ at The Prague Quadrennial 2015 - Charles Bridge

Mythosoma - Yirramboi Festival 2025 - Image by Jacinta Keefe

Her performance highlights include work with Douglas Wright (Rapt), Carol Brown (Flood at the Prague Quadrennial 2015), and Daniel Belton’s Good Company Arts (Ad Parnassum – purupuruwhetū, Pepe Matariki). With Body Island, she co-created Āhua (later Lick My Past), presented at Kia Mau Festival, Auckland Fringe, and other platforms.

She has led international residencies and workshops in Turtle Island, Tahiti, and Canada — including The Banff Centre and Santee Smith’s Choreographic Lab — and in 2020, she collaborated with Lisa Reihana on the live installation IHI, a current live installation art work at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre in Aotea Square.

In 2024, Nancy completed Te Pou Theatre’s He Kei Kei Aku Ringa Producer Programme, strengthening her producing kete in budgeting, scheduling, contracting, and delivery. As part of the programme, she contributed to the production of Kōanga Festival, Rangatahi Season, Kōpū, and The Handlers, and was involved in the co-producing partnership with Red Leap Theatre on Dakota of the White Flats.

That same year, she served as Creative Producer for Scotty Cotter’s NEKE, overseeing all logistics, finance, and creative delivery for the two-centre tour at Te Pou Theatre and Māngere Arts Centre.

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Lisa Reihana - IHI installation - Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre - Auckland

Advisory Group

  • A woman standing in front of colorful, abstract artwork at an art exhibition or gallery.

    Lisa Reihana


    Lisa Reihana is a multi-disciplinary artist from Aotearoa New Zealand, working in film, sculpture, costume and body adornment, text, and photography.

    Since the 1990s, she has been a significant figure in contemporary and Māori art, known for her complex photographic and cinematic works. Her portraits explore identity, history, place, and community with high production values.

    Reihana represented New Zealand at the 2017 Venice Biennale with her acclaimed video installation in Pursuit of Venus [infected], a landmark in New Zealand art history. Notable solo exhibitions include Mai i te aroha, ko te aroha at Te Papa Tongarewa (2008) and Digital Marae at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (2007).

    Her work has featured in major group exhibitions worldwide, including Oceania at the Royal Academy, London (2018), Global Feminisms at Brooklyn Museum, New York (2007), and Paradise Now? at Asia Society Museum, New York (2004).

    Reihana has received several prestigious awards, including the Arts Laureate Award (2014), Te Tohu Toi Ke Te Waka Toi Maori Arts Innovation Award (2015), and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (2018).

  • A man wearing a beige shirt and blue gloves stands in a barn or farm setting with cows in the background.

    Dan Wildridge


    With over 30 years in electronic and mechanical design, both as an employee and contractor, I've honed my skills in design for manufacture, catering to production needs in NZ and abroad. My portfolio boasts a diverse array of products across sectors like farming, sports, safety, and more. From concept to completion, I've tackled design challenges, specialising in PCB layout, embedded software, and resolving EMC issues.

    Experienced in high-volume production, I've collaborated with teams or worked solo, ensuring quality and efficiency. Proficient in Altium and other tools, I've navigated various technologies like Bluetooth, LTE, and NB-IOT. Moreover, I've cultivated strong supplier relationships globally. With EST electrical registration and expertise in solid mechanical design, including waterproof and rugged products, I bring a comprehensive skill set to every project, aiming for innovation and excellence.

  • Model with orange hair styled in a tall, cone-shaped updo, wearing oversized glasses, a beige button-up shirt, and black suspenders, standing in front of a blue curtain.

    Georgia Goater


    Georgie Goater is a dance artist from Aotearoa, based in Helsinki. She was born and grew up bi-lingual with her twin brother in Nagoya (JP) and Ōtautahi (NZ), and is of Irish-Scottish descent.

    She performs, choreographs, writes, facilitates workshops and collaborates independently, with Kaaos Company (FI) and with collectives Body Island and Mome: memory as medium. Her dance practice has been developing over the past two decades between Aotearoa and Finland, through multiple threads. Working with diverse embodied perceptions across disability and multi-cultural contexts has been a ground.

    The practice of improvisation is a fabric of this ground. It has been cultivated with Shameless Crowd Pleaser (NZ), Bangers and Mash (NZ), Vitamin S (NZ), Touch Compass (NZ), Kaaos Company and its Sunday Inclusive Movement Improv classes (FI), as well as through Contact Improvisation, somatic practices and dancing outside in natural and urban places. Georgie gained her BPSA in contemporary dance from Unitec School of Performing Arts (NZ) in 2006, and her MA in dance pedagogy at the Helsinki University of the Arts in 2019.

  • A man with glasses working at a table with a laptop and a small wooden bow and arrow, in a dimly lit environment.

    Daniel Belton


    Daniel Belton is an internationally celebrated dance-film maker, choreographer, Co-founder and Artistic Director of Good Company Arts. He is an accomplished multi-media arts practitioner with 30 years experience working in and researching film, cinematography, digital post production techniques, projection mapping, motion capture, fine art, sound, and design. He was the recipient of Creative New Zealand’s Choreographic Research Residency at Otago University 2004, visiting Media Artist in Residence at Massey University 2008, and Arts Council of New Zealand’s Choreographic Fellow for 2010. In 2015 he was made an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Arts Laureate. In 2019 Daniel and Good Company Arts were awarded first place in the prestigious Sino x Niio Illumination Art Prize, Hong Kong.

  • A man wearing glasses, a black hat, a herringbone coat, and a maroon shirt taking a selfie at an airport or similar indoor location.

    Andrew Melville


    In 2004 Andrew Melville established Spoke, a communications agency specialising in engagement, facilitation and media content.

    Drawing on over two decades of powerful and diverse community engagement through storytelling and team facilitation, Spoke offers a people-focused communications practice that centres on innovative storytelling and the diversity of the human experience.

    Andrew’s methodology grew out of his time working alongside Sir Robert Harvey at Waitakere City Council. Through the use of storytelling and the facilitation of workshops, Andrew worked with the Council’s strategic development team to bring the voice of the community and of mana whenua into government in a tangible way. To this day, elements of this work is recognised as best practice in local government throughout New Zealand.