Wellington City Ballet is shown performing Children of the mist in 1960. Based on a Māori legend, and choreographed by Leigh Brewer, the ballet follows a mortal, Ihenga, who falls in love with Maia, a patupaiarehe (fairy-like being). Unable to resist the call back to his iwi, Ihenga returns, only to die of old age – the days he has spent with his beloved Maia are many human years. The work was enthusiastically reviewed (although one reviewer found the patupaiarehe's dancing on point out of place) and was later staged by the New Zealand Ballet.
Using this item
Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)
Reference: EP/1960/0669-F
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.