
Tom Sainsbury And The Dynamotion Misfits Are Home For Christmas
It's festive season, baby — and everything's falling apart. Mr and Mrs Claus are headed for splitsville. Ashleigh's Christmas Cupcake Shoppe is teetering on the edge. The elves are cracking under the pressure of soulless consumerism. Oh, and the North Pole? Melting faster than a snowman in a sauna. Looks like it's time for a Christmas miracle — Dynamotion style.
From the brilliantly twisted minds of Tom Sainsbury and Lara Fischel-Chisholm comes a full-blown, high-kicking, sleigh-sliding, disco-ball-drenched Christmas spectacular packed with interpretive dance, chaotic energy, and enough tinsel to choke a reindeer.
Starring some of New Zealand's funniest, fiercest, and naughtiest performers — including Tom Sainsbury, Chris Parker, Kate Simmonds, Harry McNaughton, Liv Tennet, Karamia Muller, Lara Fischel-Chisholm, Jennie Robertson, and a whole sleighful of Dynamotion misfits — A Christmas Crisis is here to serve your silly season (or at least distract you from it for 90 minutes).
Since bursting onto the scene in 2012 with Terror Island Dynamotion have been putting the "fun" back in "funk" — and also "fundamentally questioning what dance theatre even is." These legends invented dacting (dramatic acting + interpretive dance) and have built a cult following for their gloriously silly, ridiculously clever full-length shows that are part dance party, part fever dream, and 100% joy.
They've been praised by Metro, Theatreview, Theatrescenes, and probably your mate from Pilates who went once and hasn't shut up about it since.
"A high-adrenaline production full of thumping dance tracks, inspired and very clever choreography and wall-to-wall laughter." – Andrew Whiteside (The Children of Sacred Valley)
"The dance numbers are terrific… extremely clever and very, very silly." – Theatrescenes
"Dynamotion is dynamite indeed." – Theatreview
Dynamotion's original dance comedy works have become a staple of the Auckland theatre calendar, with 10 full-length productions to their name. They've presented at the NZ International Comedy Festival, the Body Festival in Christchurch, and Tempo.
Their last show sold out after one Facebook post! So get booking. Yule be glad you did.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Scoop
5 days ago
- Scoop
Warm Up Your Winter With Some Declarations Of Love!
Tempest Theatre Co is proud to present Declarations of Love (And Other Useless Things). Back for its five year anniversary, Wellington theatre stalwarts Emma Maguire and Hamish Boyle run the gauntlet of sketch comedy, performing 15+ sketches about love, sex, queerness and rom-coms in 50 minutes at BATS Theatre this 26-30 August. It's delirious, it'll get your blood pumping (not like that), and maybe we'll all come out of it satisfied. Think parodies of Fifty Shades of Grey and the manosphere. Interrogating love languages and horoscopes. A lot of ~intimate eye contact~. Maybe some touching. The works. Co-creator Emma Maguire says of the show, ' Declarations was born as a solo show just before the pandemic, and I brought Hamish on board to make it a duo. Five and a half years later, we're closer than ever, have grown utterly as people, and have entirely rebuilt the show together as true collaborators.' Declarations' idiosyncratic humor and fast-paced sketches speak of the duo's trust and abilities in each other. 'I bring the innate understanding of the romance genre, Hamish (Boyle) brings technical skill.' Maguire continues, 'Together we've built something that's sexy, snappy, and you'll hold close to your heart.' 'Take your friends. Take your lovers. This show IS a love story. And it's totally for everyone.' - Theatreview


NZ Herald
5 days ago
- NZ Herald
Promoters optimistic as NZ events industry shows promising summer lineup
Brent Eccles, co-founder of Eccles Entertainment, says he's had to ask staff not to take leave over Christmas. 'A lot of the festivals, the usual suspects are booking those acts and it looks pretty attractive in terms of the line-ups ... that they have.' Layton Lillas, president of the New Zealand Promoters Association, relayed the same optimism after speaking with others in the field. 'I'm not sensing any panic or pessimism or negativity.' Eccles said the idea that New Zealand was overlooked by international tours had largely become outdated. 'We get a lot of shows coming here. A lot more than we used to. So, as far as the overall industry is concerned, I think it looks pretty good.' It's not just the superstars pulling crowds to our venues. Eccles says more international tours are coming to our shores than ever before. Photo / 123rf Smaller ones like the Powerstation and Auckland Town Hall are humming with events, giving emerging artists the space to promote themselves and grow. 'Benson Boone's a great example. We started at the Tuning Fork [three years ago], and now we're playing Spark Arena," Eccles said. The buoyant attitude follows years of instability, with the uncertainty of a global pandemic and economic stagnation hitting the events sector particularly hard. 'We're coming out of a sort of public malaise towards buying tickets and going out, and people are buying tickets ... for the things they want to go to,' Lillas said. Even with ongoing financial challenges, Lillas said audiences were still willing to spend on entertainment, as long as the experience felt worth the cost. 'If things are falling over, it's very simple that the proposition is not attractive enough for the price that people are expected to pay. 'And that's for us, as promoters, to find that sweet spot.' Layton Lillas, president of the New Zealand Promoters Association, is confident the upcoming events season will be a success. Photo / Riley Churchman A key lesson from recent years is that recycled line-ups and unimaginative programmes no longer cut it. 'There's always a place for something new and original,' Lillas said. 'But just regurgitating the same old stuff, yeah, that's not going to always work.' The success of Synthony's sold-out Full Metal Orchestra over the weekend highlighted the public's appetite for something different. 'You're giving the public something unique, something interesting, something they haven't seen before. AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd performs at Manuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra at Spark Arena on Saturday night. Photo / RadLab 'And, what do you know, they're paying to come see it.' However, the past few years have created some friction around public trust. Disruptions from global artists, such as last-minute rescheduling and cancellations, have frustrated fans who often travel across the motu and spend hundreds on flights and accommodation. Drake postponed his two Auckland concerts mere weeks before the dates, while Travis Scott moved his midweek Eden Park concert forward by 24 hours. Fans could have their tickets refunded, but many were still left out of pocket. Despite these concerns, Eccles said most shows in Aotearoa were safe bets to put your money on. 'If I was a punter out there, I would be going to venues that have a history of regular performance ... you're better to stick with the tried and true.' Promoters, too, need to be selective about who they book to avoid the responsibility of shouldering a bad deal. 'The repercussions are huge. Be prepared to walk on and go and promote someone else or ... don't invest in things that you don't have the bank balance to actually deal with,' Lillas said. But as summer inches closer, both Eccles and Lillas are confident that this season will be a breakthrough. 'There's going to be a lot of shows out there ... I feel very positive about it,' said Eccles. 'I think we're in a good place,' echoed Lillas. 'There's more than our fair share of choice of shows to attend ... Hopefully it carries on like that. Long may it continue.' Tom Rose is an Auckland-based journalist who covers breaking news, specialising in lifestyle, entertainment and travel. He joined the Herald in 2023.


Scoop
25-07-2025
- Scoop
Susanna Elliffe Is Winner Of The 2025 NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize!
The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) congratulates Susanna Elliffe on winning the 2025 NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize with her manuscript Relic Party. The prize was created by the NZSA and the Solomon family to fulfil the wishes of Laura Solomon, a novelist, poet and playwright who was a longstanding member of the NZSA and a beloved member of the Solomon family. It awards new writing of ' unique and original vision ' with a cash prize of $2,000 and a publishing contract with The Cuba Press. Publication will be in 2026. The winning manuscript, Relic Party, is a short story collection that studies loss, both intimate and global, human and nonhuman, ranging through ugly ghosts, false relics, and desperate pilgrimages, to a dysfunctional 80's farmhouse and the speculative worlds of climate affected futures. We also congratulate Belinda O'Keefe who is the runner-up, winning a cash prize of $1,000 with her manuscript Trespassers Will Be Baked, Scrambled, Fried and Eaten. Susanna Elliffe's manuscript was selected by a final judging panel of Mary McCallum (The Cuba Press), Nicky Solomon (Solomon Family) and panel convenor and award-winning writer Cassie Hart. Cassie Hart, convenor of the judges, says: 'The quality of entries this year was amazing - choosing the finalists was not an easy task, and then selecting just one winner? A huge challenge. I so appreciate the writers of New Zealand for not making this easy! 'The final four were all so different from each other, spanning from a very lyrical collection of short stories to a humorous contemporary novel, a middle grade adventure, through to a memoiresque non-fiction book exploring the experience of immigrants! There is almost no way to compare the four, as they are each such a success in their own right. The winner, Relic Party, stood out as being the most unique and original of the three though, and I know that readers will fall in love with Susannah Elliffe's prose and storytelling just like we did.' Nicky Solomon says: 'It is so wonderful to see interest in the prize continue to grow, as we mark its fifth year. We are extremely grateful to the NZSA and The Cuba Press for taking Laura's idea and turning it into a true legacy. She would be absolutely delighted by the calibre of the work and I know that she would echo me in congratulating all of the finalists, and in fact all of the entrants. The judges are continually challenged, in a good way, by such high quality writing in such a diverse range of genres, and our family extends its heartfelt congratulations to Susanna and Belinda.' The Cuba Press director Mary McCallum says her team is delighted to be publishing another NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize winner. 'It's like Christmas when the shortlisted authors for the prize come through for us to read,' she says. 'We have no idea what to expect. They are all very good and rock the unique and original vision that characterised Laura's own work.' Mary says Susanna Elliffe is a writer who creates vivid and beguiling worlds in her short fiction that spark with energy and take readers in unexpected directions. Susanna Elliffe has this to say about her win: 'Winning the Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize is momentous for me. Creative writing has long been the lifeblood that runs beneath everything I do, my life's passion. I love to play with language, to unstitch it, pull at the seams, weave it anew, to create something that doesn't always fit traditional publishing moulds. So to have my work recognized in this way feels nothing short of surreal. I am deeply honoured - especially to receive a prize connected to Laura Solomon. Her short stories were also surreal and strange, but also dwelled in uncanny corners of the human heart. I am grateful, moved, and more inspired than ever to keep pushing language and narrative to its edges.' Susanna Elliffe is an experimental writer whose short fiction has been shortlisted for competitions including The Sunday Star Times, the Sargeson Prize, and the International Bridport Prize. Susanna is currently completing a Master's in Creative Writing at Massey University, where her work focuses on defamiliarisation and linguistic deviation in fiction. She lives in Oamaru with her sisters and cats, and spends her spare time when not writing, on the stage with Musical Theatre Oamaru. Congratulations to runner-up Belinda O'Keefe, with her manuscript Trespassers Will Be Baked, Scrambled, Fried and Eaten! A discretionary prize of $1,000 has been offered by the Solomon family to both winner Susanna Elliffe and runner-up Belinda O'Keefe. Congratulations also to shortlisted writers Ann Beaglehole (How to be an alien: A memoir of sorts), and Frances Duncan and Raewyn Hewitt (Call It Hope).