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There's more than one festival in the New Zealand Festival of The Arts.

Te Ata, a festival within thefestival, will focuson young people and issues of identity, social justice, and postcolonialism through the arts.

Curated by Lemi Ponifasio, Te Ata will be based in Porirua with artists from all over the world coming to perform, teach and engage with audiences.

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Dance group FLEXN are part of Te Ata, a festival within the New Zealand Festival of Arts 2020.

The public will see performers address issues of social justice, cultural expectations and also talk about the problems they face within their own community.

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Ponifasio said Te Ata wasnot a festival with buzzy words like "youth-led" - it was aboutthe community coming together to give focus on young people, to hear from them, to look and reflect on them deeply, through the arts.

"It is a moment for young people to collaborate and create and find expressions for how they experience life right now as they contemplate and develop their livesintothe future.

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The group will perform for the public, create conversation, host a dance class for people to express their own stories and take part in a student summit which allows young people to talk about the most pressing social challenges facing them and their families.

"Te Ata is the hope that engagement through the artistic dimension can help us find new ways to listen, to be heard, to be included, challenged and reassured through exchanges and in finding other ways to understand each other and to give new expression to our ever-changing life."

Performing, teaching and taking part in a student summit is FLEXN - a crew of dancers from the very neighbourhoods where the Black Lives Matter movement began to rise.

Using flexing - a form of street dance - the groupexpresses "deeply human and sometimes heart-wrenching stories".

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Te Ata has been curated by Lemi Ponifasio.

Flexing isa type of dance made up of snapping, pausing, gliding andhat tricks.

Aloalii Tapu & Friendsis alsobringingGoodbye Naughtonto Porirua, whichpays tribute to tara, the South Aucklandsuburb Tapugrew up in.

His parents gave himthe first name Naughton during a time when having a Samoan name caused confusion - Naughton also represented safety and the promise of future opportunity.

Through the show, he rejects that idea - giving himself the space to create his own identity through dance rooted in the Samoan culture he is proud of.

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Goodbye Naughton pays tribute to tara, the South Auckland suburb Aloalii Tapu grew up in.

Tapu, his friends and singers Chris Taito and Uati Tui, take the audience through the realities of being "the man" from tara, cultural expectations and postcolonialism.

Te Ata ambassador Te Rau Oriwa Mitchell said by having the festival in Porirua, the city's youth would be able to take part in workshops and see performances from international artists they most likely would never get to experience.

With what was going on in the world, these were the type of performances people needed to see, Mitchell said.

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3 guest curators - 100+ arts experiences - 1000s of conversations sparked.

"Mental heath issues are at an all-timehigh and identity issues definitely contribute to that, it needs to be addressed.

"We need to offer pathways for people to heal people and to understand who they are and where they come from."

* Te Ata opens on February 21 and runs untilFebruary 29 at Te Rauparaha Arena Pataka Art + Museum.

Read more:
New Zealand Festival 2020: Te Ata, a festival within the festival - Stuff.co.nz