Ko Tainui te Waka
Ko Tararua nga pai Maunga
Ko Ohau te Awa
Ko Ngāti Tukorehe te Marae
Ko Ngāti Tukorehe te iwi
Ko teenei pepeha o Ihapera Mason tōku kuia

Ko Aotea te Waka
Ko Taranaki te Maunga
Ko Waitotoroa te Awa
Ko Parihaka te Marae
Ko Niho te Wharenui
Ko Ngati Ruanui, Ngai Rauru, Taranaki, Ruahine, Titahi, Te Atiawa nga iwi
Ko teenei pepeha o Puohooho Mason tōku koro

Ko Te Haumoariki tōku matua
Ko Katia tōku whaea
Ko Ihapera Whāwhai Waru tāku ingoa

Bella Waru is a Birraranga//Melbourne-based creative of Ngāti Tukorehe, Te Ati Awa (Māori) & European descent. Working primarily with movement & sound, Waru performs ~dance, song, poetry~, creates and facilitates ritual and community arts as a medium for ignition//resurgence//connection//activation//clearing//healing. Their work rises from the body as a vessel of personal, ancestral and environmental knowledge, inheritance and connection.

Bella has worked with choreographers Amrita Hepi, Victoria Hunt, Helen Grogan & Jacob Boehme and has undergone residencies at Banff Arts Centre (Turtle Island//Canada), Bmotion Festival (Bassano Del Grappa, Italy), Brunswick Mechanics Institute and Lucy Guerin Inc. They are a Pacific Climate Warrior, a current recipient of Dancehouse’s Emerging Choreographers Program, founding member of artist collective Ngati Kangaru and a facilitator and member of New Wayfinders collective. They have performed & exhibited at Dance Massive Festival, Next Wave Festival, Banff Arts Centre, Melbourne Fringe Festival, SEVENTH gallery, Blakdot gallery, Blindside Gallery, Hybrid Festival & Institute of Modern Art (Meanjin//Bris).