The Dust Palace is Aotearoa's most established circus theatre company, school and development space.
Founded in 2009, Dust Palace has spent 16 years creating thrilling, narrative-driven cirque theatre for audiences of all ages. Early on in the journey developed a particular passion for bringing alternative narratives to tamariki and whānau. Our most notable children's production, The Ice Cream is Melting!, follows siblings Bonnie and Nikau as their ice creams begin to melt on a hot day, turning a trip home into an epic circus adventure that playfully tackles environmental change through all falvours of aerial and ground-based acrobatics. The show has toured extensively through school holiday seasons and festivals across Aotearoa.
In an exciting collaboration with Te Pou Theatre, the show has also been reimagined in te reo Māori as Kua Rewa te Aihikirīmi, now presented annually as Te Pou's tamariki show, touring venues across Tāmaki Makaurau and kura kaupapa Māori.
Alongside this, our family and children's programming includes Top of the Heap, a heartfelt rainbow love story set atop a floating pile of pre-loved furniture, and Wallace and Ned, a madcap slapstick caper about two bumbling thieves on the hunt for a rare pair of golden pants.
Beyond producing shows, the Dust Palace Charitable Trust takes a leadership role in developing circus in Tāmaki Makaurau and beyond, through professional development, education and advocacy to widen access to the benefits of circus.
Most recently, The Dust Palace in collaboration with Te Pou Theatre established Te Kura Maninirau, a new kaupapa Māori circus school with an Ao Māori teaching pedagogy, and developed the large-scale production Te Tangi ā te Tūī, which has been touring Canada and Aotearoa since 2023.
Follow our journey and see what's on at thedustpalace.co.nz or on Instagram and Facebook @thedustpalace.