RECLAIM

RECLAIM is the latest offering from Summer Studios NZ; - a one-day pop-up studio project designed to spark movement, ignite cultural pride, and grow meaningful connections. Co-led by Pasifika creatives Summer Lloyd and Pule Siva, this project builds on a legacy of community-driven dance work in Aotearoa.

In October 2025, we’re taking RECLAIM to the Gold Coast and we’re calling on our wider community to help bring this vision to life. Together, we can extend the reach of this project of sharing stories, identity, and empowerment across borders.

About Us
We are Summer and Pule, Pasifika women based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, driven by a shared love for dance, storytelling, and creating space for community to thrive. Together, we’ve co-created works like MOOD (2023) and The SHIFT (2024), with support from Boosted x Moana. Now, we’re proud to present our newest project: RECLAIM.

Summer (Samoa, India) is a seasoned dancer and educator with 30+ years of experience, 20 of which have been spent teaching across Aotearoa & parts of Australia. As the founder of Summer Studios NZ, she continues to shape dance experiences that empower, heal, and uplift. For Summer, dance is about much more than movement, it's a tool for transformation.

Pule (Samoa) brings over two decades of dance and teaching experience across Polynesian, Urban, and Commercial styles. A proud alum of the Excel School of Performing Arts, Pule has been with Summer Studios since day one. Her classes are welcoming, safe, and empowering, spaces where everyBODY is invited to show up fully and proudly.

Together, we are passionate about breaking down barriers, uplifting Pacific voices, and creating spaces where authenticity and identity are celebrated. With your support, RECLAIM can go even further, beyond Aotearoa and into new communities ready to move, connect, and reclaim.

We would be incredibly grateful for your support to help bring RECLAIM to life. Every dollar you contribute will go directly toward making this project happen. Here’s how your generous donation will be used:

• Project Venue Costs – Renting a space to host our project.
• Travel & Accommodation – Helping cover the costs of international travel, transport, and accommodation for Summer and Pule, as well as providing kai for participants.
• Filming & Editing – Capturing and bringing our vision to life through film, allowing us to share the experience beyond the studio.
• Marketing – Reaching as many people as possible to ensure this powerful studio experience/project is accessible to all. 

We would appreciate and be grateful for your support. We look forward to creating this special experience with your help.

RECLAIM – Reclamation of Heritage, Roots, and Power through Movement - "Breaking Barriers, Building Community" 

A Pop-Up Studio Experience by Summer Studios NZ
Hosted by Summer Lloyd & Pule Siva
October 2025 | Gold Coast

What We’re Doing & Why

 RECLAIM is more than a dance experience, it’s a one-day studio experience where movement meets meaning. Open to all levels and backgrounds, it’s a celebration of cultural pride, personal story, and the joy of coming together through dance.

Guided by Summer and Pule, the day weaves together workshops, talanoa, and creative exploration. It’s an opportunity to reflect, express, and reclaim your story, your roots, your rhythm, your voice.

After years of growing creative spaces in Ōtautahi, we’re ready to take this kaupapa to new places. Bringing RECLAIM to the Gold Coast is the next step in our journey, offering cultural expression, empowerment, and community-building through a facilitated movement experience.

What to Expect on the Day

• Island Boots

  Kickstart the day with an energizing blend of Southern style line dance and Pacific movement. This open-level session is packed with rhythm, joy, and connection. Whether you're brand new or experienced, Island Boots is all about fun, freedom, and feeling yourself.

   

• Midday: Light Lunch & Talanoaga

   Pause to nourish and connect. Share a light lunch and dive into a talanoa session where we’ll talk about the heart behind Summer Studios. Also, a time to reflect, refresh and connect with fellow participants.

   

• Development Dance Film Project:

  Full-day participants will work with Summer and Pule to develop and perform original choreography. This session blends Commercial, Urban, and Feminine dance styles with storytelling, presence, and empowerment. The experience concludes with a filmed piece that will be edited and released online, a keepsake of the journey and a creative offering that lives on.

RECLAIM is more than a project, it’s a movement. A reclamation of who we are, where we come from, and the power we carry when we move together. It’s about breaking barriers, sharing stories, and creating space for identity, connection, and belonging to thrive.

In today’s world, where disconnection is easy, RECLAIM invites us back, to ourselves, to our communities, and to our roots. Through movement and storytelling, it opens space for everyBODY to be seen, heard, and celebrated.

RECLAIM may mean something different to each of us, and that’s the point. Whether you’re reclaiming confidence, culture, creativity, or simply space to be, this project is here for you. It’s a place to move, express, and return to whatever it is you need.

As Pasifika women from Ōtautahi Christchurch, we (Summer and Pule) are leading this project with heart and intention. We’ve built spaces that centre empowerment, identity, and connection, and now we’re ready to take that beyond Aotearoa.

By supporting RECLAIM, you help:

• Amplify Pacific voices grounded in strength and truth
• Empower people to move with purpose and pride
• Inspire the next generation to lead with identity
• Build lasting connection through shared experience
• Showcase our stories and their power to uplift communities everywhere

This is more than just movement - it’s reclamation. It’s connection. It’s the beginning of something bigger.

Let’s RECLAIM, together.