RISING Festival will present Polynesian hip hop artist Parris Goebel and her company in Defend The Throne this June. Goebel is known for creating choreography for music artists such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Her company are New Zealand-based hip hop ensemble The Royal Family Dance Crew. As well as a touring and competition ensemble, the company includes a school and several junior ensembles. Based at The Palace Dance Studio in Auckland, they are famous for their “Polyswagg” style, winning the World Hip Hop Dance Championships three times consecutively, and dancing with artists like Justin Bieber and Rihanna.
Moana Davis joined The Royal Family Dance Crew in 2016, when she was just 11. She also joined their junior crew, Bubblegum.
“I was just a dancer,” Davis tells Dance Informa, “and then they noticed I choreographed. They noticed I was able to be a role model for others. That’s when I started putting my hand up to lead. I took on leadership of a group, and helped out.”
Davis continues, “The show that we are doing in Melbourne, is based on repertoire we have done internationally in the past, and all sets are choreographed by Parris. I plotted lights as well for this show and I did the background visuals. We didn’t have background visuals, but our manager noticed that it was more engaging and so we created them.”
Seeing how much the dancers have grown is one of the highlights of the work for Moana. “This year is the first year we have had a new crew, and most of our dancers are international dancers. They have a lot of experience in hip hop. Some in contemporary dance, not that we do any of that here. We have roots in Afro dance and dance hall, and in the competition setting we were the first team to introduce these styles. Since the auditions, there has been such a huge improvement; they break out of their individual training and become ‘polyswagg.’
Hip hop is storytelling for Davis. “It is not only an art, but it is a sport. If I am feeling low, I can put it in my dancing. So if you don’t feel really heard, dance and hip hop is a way to communicate that. The origin of the style comes from people who were struggling with something.”
Polyswagg, created by Goebel, is a fusion style that Davis describes as a cultural “feeling” rather than a fixed move set; it borrows aesthetic relationships from Afro and dancehall traditions but is unique to the Royal Family. “Parris created Polyswagg for us,” Davis explains, “for us outcast New Zealanders. There is a cultural stereotype of Polynesians that they can’t do things as well or learn as well. Polyswagg is style that only really we, as the Royal Family can do, as it has our culture in it and behind us.”
Presented in RISING as part of the inaugural Australian Dance Biennial, programming Defend the Throne emphasises traditional cultures in contemporary forms of dance. “Cultural dance has a relationship to the feeling of being united, as a culture,” says Davis. “Doing the haka has this as well – you are united. But there are no straightforward links or connections to the Maori dance in our work. All we do in the Royal Family is Polyswagg.”
Catch The Royal Family Dance Crew at RISING Defend the Throne The Royal Family Dance Crew Sunday 7 June 6pm at Hamer Hall. Tickets are available at 2026.rising.melbourne/program/defend-the-throne.
By Tamara Searle of Dance Informa.
