Group work - Polynesian dance research

Polynesian Traditions

Dance

Since 1998, Heiva contests allow to conciliate these two elements promoting both creativity and respect of tradition

Four type of dances are presented during the Heiva contest :

• the ote’a,
• the aparima,
• the hivinau
• thepa’o’a.

Abolished in 1820 by the British puritan missionaries

The ote’a

The main Tahitian traditional dances. Originally it was reserved to men only but today it is also danced by women and is characterized by wide and abrupt moves and a quick and jerky rhythm. Moreover, the huge number of dancers and their geometric disposition on the scene allow group movements that are really impressive for spectators, but does not leave much room for creation.

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http://youtu.be/2QahgraRrYs

The aparima

The dance of gestures par excellence : hands describe a story thanks to a large scale of symbolic gestures (the sea, birds flight, voice…). Slow dance

http://youtu.be/Zy_DKzTWCdo

The hivinau

The easiest and technically the less demanding of the Tahitian dances although not the less visually impressive. Actually, dancers stand on two concentric circles -commonly a circle of women and the other of men- and turn round in two opposite directions. These crossings allow to illustrate great daily life and sea life scenes.

http://youtu.be/QRQ3IjmfoKM

Possible ideas to create these dances:

Hula hoops as props to get the hip action. The concept of our play is found objects so this prop will work within the world we are attempting to create. If we wish to make a tribal dance we could mimic the moves of one of these dances but add in hula hoops to draw a comparison with the 21st century. We could get all different colours and sizes and use them to even travel through the space!

We could mashup modern/contemporary dance techniques with some of these traditional dances. We could use the hand gestures and movements from dances like "The aparima" whilst mixing them with more recent dance moves. For example we could have all the traditional dance movements in the arms while the legs are "cutting shapes" which is a more modern dance craze.

Finally we could learn one of these dances as a company and put it into the piece. We could use a file grabber and use the sound file and try out best to simulate the movements. We could also assimilate it into a simpler physical theatre movements and gestures.