Moana ’14, a Pacific Dance Showcase (TAPAC Theatre 25^th – 30^th September) is the second instalment of this dance series. It presents a series of works from Pacific choreographers who explore both cultural and contemporary performance in making new works  to communicate complex ideas.

The Call by Nikki Upoko begins and ends with poetic monologue by Michelle Durey, Upoko’s MIT student colleague who was a part of the devising process. With half her face painted with a  grey sugar skull, Durey represents the dancer’s conscience. Upoko steps into the spotlight in a red bra and grass hula skirt with a tale of grass (a titi) bobbing from her waist. She is strikingly dramatic in her costume. Her elaborate head piece (pare) is large and colourful. She dances Cook Island Hula ( they call it Ura) with swaying hip movements. She is sensual, with flowing grace and skill. Upoko has devised a piece that blends some contemporary with traditional. The range of music in the accompaniment track includes piano and she uses sticks to beat time between steps. After she discards the sticks she also discards her head piece and titi. Staring intensely at the audience, the music is close to dub-step and she finds a vocabulary that contemporises the hula. Moving between seated and standing she flows into a hip hop influence, arms wacking, while hips isolate. When Durey re-enters with more creative monologue, Upoko moves quietly and slowly around her.

This engaging and enjoyable piece has a few areas which could benefit from growth if it is further developed. For example, if the poetic narrator represents the conscience then it would be good to establish a closer link between the two at beginning.

Bended by Aruna Po-Ching emerges as sounds of sea, wind and guitar rise through the studio, andPo-Ching appears in a pale blue dress that her mother wore in the 70s. (You know the advice to clean out your wardrobe regularly is wrong!) In half light she steps, looks, steps again and then Hula explodes from her knees with bass sounds and voices wafting from the distance. The dance comes from her. It seems to be her, as if it is the way she progresses through any day. Lights rise and there are cutting lines to usual soft Hula arms. They are sharper and point to a change. Gradually joy erupts as foot patterns intensify and eyes connect with the audience as she grins manically. This is a piece about a Pacific Island woman dealing with bipolar disorder but we do not need the programme notes to tell us that. Po-Ching transitions between conflicting states with skill; showing joy, sliding into normality and then with crazy, angry depression. She concludes with arms wide, quiet turning and joy as if heavenly waters are washing over her.

 Po-Ching shows that she is ready for the depiction of complex issues through dance and can fill the stage herself without backup. We are definitely watching a mid-career artist. Her ideas are clear and well developed, her movement and expressions are flawless.

Pukepuke o Tonga by Sesilia Pusiaki truly upholds Tongan culture. I bask in the ambient light, continuum of warm, drone-like harmonies; Tongan language, community connection and precise fluid movement. Sesilia Pusiaki has done it again – she has produced a stunning cultural experience that takes us into the heart ofTonga and lets us rest there, while we drink in sights and sounds. The family, performance community just gets better each time, if that is possible. Continuing to upholdTonga’s three ancient dances from her home, Pusiaki reinvents the order of sequences and configurations in a satisfying way.

The 14 on stage start seated, in four groups that balance the space. In blacks, they are adorned in skirts, cummerbunds made from mat (kie) and red lei. The light is soft like a clear evening. There is a sitting dance for the girls while family accompany in continuous song. The movements are graceful and there are intricate hand movements while everything is fluid or to use a music term – legato. Boys transition to take the front while the girls blend back into the seated community. The exuberant leaps and falls that always appear in this dance are executed in a box with movement into the middle and away. As they step and turn rhythmically it is buoyant but not sharp. Tenuto, not staccato. For a while the harmonies are pentatonic using 4ths and 5ths, as they repeat over and over and remain at the same moderate dynamic. At the conclusion, we linger in the theatre space, dreamy. 

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