Young dance makers are merging traditional and contemporary forms at Sydney Opera House in August. Fresh Movement collective is presenting an epic retelling of the beloved myths of Māui through contemporary, hip hop and cultural dance. Māui is a central mythological figure in the origin stories of the Pacific Islands.
“Our background is in hip hop; we know that hip hop is really engaging for young people,” says choreographer Hadleigh Pouesi, CEO and Artistic Director of Fresh Movement Collective. “Often, we see young people get really involved, and they retire before they are even 20 years old. That was my experience. I went and did hip hop competitions. My original group won the world championships, and then we got contracts to do back-up dancing. At some point, I thought there has to be more than this. There has to be other avenues; you can’t just tailor a whole craft for the one percent that will actually experience the opportunity. Then I got introduced to the theatre.”
Fresh Movement Collective is based in Auckland. “Our group is actually a community-based dance initiative,” explains Pouesi. “We go into different schools, and we find people who share our passion, and we bring in tutors and facilitators who can lead our creative process. We have dancers who have gone on to have professional careers. We are a group of people who love to move.”
MĀUI is firmly centred in Pacific culture which Pouesi describes as “the form of the traditions we have been brought up with, and as it exists in young Pacific people who are brought up in the diaspora.” The dance forms include choral dances of athleticism and precision. “We’re inspired by a lot of our Pacific rituals, and that has informed out movement and informed our choreographic choices.”
In this version of MĀUI, the dance is blended with theatrical storytelling forms including monologue and song. “The chanting during the group dance section. That is called pe’e. That is a chant that speaks of the creation story in the Pacific,” Pouesi explains. “The idea and style of chanting is from the Cook Islands, but the language we are chanting is from Fiji. There are a lot of similarities and origin points that come from Pacific ritual. In certain sections, we work between two extremes, where we are presenting work that is very contemporary and very traditional.”
Pouesi adds, “We are telling the story from our point of view, which is informed by our elders. We tell the Māori side of it as well. We borrow parts of the story from the different islands. We have checked that our interpretation is honouring the land and elders. We want to use MĀUI as a way to connect young people with theatre and with their culture.”
MĀUI is presented at the Sydney Opera House on 29 and 31 August. For more information, visit www.sydneyoperahouse.com/dance/maui and www.freshmans.org.
By Tamara Searle of Dance Informa.
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