Press Kit - FTA

PRESS KIT
5 TH EDITION MAY 26 - JUNE 11, 2011
TEMPEST: WITHOUT A BODY DANCE
JUNE 10, 11, 2011
LEMI PONIFASIO
COMPANY MAU
AUCKLAND
Press kits consist of material sent by the company that produces the show, original material and research
conducted by the festival team.

PRESS QUOTES
“Made in response to the 9/11 attacks, this timeless ritual is as much a work of
visual art as a dance performance. But as dance it is far from conventional. The
eleven-strong cast hails from various South Pacific locations and purportedly none
have trained at ballet academies or drama colleges. (Indeed, one is an erstwhile
shark fisherman.) In realising Ponifasio’s cautionary vision of apocalypse they
have created a piece of demanding and epic stage poetry.
The opening moments were an onslaught of wailing, rumbling sound that pinned
us to our seats. Once the storm began to (temporarily) subside, we observed a
small, winged woman staring up at a vast corrugated backdrop.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the Playhouse stage, a bare-chested man
passed through a series of measured hand and arm signals. The female angel
screamed four times and later the man squatted and undulated his back as if
trying to sprout wings himself.
During the next 90 minutes Ponifasio offered us other stark, dreamy images, slow
ritualistic movements and fleeting presences. Several monk-like men dressed
identically in black sped about with small steps, slapped their own thighs or
gestured in precise unison. A human creature on all fours paced restlessly inside
the borders of a cage of light. A nude body, painted silver, slid on to an upstage
table and eventually vanished into inky, swamp-like blackness.
Two thirds of the way through, a stout, commanding man delivered a fierce rant
punctuated with grimaces, finger jabs and spitting. Although it was in Samoan, he
needed no translation. Graced with extraordinary lighting (by Helen Todd),
Ponifasio’s production was occasionally agonising but, ultimately, deeply
rewarding in its suggestion of how badly we need to take responsibility for
ourselves and society.”
Donald Hutera, The Times, 08/15/2010
“Refer to Mau, the creative organization Ponifasio founded in 1995, as a dance
company and he'll tell you that it is a "very old idea". He prefers the term
community. Ask about the dancers with whom he works, none of whom has had
what we would understand as a conventional dance training at a dance or drama
school, and he'll explain that where he is from, everyone is expected to dance. "For
us to sing, to dance, to conduct ceremonies, it's part of your life. You're expected
as a citizen to do that, it's normal, it's a part of growing up. A farmer can dance, a
student can dance. None of these people have ever been to dance school, but they
are dancers. The dance is created not in a vacuum but in the community."”
Claire Black, The Scotsman, 08/09/2010
PRESS KIT TEMPEST: WITHOUT A BODY 1

« Attention titre trompeur ! Tempest II de Lemi Ponifasio présenté par le KVS et le
KunstenFestivaldesArts retient peu de traits communs avec la Tempête de
Shakespeare mais n’en offre pas moins une belle bourrasque chorégraphique. De
l’île de Prospero, il reste surtout l’atmosphère féerique, inquiétante, mais aussi
les questions de territoire, d’invasion et d’injustice que le chorégraphe originaire
de Samoa a transposées au contexte des Maoris, ethnie décimée et dépouillée de
Nouvelle-Zélande. Plutôt qu’une narration classique, la compagnie MAU (du nom
du mouvement d’indépendance samoan) vise une sorte d’extase cérémonielle, une
prière en mouvements mêlant la danse guerrière du haka, la maîtrise zen du butô
et des traditions issues des peuples du Pacifique Sud. Sans aucun folklore mais
avec un minimalisme et une lenteur rituels. Au risque de la froideur.
Archi-stylisées, la mise en scène, les lumières et la scénographie nous plongent
dans un décor sombre. Sur un monumental bloc suspendu, seul un océan de
rouge rampant, symbole de la destruction physique et culturelle de la race des
Maoris par les colons anglais, viendra rompre cette immensité noire dans laquelle
évoluent une dizaine de danseurs, tous des hommes, avec une présence tantôt
fantomatique, tantôt bestiale. Qu’ils avancent à pas minuscules comme des
geishas affairées ou se tapent les cuisses dans de millimétrées chorégraphies
belliqueuses, leur maîtrise du corps est époustouflante. »
Catherine Makereel, Le Soir, 17/05/2008
« Ses onze danseurs sont vêtus de sarong et de chemises noires, sauf un qui se
mêle au spectacle pour faire une haka, le visage couvert de dessins tribaux ; c'est
Tame Iti, leader maori, actuellement en liberté provisoire. Cette révolte là n'est
pas évoquée spécialement, mais toute la pièce est hantée par la lutte contre les
ténèbres : l'Ange hurle son impuissance et lève une main couverte de sang,
apparition baroque dans ce rituel magnifiquement sobre, hanté par les esprits
d'outre tombe.
Tempest envoûte par la beauté de ses images. Nul décor, hormis un grand
rectangle argenté qui tombe des ceintres. Nul costume remarquable. Juste le noir
de la scène éclairée d'un rai de lumière où les corps surgissent et façonnent des
visions singulières. Ici un homme, mi fauve mi primate, marchant en rond à
quatre pattes, jambes et bras tendus, et se heurtant à l'ombre comme s'il était
pris dans un piège de lumière. Là un buste fantôme qui perce l'obscurité, muscles
saillants et vivants. Ou encore, la lente et magnifique reptation d'un homme qui
s'extraie des profondeurs et rampe le dos collé à une cage lumineuse. »
Ariane Bavelier, Le Figaro, 29/01/2010
PRESS KIT TEMPEST: WITHOUT A BODY 2

« Il n'empêche que se pose la question des clés du spectacle, enraciné dans une
culture lointaine et méconnue. Si l'on ne connaît pas, par exemple, l'identité de
l'homme - il s'agit du chef maori Tama Iti - en train de danser et chanter le haka,
fameuse danse exportée dans le monde grâce aux rugbymen néo-zélandais,
l'engagement politique de Ponifasio perd une partie de son acuité, et le spectacle
de son sens militant.
Le texte dit par Tama Iti, non traduit sur le plateau, est une apostrophe virulente
sur les conditions de survie du peuple maori décimé et dépossédé de ses terres.
Mercredi 27 janvier, un homme s'est dressé dans le public pour dialoguer
quelques secondes avec Tama Iti. Les spectateurs se demandaient s'il faisait
partie de la pièce... Il s'agissait d'un émissaire samoan envoyé par l'ambassade de
Nouvelle-Zélande, à la demande de Ponifasio, pour répondre à Iti comme le veut
la tradition locale. Il faut le savoir pour en tirer la moelle. Considéré comme une
sorte de chef dans son village, Ponifasio, qui est militant, veut se faire
l'ambassadeur politique de ces régions. Il l'est, mais laisse le spectateur devant
un rébus, aussi puissant soit-il. »
Rossita Boisseau, Le Monde, 29/01/2010
PRESS KIT TEMPEST: WITHOUT A BODY 3

INTERVIEW WITH LEMI PONIFASIO
Tempest: Without A Body was created in response to the post-9/11 world and is
imbued with Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Paul Klee’s Angelus Novus and the
ideas of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben. What is the link between
these disparate elements?
I think we are living in an era of disinterest in getting involved in the community or
in the world at large. Some people think that politics or war exists only in the
media, or that issues of world peace or poverty do not concern them. I began this
piece because people around me were affected by America’s post-9/11 policies,
with governments assuming more and more power over the lives of ordinary
citizens, which is very dangerous. In New Zealand, for example, there is the case
of an Algerian refugee imprisoned for four years without trial, with no official
statements as to why or what the charges are. It is not democratic. In a
democracy it is the courts that decide, not Washington politicians laying down the
law for us. And Tame Iti, who is a Maori activist who plays a role in this piece, was
arrested and accused of terrorism for defending his ancestral lands. Although I
love to dance to the music of the wind, it is urgent that we artists make a positive
contribution to the world we live in.
As for Shakespeare, that is a bit of an accident. I wanted to stage someone else’s
work for once, and I found that The Tempest was quite pertinent when it comes to
speaking about power and the condition of contemporary society. But it is fiction
and I was looking for authenticity, which left room for onstage testimonials. As for
Giorgio Agamben and Walter Benjamin, whose description of the Paul Klee
painting is a good fit with the rest of the piece, they are thinkers who also study
political change and the human condition. They are familiar references for
Europeans and other Westerners, and thus help me to speak to the audience
about my work.
How did Tame Iti, the Maori chief who bared his buttocks at the Queen of
England to protest the expropriation of his people’s lands, end up in the piece?
There are a lot shows entitled Tempest that do not resemble the piece that I am
bringing to Canada. Tame Iti invited me to present it to commemorate the first
anniversary of the police raids on his community. I said, “Fine, but we’ll present it
outdoors and we’ll involve local people.” And that was what we did, and then the
adventure with him continued. Of course, the people I usually work with at MAU
were also involved in the project. They have been with me for 15 or 16 years, and I
believe I’ll be spending the rest of my life with them. I do not choose artists for my
productions. The performers are friends and acquaintances, and creating work is
how we live as an artistic community. We come from different islands in the South
Seas and we’re looking for a powerful platform for critical reflection and creativity,
a place to talk about our images, our songs, our poetry and our aesthetics. In
Europe I’m often asked if what I do is contemporary dance. I don’t want to be
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another Pina Bausch! Contemporary is not a synonym for European, but a
reflection of what is going on in the world today and what I am trying to do.
Several European critics have mentioned the strength of your piece and
emphasized its impenetrability, but for you it has a ceremonial dimension that is
futile to try to explain.
I think that the body will always remain a secret for us. Our bodies have been
formed culturally, politically and socially, long before our birth. So my body
speaks for my body, and dance does not serve my ideas. For me, presence is
more important than form, and if I dance, it is primarily to create the opportunity
for encounters. I try to create theatre that is ceremony, a space that includes
everyone, rather than being on stage as if to say “Look at how I dance.” I try to
create occasions where we can set our egos aside and become more sensitive,
more vulnerable, more aware of others and of everything that is not us.
By Fabienne Cabado
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TAME ITI’S SPEECH IN TEMPEST
TE MANA MOTUHAKE O TUHOE
Your Majesty, Queen of England
My mother is the mist; my father is the mountain,
Enquire as to where the mountain and the mist come from and I will tell you that
is where I come from.
The great Ariki, Toi and Potiki give me the right to stake my claim. Tuhoe gives
me my sovereignty, the right to determine my own destiny. I am standing before
all, a descendant of Tuhoe. Tuhoe is my dominion that keeps chaos at bay. It is
what connects me to myself.
Our great ancestors carried the desires and dreams of Tuhoe, symbolizing the
Tuhoe presence. They held the mauri, the internal drive, and the courage to hold
fast to their dreams and their way of life. Te Urewera our territory is our marae
and every person is responsible for his or her marae. You situate yourself where
your strength is, beside your ancestral house. This is your genealogy, your
skeleton, and your backbone as you look across your marae; your customs and
traditions become the rules of behavior, the code of conduct within the designated
grounds.
Tuhoe invented philosophies so not to be enslaved by the philosophies of others.
Our Mana Motuhake therefore is to maintain the continuity and the consistency by
being allowed to express the Tuhoe traditions. We have however become
disconnected from our philosophies and become entrapped in the philosophies of
others; actions that seek to erode and disconnect us from our traditions are
actions that seek to enslave us within the regulatory frameworks of others.
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We are fighting for our own meta-autonomy, those practices that gave rise to our
current existence within our own sovereignties, the face of our ancestors, the
divinity of gods and humanity. We remain resolute in maintaining the boundaries
of our marae. The marae is an example of the dominion of Tuhoe over its lands;
the meetinghouse is what gives value to the origins of the mountains and the mist.
The price of the liberty that the many peoples of Tuhoe sort to maintain was then
and remains to this day, the will and purposefulness of knowing, being, and
protecting the integrity of who you are, and not in the explanation of ourselves to
others. The earth does not explain itself to mankind. It was here first. If you want
to find out who we are, my responses may not be of much help.
Tuhoe have been criticized and reprioritized in the written records of those who
have sort to drag us from the Te Urewera. We have been scorned as slow in
coming forward and unwilling to accept development and we have been labeled as
selfish and fundamentalists.
Nevertheless it is now becoming clear to others why Tuhoe have conducted
themselves in the way in which they have, as it is upon this conduct that their
liberty depends. I too have a dream
To be able to claim that we are free
We are the lake
The lake is us
We are the mountain
The mountain is us
We are the forest
And the forest is us
We are the stars
There is one spirit in all creation
That is the unity of all creation
That is what our ancestors passed on
Our lands were stolen
So too were our gardens and our cultivations
Our ancestors were abducted and moved from their homes
Away from the lake
Away from our food sources
And our ancestors lived in abject poverty with little food
That is why I describe you as people who consume their own mother
You desecrated our ancestor papatuanuku
Our Earth-mother
You dug her up
You ripped up her bones
And you trampled upon our mother
When you arrived our beliefs were in insects, the rivers, the birds, and the trees
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And in the creation of Tane, god of the forest and humans
They were gods among gods
You come and tell us your god is the true belief
And whats more you bring your god who is judgmental
December 25th 1869
The Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ
The time Christians proclaim peace throughout the land and good will to all
people
That was the day the Christians invaded our lands
Our homes, they despoiled the land
Raped our women and children
And murdered our ancestors
Your absolute goal from the beginning was to blunder, to confiscate and to
oppress the independence and sovereignty of Tuhoe
The genesis of this ideology is in your supreme belief that fair civilization is
superior
Your laws are superior
Your institutions are superior
Your god is superior
Your language is superior
Your physical look is superior
And to this day you still believe in your superiority
I stand here before you wondering of my redemption
I look at the endless horizon
Questioning my direction
Questioning the fairness of life
Questioning justice
Dreaming of a better life for my people
I too have a dream
I too have children and a family
I too want to be free
I too will die like you
Then you and I will become the one body of Papatuanuku
Lemi Ponifasio created the text for the Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe speech from views
expressed by members of Ngai Tuhoe before the Waitangi Tribunal, 2005.
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LEMI PONIFASIO’S BIOGRAPHY
Lemi Ponifasio was born in the village of Lano, Samoa. He is a high Chief of
Samoa. He is a leader in the development of contemporary Pacific arts, dance and
theatre. Ponifasio studied philosophy and politics at the University of Auckland in
New Zealand, where he started to experiment with performance. He trained in
ballet and contemporary dance before dedicating himself to the development of
his own dance. A provocative and inspirational choreographer, his dance world is
inhabited by humans, animals, gods and demi-gods. His radical approach to
contemporary performance exists in state of ceremony and in between the
elements of dance, theatre, oratory and visual arts. Ponifasio founded MAU in
1995, naming it after the Samoan independence movement Mau. Mau means
vision or revolution. Ponifasio travels throughout the Pacific region collaborating
with master artists, musicians, orators, navigators, priests, architects and
villages. He also presents his works in major international arts festivals such as
the Venice Biennale, Holland Festival, Vienna Festival, Adelaide Festival and
Theater Der Welt.
KunstenFestivaldesarts, Brussels
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PRESENTATION OF THE COMPANY MAU
Lemi Ponifasio's dancers belong to the 20 percent Maori, the original inhabitants
of New Zealand, or to the 5 percent migrant communities from the South Pacific
Islands. MAU's work is radically contemporary in its esthetics, but draws heavily
on the traditions of the South Pacific peoples. Ponifasio wrests these traditions
from their folkloric context after due consideration with his dancers, the bearers of
that cultural heritage. He revitalises the past and connects it to the present. In a
society which hasn't yet finished dealing with its colonial past, which wavers
between the Commonwealth and the Pacific, this is a political act. In the
performance of Tempest which we saw on our trip, Ponifasio goes one step further.
TEMPEST: THE FIGHT FOR (CIVIL) RIGHTS
Against the background of Shakespeare's Tempest, which is notably about
institutional injustice, he gives the stage to Tame Iti, famous in New Zealand as a
controversial Maori activist. In an hour and a half, Tame Iti explains how the
European New Zealanders attempted to eradicate his culture and language. Yet
Tempest is not only the story of a cultural emancipation or the struggles of
indigenous peoples. By beginning the representation with a one-minute-long silent
shot of the Algerian Ahmed Zaoui, a former ISF militant who sought political
asylum in New Zealand and was subsequently held for 5 years without any form of
trial, Ponifasio expressly locates his Tempest against the current backdrop of the
loss of civil rights. The War on Terror unleashed by Bush and Co. has created a
climate in which Western governments have implemented a repressive legal
framework which undermines basic civil rights. In passing, these laws have been
misused to put radical domestic opponents behind bars. Ponifasio's analysis in
Tempest draws heavily on the reflections of Giorgio Agamben, an Italian political
philosopher. According to Agamben, a number of state measures should no longer
be seen as exceptional, but will rather form the new 'normality' for relations with
citizens. Electronic fingerprints, eye or scent scans, subcutaneous tatoos and
other techniques developed for the 'dangerous class' of citizens are already being
widely applied to citizens. "In recent years," says Agamben, "an attempt has been
made to make means of control which had always rightly been considered
inhuman and exceptional, acceptable as humane and normal dimensions of our
lives."
'TERRORIST' TAME ITI IMPRISONED
When we saw it performed in March 2007 in MAU's rehearsal space, a converted
barn, Tempest revealed a remarkable foresight. Less than six months later, on 15
October 2007, Tame Iti was picked up with 16 other 'terrorist suspects' in a brutal
police raid. What had they been up to? They had devoted themselves to social
change, ecological reform, and the return of vital land to the Maori. The Maori
have been treated wretchedly for hundreds of years and have lost all their lands.
Their language was only officially recognized in the early nineties. Much remains
to be done today, too: average Maori life expectancy and their level of employment
are much lower than those of other New Zealanders. That the police and the
judiciary were serious in their reprisals, is proven by the perfidious fact that the
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2002 Suppression of Terrorism Act, voted directly after 9/11, was used
indiscriminately and shamelessly. Maori activists had at once said that it would
just be a matter of time before that law would be used against them. Because of
that law, those arrested had been followed, filmed and wiretapped for months.
Shortly after the raid, the New Zealand government rushed a Suppression of
Terrorism Amendment Bill through parliament, which contains yet another
reinforcement of the terrorism bill. Within a month, all suspects were released on
bail, including Tame Iti. The only charge which he could stand trial for this
autumn concerns the illegal possession of weapons (guns and Molotov cocktails)
on expeditions in 'the bush', at once renamed 'paramilitary training camps' by the
police. The illegal possession of weapons was already punishable in New Zealand
under the Fire Arms Act. No terrorism law was necessary for that purpose. The
illegal possession of weapons in no way makes these people 'terrorists'. This crisis
shows that the political establishment in New Zealand has provided highly
inadequate solutions to the problems of 25 percent of its population. But to admit
that would be more difficult than to dump the Maori opponents in with
internationally vilified terrorists.
TAME ITI AT THE KUNSTENFESTIVALDESARTS
In March of this year, however, Lemi Ponifasio presented a second version of his
Tempest in Auckland. That Tame Iti will be able to leave the country to perform
this Tempest II in Brussels and on other dates in Europe, is almost certain. But
apparently his son is ready to take his place if necessary. His succession is
guaranteed.
Jan Goossens & Hildegard De Vuyst, Press Kit of the KVS for the Kunsten
festivaldesarts in Brussels, may, 2008.
A FEW SHOWS
Birds With Skymirrors
Tempest II
Requiem
Paradise
Bone Flute
MAUForum
TOURING DATES
16-17/01/2010, Le Maillon, Strasbourg
22-23/01/2010, De Singel, Anvers
2/02/2010, Grand T, Nantes
7-8/02/2010, Festival "C’est de la danse contemporaine", Toulouse
12-14/02/2010, Mercat dels Flors (Mercado de las Flores), Barcelone
19-20/02/2010, Théâtre KVS, Bruxelles
2-3/04/2011, RedCat CALARTS, Million Dollar Theater LA
7-9/04/2011, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Novellus Theater, San Fransisco
15-16/04/2011, Hopkins center, The Moore Theater, Dartmouth
27-28/05/2011, Singapore Arts Festival, Esplanade, Singapore
PRESS KIT TEMPEST: WITHOUT A BODY 11