TEMPEST: WITHOUT A BODY
An arresting work of sombre beauty that denounces the loss of liberty and the escalation of state powers in the contemporary world. An odyssey through the singular imagery of a choreographer from Polynesia.
The Twilight of Liberty
Life emerges from the shadows as strange chanting seems to be tolling the death knell for a world on the road to ruin. A man thrashes about in a cloud of ashes. An angel with wings too small for flight bellows with helplessness. A wildcat paces in circles in a cage of light. A group of people start to dance in unison. In a world where past and future are jumbled together, the characters form a collection of minimalist, highly stylized tableaux as they present a slow, enigmatic and very moving ceremony.
An arresting work of sombre beauty, Tempest: without a Body is a response to the post-9/11 political climate and policies aimed at crushing personal liberty. This piece by Lemi Ponifasio, a Samoan choreographer living in New Zealand, bears his distinctive signature of combining elements of Oceanic culture with social activism and stunning visuals. A powerful work by a major artist.
MAU / My Destiny
Founded in 1995 in Auckland and consisting of some fifteen artists who hail from various Pacific islands, the company is named after the Samoan independence movement – MAU means revolution. Lemi Ponifasio’s work gives voice to the downtrodden, to the scorned and the excluded, and he often gets local communities involved in the artistic process. While his pieces have a certain topicality (American policy in Tempest: Without A Body, the destruction of the planet in Birds with Skymirrors), their origin springs from the subconscious of a group of artists that the choreographer brings together, shaping and staging their ideas. His work has met with acclaim in more than 20 countries.
PRODUCED BY MAU
CONCEPT, SET DESIGN, CHOREOGRAPHY, TEXT AND DIRECTION LEMI PONIFASIOPERFORMED BY FRANCES CHAN + KELEMETE FU’A + TAME ITI + IOANE PAPALII + HELMI PRASETYO (TEATER RUANG) + TANGAROA TAARA + TEATAKI TAMANGO + GERARD TATIRETA + ARIKITAU TENTAU + MAEREKE TETEKA + BUREBURE TIBWERELIGHTING DESIGN HELEN TODD
WITH THE SUPPORT OF ARTS COUNCIL CREATIVE NEW ZEALAND
PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH PLACE DES ARTS
WRITTEN BY FABIENNE CABADOTRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH
SPONSOR OF THE SHOW
LEMI PONIFASIO (AUCKLAND)
Lemi Ponifasio, A Man of his People
The words “art” and “artists” do not exist in the language of the Samoa Islands where Lemi Ponifasio was born in 1963.
Edition 2011
Performances
- Fri10June
- Sat11June
