The Tahitian Dance Moves

Towards a Renaissance

Once the missionaries were shocked ... but "narrow minded, barren prudishness" is being defeated as . . .

By Mme. TEROROHEIARII MOUA, of Tahiti.

F,OM time immemorial, dancing has been the life and soul of the Tahitian people. It drew its inspiration from the worship of gods and kings, from the respect due to chiefs, and above all, from the love of beauty which, in Tahiti, pervades the bold mountains, the sweet-smelling valleys, the simmer ing lagoons and the dazzling sky; from a child’s smile, from a mother’s tenderness, from the natural charm of woman and the proud strength of man, and lastly, from the “joie de vivre” of a people who are its soul.

To the “Ariois”, lavishers of joy, tireless and magnificent troubadors, dancing was the highlight of all feasts, plays, heroic ballads and comedies.

To some enthusiasts to-day, the spell of dancing is in the joy of creation, in living their own composition and performing it through co-ordination of mind and body, thus identifying themselves with nature and life.

To the ever-dreaming Tahitian, dancing is also a means of express ing his personality through the skilful use of choreographic move ments and attitudes combined with sumptuous costumes whose ac cessories are an enhancement to beauty. The Tahitian finds beauty only in the beautiful and therefore never burdens himself with masks, paint or distortions in the expression of his feelings.

In lovely Tahiti, everything seems an enticement to dance.

"Shocked"

But why, you may inquire, the litheness, the movement of the hips so distinctive of the Tahitian dance, whereas the torso remains still?

Old wives might answer emphatic ally “Mai Te reira i hoa” (that is the way it is); inborn in the Tahitian people, dancing is a gift of tke gods and remains what it is—an enigma, a problem insoluble as the origin of our race ... a mystery.

Yet this feature, so typically Polynesian of our dancing, shocked the modesty of the first missionaries, who found it difficult to reconcile their vocation, admir able in itself, with a naturistic approach to choreographic ex pression. Through them and their disapproval, dancing fell into

disrepute, and, from Monsieur de Pritchard, to contemporary times, the art was at a standstill.

Poor, beloved dance, so noble and so pure! Whether in sole or in group performances, it expresses the entire soul of a healthy people who see no immodesty, no lewdness in its gestures. One cannot claim to know, let alone form an opinion on Tahitian dancing, unless it has been performed by normal and sober people and not by depraved characters gorged with liquor, who reduce this folklore art to the level of pornography.

Dance in Secret Sorry years, sorry stages, re deemed only by the folklore festivals of the Fourteenth of July which enabled the people of Tahiti, temporarily released from their inhibitions, to give way to the lure of rhythm.

And I wish here to pay tribute to the Mayor of Papeete, Mr. A.

Poroi, who, shortly after taking up office, reacted energetically against the smothering atmosphere described above, by appointing a competent and strict Folklore Com mittee. One of its first tasks was to free the men from the modest shorts, hanging well below the lithe “more” made of glistening grass,

and the women from their ridiculous Mother Hubbard dresses.

Thus was restored the freedom of movement required for Tahitian dancing. Narrow-minded, barren prudishness had been defeated.

However, most young girls still hide to dance, and many women, in fear of their husbands or family gossip, conceal their evolutions —to the tune of a miserly gramophone —between four sordid walls.

Numerous are the Tahitians—both male and female —who love dancing but refrain from heeding to its ancestral call to avoid their reputation being sullied. “E Mea haa ma” (it is shameful).

And yet, throughout the world, races and countries proudly retain their ways and customs. Why not Tahiti? We need no foreign imports to perpetuate the integrity of our dancing which is the re flection of the Tahitian soul, slumbering perhaps, but certainly not dead. The Tahitian people alone can revive this, their heir loom, and to do so they will have to reconsider that part of their folklore in the light of tradition, with minds as clear and unimpeded as those of their ancestors who certainly saw nothing shameful in the choreographic art.

Indeed, it will be no easy task to bring pressure to bear on families and religious opinions.

One will meet with those who will not be convinced, with the excuses of the defeatists and the waverings of the timorous, but psychology and persuasion will break down these barriers, for every true Tahitian is born with the melody of the guitar in his brain and rhythm in all his body.

Timid Start Also, the intelligentsia and the public-spirited members of the island will help to revive this aspect of the local folklore without which Tahiti would no longer be the gem of the South Pacific. And this is of importance when one ponders on the influence that a rebirth of folklore in French Polynesia may have on the develop ment of tourism.

A timid start in this work of renovation was made in Tahiti in June, 1956, and through rough and smooth, a folklore group was born in Papeete, and two others, in Moorea and Bora-Bora respectively.

It is only a first move, but in spite of the work and concentration required during rehearsals, the enthusiasm and stimulus aroused are such that every hope can be entertained for the future of Tahitian dancing.

Any efforts made to dispel the feeling of sin which attaches to dancing are laudable, re-setting this art along its traditional lines is better, but perfection will be attained with the creation of an Academy of Polynesian Dance and Music.