PR: Pacific Dance Residency 2013 Announcement

Pacific Dance New Zealand is proud to announce this year's recipient of the Pacific Dance Residency.

This residency is only one of two residencies in the arts offered nationally to specifically Pacific Islands arts practitioners.

This year's residency has been awarded to Tupe Lualua.

Tupe is an established Samoan dance instructor and choreographer based in Porirua, Wellington. She is a performing arts lecturer at Whitireia New Zealand and has over ten-years experience across the performance and education industry.

Tupe’s residency will be delivered in the Porirua area spread over a two-month period between July and September and will include workshops at local Porirua schools and the development of a new dance work based on fa’afiafiaga fa’aSamoa – a repertoire of traditional Samoan dance.

Tupe has this to say about what she would like to achieve during her residency,

“In this Residency I would like to celebrate diversity. Porirua is a vibrant city rich with different cultures. Not only different ethnicities and nationalities but also different human forms, shapes, and ages. Music and dance transcends human differences and builds cultural bridges. I believe when people sing and dance, they are in their true self, presenting the spirit and life connecting them to the physical and spiritual worlds as well as being in an element where they feel at "home". This residency will be an opportunity for people who have a keen passion for dance and music to share their talents, do what they love and explore their creativity.”

Tupe’s dance work will be an exploration of several components making up a fiafiaga. These include an Ulufale (entrance), Laulausiva (opening song and dance), Ma'ulu'ulu (action dance), Sasa (seated dance), Fa'ataupati (slap dance) and a Taualuga (ending dance); all combining to give one experience.

Although Tupe will be using a Samoan structure to wrap her pieces, she will use a variety of dance elements within the actual choreography. In her words,

“The structure of the repertoire mirrors a fiafiaga fa'asamoa (in the way of Samoan dance repertoire) but the actual choreography will be influenced by the diverse influences practised or expressed during the workshops and not necessarily Siva Samoa e.g, haka, ura, break dancing, contemporary, jazz and of course Samoan and other Pacific dance styles.”

Tupe is a well-travelled dance exponent and this year will also travel to Taiwan before her residency begins and Japan on the completion of her residency. Tupe hopes that the experience in Taiwan will contribute to her workshops but places much of her dance development firmly within her experience growing up in Porirua.

Tupe explains, “Growing up in the diversely rich community of Porirua, embarking on a career in performing arts only seemed like a natural progression from what I had been immersed in from my youth. From Sunday school, choir and youth group at EFKS Ketesemane Church (Congregational Christian Church of Samoa), Polynesian cultural groups at Corinna School, Waitangirua Intermediate and Porirua College - eventually moving onto Whitireia Performing Arts at Pataka. This is the artistic Oceanic village that has raised me. And, this residency is an opporunity for me to reciprocate the inspiration that was given to me and continues to fuel my career no matter where I go.”

Pacific Dance New Zealand would like to wish Tupe all the best in her residency and looks forward to what may come from this developmental opportunity.

*Tupe Lualua is a graduate of the Whitireia Bachelor of Applied Arts (Performing Arts) and is currently completing a post-graduate diploma in Pacific Studies at Victoria University. She has performed and choreographed in several plays and dance works including – The Factory (2011), Poly-Zygotic (2009), and Fatu na Toto (2013). She has also toured extensively with both Whitireia New Zealand, Taumata Pasifika Dance Company and Waka Ura Cultural Dance Company, which she also managed (2005 – 2008).
* The Pacific Dance Residency is one of only two national arts residencies specifically for artists of Pacific Islands heritage.

For more information visit – www.pacificdance.co.nz
Email: marketing@pacificdance.co.nz
Ph: +64 9 376 00 60