Samoan goddess central to dance

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

AN education manager by day, in her other life Malia Patea-Taylor is a writer composer and this week she has combined the two.

To help mark Matariki 2016, the Te Wananga O Aotearoa staffer is presenting a theatrical production under the Tautua Productions banner, in which dances are set to live Pacific drumming.

The work, Nafanua, is about Ms Patea-Taylor’s ancestor, a Samoan fa’afafine Akua (goddess of the Pacific) and is on at TWOA’s Childers Road campus this evening.

While she writes, directs and performs in the show, she says it’s the rest of the cast that’s really got her attention.

“As with last year’s show, Tagaloa, we have been working alongside some of the most dedicated kids in our community to put this play on,” she says.

“We hope whanau will come along and enjoy a night story. It’s free, but if people are hungry they can get a $10 Island feast.”

Tautua team member Melanie Tahata describes the production is “a community collective exercise in indigenous feminism”.

“We are celebrating being mothers. We are celebrating our children who feature in this production. And we are celebrating our ancestors who gave us these stories and made us who we are today.”

Celebrating Maori New YearNafanua is one of a cluster of events TWOA is promoting to help celebrate the Maori New Year, including yesterday’s Upu storytelling event at Tairawhiti Museum.

It all continues tomorrow with the Issues At Our Shorestep interactive discussion on the environmental and social issues affecting the Pacifc.

Then just over a week later the campus hosts Te Iwa o Matariki travelling roadshow, described as an exercise in re-education.

Toured by tikanga Maori expert Paraone Gloyne, the show challenges the “commonly held misconception” that Matariki is a grouping of seven stars and is delivered via an 80-square-metre truck housing an immersive 180-degree cinema.

Free to the community, the roadshow is a chance to engage with traditional korero about Matariki and the theories around the stars.

“We can show you that there are actually nine stars in Matariki, not seven, according to Maori custom and tradition,” said Paraone Gloyne.

“It is a rediscovery of the old and is vital in maintaining traditional knowledge that could otherwise be lost.”

The experience is also a reminder that there is a lot of matauranga Maori (knowledge) yet to be rediscovered and relearned, he said.

“This ‘new old-knowledge’ around Matariki challenges our perceptions and pushes us to consider the deeper meaning of Matariki and its importance.”

Overall, the events for Matariki 2016 focus on “our language, our stories and our truth”, said Malia Patea-Taylor.

“It is a way of remembering the power of ancestral stories and knowledge to enable us to move forward as conscious kaitiaki of our world.”

Nafanua is on at TWOA’s Whirikoka Campus at 6pm today (June 22).The Issues At Our Shorestep interactive discussion is also on at the campus, Thursday, June 23 (10.30am-12 noon).Te Iwa o Matariki is offered at the campus on Friday, July 1. To book a 30-minute movie experience contact TWOA’s Whirikoka Campus.