SLC / Va‘aomanū Pasifika Research Seminar Series 2019 - Tupe Lualua

Date: 4 September 2019 Time: 3.00 pm

Fatu Na Totō: Planted Seed

Presented by Tupe Lualua

Abstract

In this seminar, Wellington dancer and choreographer, Tupe Lualua, will speak about her work as the 2019 Creative New Zealand Sāmoa Artist in Residence. Her three month residency is offered in partnership with the National University of Sāmoa and with support from the New Zealand High Commission in Apia. It offers a chance for midcareer or established New Zealand artists of Pacific heritage to develop their skills and Practice.

During her residency, Tupe will be exploring the role of the taule'ale’a (untitled man) within the village community. In her current research on the taule’ale’a and the aumaga (the social class of taule’ale’a), she hopes to acknowledge how vital their indigenous knowledge is for the ecology of Samoan culture and society. As part of the residency, Tupe will be spending time with aumaga and taule’ale’a across different villages to create and teach a choreographed work based on their movements and experiences. She hopes to “shine the light on the Taule’ale’a and the importance of the Aumaga in Samoan Society.”

Her late father, Matua I Falemua Tolua Lualua, and late cousin, Pili Tilo Lualua, were the driving inspirations behind her residency project. “I learned a lot about performing Siva Sāmoa from my father and then became amazed at his knowledge of Sāmoan flora and fauna during a visit to Lefaga in 2011. His stories of the plantation were embodied through our everyday interactions with my cousin Pili.”

Biography

A graduate of Whitireia NZ and Victoria University, Tupe Lualua is a practitioner of Pacific dance and theatre. As a dancer, she has toured throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States performing at International Festivals as a student and graduate of Whitireia Performing Arts, where she also taught Siva Samoa on the Bachelor of Applied Arts programme from 2009 to 2019.

Tupe founded the Le Moana dance company in 2012, creating their first work, Fatu Na Totō, for the Wellington Fringe Festival 2013. The premiere season was a sold out success, named ‘pick of the fringe,’ and then remounted at the Tempo New Zealand dance festival which also sold out at Q Theatre in Auckland. 1918 by Le Moana premiered in Wellington in 2015 and then toured to Auckland, Hamilton, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in 2016. The U.S. premiere of 1918 at the San Diego International Fringe Festival in June 2016 saw Le Moana awarded with the critics’ choice and top box office awards. In 2017, Le Moana presented Purple Onion in the Kia Mau festival and Aumaga in the Pacific Dance festival. Since 2014, Le Moana have hosted the annual Measina Festival in Wellington and Porirua.