A Moving Experience of Island Dance

The Department of Internal Affairs

Media Release
14 March, 2013

A Moving Experience of Island Dance

A celebration of vibrant Pacific dance traditions is the latest exhibition at the Alexander Turnbull Library.

“Island Style: Dancing the Pacific views dance mainly from the perspective of outside observers - people such as travellers, academics and tourists. They saw dance as a spectacle, a window into foreign ways,” co-curator Seán McMahon comments. “For Pacific peoples themselves, traditional dance has always been at the heart of their culture.”

Diane Woods, another of the exhibition curators, notes that, “Very often, we don't know the names of the people in the photographs on display. We would be delighted if someone could tell us more about the 'unidentified young woman' from Fiji who is shown dancing on the Gallery poster”: http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23008239

Held in the Alexander Turnbull Library Gallery, Island Style draws on the rich collections of images, words and sound held at the Library. In recent decades, festivals across the Pacific and in New Zealand have provided opportunities for new generations to experience traditional dance practices and to connect with their cultural identity.

From the Samoan siva through to the Tokelauan fatele, the exhibition provides a unique view into traditional dance practices in the Pacific region. Visit our Gallery and celebrate Pacific dance through people, place and time.

A selection of Pacific dance images from the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library are displayed on Digital NZ: http://tinyurl.com/b4owr32

Turnbull Gallery, Level 1 Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library Building, Corner of Molesworth & Aitken Streets, Wellington. 18 March 2013 – 11 May 2013; Mon – Sat, 10.00am – 5.00pm

ENDS

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