[entertainment]


Amerikanesia: Exploring cultural identity through dance.
Exclusive interview with Mevina and Tiana Liufau of Nonosina.

[Photo: Tiana Liufau and the Nonosina dancers and musicians]

PEM: Amerikanesia is such a radical departure from tradition and what you normally do as Nonosina. How did you come up with the concept and why?

Mevina: Basically, the concept was formed in 2005 when I participated in the Heiva in Tahiti. Because of my work with Nonosina and other groups in Tahiti, I was asked to choreograph for the men of the dance troupe Hei Tahiti. I had participated in the Heiva before, but this time, there was a big protest in Tahiti from all the other group leaders, and they basically voted me out. They changed the rules specifically because of the situation. Before, the rules were you had to be Polynesian to participate in the Heiva, but the rules didn't specify what island. But, they changed the rules to state that you had to be of Tahitian descent and you must be born in Tahiti. (Hei Tahiti ended up winning the top prize for an amateur group in the Heiva of 2005)

PEM: How did that experience affect you?

Mevina: I was hurt because I've been doing Tahitian dancing my whole life. I lived and danced in Tahiti for 10 years, and the groups that I danced for were protesting against me and they were questioning my identity. I know I am not Tahitian and I never wanted to claim that I am. I am a proud Samoan. But, I was shocked because I came from those groups, I learned from them, they were my friends. I know they are trying to protect their culture, and that is fine. But it forced me to rethink of my background, where I come from, about who I am and also my own group in the USA.

PEM: So, who is your target audience and what do you hope they take away from Amerikanesia?

Tiana: My brother brought up the concept of Amerikanesia and it was hard of first to define what is was. But if you think about it, it reflects who we are - we are Americans but Polynesian by blood. With those two things, we create a very different art. We grew up in Orange County and we are surrounded by so many art forms and music, so we wanted to combine the things that we love into dance and music. We wanted to show more about us, about being Polynesians in America. Mevina presented the concept and I loved it, so we just took the idea and ran with it.

Mevina: The whole point of Amerikanesia is for the world to see who we are as Polynesian people in America. We have yet to make our mark in this world. I know that we are making strides in our own communities but we want to show more. With Amerikanesia, we want to show the human experience, the diversity of the areas of where we are from. The show reflects the diversity of our group and our dancers are not all Polynesian. That's the beauty of it. But it's also a celebration of dance, because a lot of times today, we as Polynesians say "oh, we don't have time to dance." Our original intention was not to provoke, but during the creation process, we were asking, what will people, especially our people, think? So in the end, I want Amerikanesia to provoke. I want our kids to question their identity. I put so called palangi music like rock, hip hop and electronic, to get people to think differently. We shouldn't be confined to the stereotypes like being in gangs or listening to one kind of music.

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