Lemi Ponifasio
Salā Lemi Ponifasio (born in Lano Samoa), is globally renowned for his progressive application to theatre, politicking, and engagement with indigenous, Māori and Pacific peoples. He was the Arts Foundation Laureate in 2011, and was the recipient of the Senior Pacific Artist Award in 2012, courtesy of the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards. Early life. Lemi was born in Lano, Samoa to Samoan catechists and moved to New Zealand when he was 15 years old. While at high school in New Zealand he started to attend a series of workshops with the Maori Matua Tohunga master artist  Irirangi Tiakiawa in Rotoiti. Ponifasio was then invited by Maori performing arts leader Tama Huata to work with him as part of his Maori cultural group Takitimu Trust, performing in communities throughout New Zealand and in reservations in Canada. Career. Lemi Ponifasio began his artistic career as an avant-garde experimental performer, staging his epic ten-year solo dance investigation "Body in Crisis", primarily in non-theatrical and outdoor spaces. His brief encounter with modern dance, butoh and classical ballet in the 1980s made him skeptical about the notion of contemporary dance and launched his search for the origin of  his own dance. He started to travel the world and danced continuously. He explored the life of the body through cosmic vision, genealogy, philosophy, architecture, chant, dance and ceremonies of indigenous communities, especially Maori, Kiribati, Kanaky people of New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti and the diverse islands of the Pacific region. After a decade of traveling, living and performing in many countries, Ponifasio returned to New Zealand. Reading Maori rights activist Eva Rickard quote "only dead fish flow with the current", he decided to call his first group performance work "Fish of the Day". Ponifasio formed MAU - the philosophical foundation  and direction of his work, the name of his work, and the communities he works with. MAU is a Samoan word that means the declaration to the truth of a matter. With a group of young performers and friends, Ponifasio created "Illumina" as the first work of MAU performed at the Galaxy Theatre, Auckland, New Zealand 1992. Ponifasio collaborates with people in all walks of life, working in schools, universities, in factories, villages, opera houses, castles, galleries, and stadiums. The work has included fully staged operas, theatre, dance, exhibitions, festivals and community forums. At the forefront of the international art  scene, Ponifasio performs and exhibits his work worldwide including the Festival d'Avignon, BAM Brooklyn Academy of Music New York, Ruhrtriennale, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts New York, Edinburgh International Festival, Theater der Welt, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Onassis Cultural Centre Athens, London's Southbank Centre, Holland Festival, Carriageworks Sydney, Luminato Festival Toronto, Vienna Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Santiago a Mil Chile, the Venice Biennale and in the Pacific region. In 2016, UNESCO invited Ponifasio to write the official message for International Dance Day. Lemi Ponifasio's most recent works include "Standing in Time" (2017) a mauopera with MAU Wahine , "Die Gabe Der Kinder" (2017) with children and community of Hamburg, "Lagimoana" (2015) for the Venice Biennale 56th Visual Arts Exhibition; "Apocalypsis" (2015) with music of R. Murray Schafer at the Luminato Festival, Toronto; "I AM: Mapuche" (2015) and "Ceremonia de Memorias" (2016) with MAU Mapuche the indigenous people of Chile; and "I AM" (2014) for the 100th Anniversary of WW1, which premiered at the Avignon Festival followed by seasons at such places as the Edinburgh International Festival and the Ruhrtriennale, Germany. His other creations include "The Crimson House" (2014) probing the nature of power and a world that sees  all and no longer forgets; "Stones in Her Mouth" (2013), a mauopera with Maori women as transmitters of a life force through oratory and ancient chants; Orff's opera "Prometheus" for the Ruhrtriennale (2012); "Le Savali: Berlin" (2011) confronting the imperial City of Berlin with its own communities of immigrant families in search of belonging and constrained by threat of deportation; "Birds With Skymirrors" (2010) responding to the disappearing Pacific Islands, homelands to most of his performers and devastated by climate change; and "Tempest: Without A Body" (2008) concerning power and terror and the unlawful use of state power post  9/11. Selected Works. Year and place of world premieres by Lemi Ponifasio