Taualuga: The Last Dance is a solo dance piece choreographed and performed by Shigeyuki Kihara.
Kihara draws on the classical Samoan taualuga dance to retell the cultural legacy of colonialism in Sāmoa from an indigenous perspective. A dancer in a restrictive Victorian mourning dress moves gracefully to a chant sung by village elders, unleashing the aitu (ancestor spirit).
Kihara created the piece in response to a series of historical photographs taken by Alfred John Tattersall, Thomas Andrew, and the Burton Brothers during the colonial administration of Sāmoa by New Zealand (1914–62). Many of these photographs are in Te Papa’s collections.
Taualuga: The Last Dance has so far been performed at the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Musée du Quai Branly, Paris; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
See some of the Burton Brothers’ Pacific photographs in Te Papa’s collection
Shigeyuki Kihara
Shigeyuki Kihara is a Samoan-born artist and curator. Her work has featured in several international contemporary art surveys and is held in a number of private and public collections, including at Te Papa and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Visit Shigeyuki Kihara’s website
See works by Shigeyuki Kihara in Te Papa’s collection