Fijian dancers learn from kiwi starlet

Transcript

A dance group in Fiji have gained a fresh perspective on their performance art form with the help of New Zealand choreographer Sarah Foster-Sproull.

The VOU dance group whose name means "new" in Fijian spent last week with Ms Foster-Sproull working on a new contemporary piece called Mataqali Drift.

Ms Foster-Sproull has worked with leading choreographers and dance companies in New Zealand including Footnote Dance and the New Zealand Dance Company.

Speaking in Suva last month, she said it was rewarding sharing her knowledge, perspective and experience with students from VOU and the Fiji National University.

Sarah Foster-Sproull speaking to Koroi Hawkins.

Ms Foster-Sproull's visit included a public lecture and culminated in the performance of a new contemporary piece by the VOU dance group on Friday and the launching of their revamped website, www.voufiji.com

SARAH FOSTER-SPROULL: Essentially I am here in Suva to mentor the dancers in a dance company called VOU.  They've made a really interesting work called 'Mataqali Drift' and it tells some stories about their experiences and going back and experiencing culture from different areas in Fiji.  It's a contemporary dance work so in part they are contemporising some of the content and exploring some of the traditional content as well.  My role within this experience is to mentor them through that by encouraging development in certain sections of the contemporary material and by looking at the structure of the overall show and helping to piece it together in a way that tells a somewhat narrative story to the audience.

KOROI HAWKINS:  Looking at your profile, your career, you have had quite a varied experience over different areas and continents.  What's the Fiji experience been like?

SFS:  It's so cool.  It's so cool.  It's winter right?  But it's not winter for me.  It is so warm.  Everyone is astounded that I am sleeping with just a sheet over me at night but seriously I am loving it.  It's so relaxed, beautiful food, friendly people, cool dancers.  It's really great.      

KH:  The dance, the routines that they are going through, what's that like?

SFS:  It's cool.  I saw the show last year in the Tempo Festival in Auckland.  I have a real affinity with Sachiko and her ethos with her company so I was quite drawn to finding out more about how they made the work.  What the dancers have done is really great in terms of their own personal experiences, drawing from that, and building it into a contemporary dance work with traditional elements as well.

KH:  Thoughts on developing or looking into Pacific dancers doing the kind of thing that VOU is doing?

SFS:  I've got a lot of thoughts about it.  It's been a really awesome experience working with these guys, particularly on the contemporary material, because the contemporary material is the domain I have the most expertise in.  In terms of contemporising Pacific content, I can't speak with a tremendous amount of expertise in that area but I do know what I enjoy ascetically about performance and that is certainly what the VOU dancers are delivering within the show.

Sarah Foster-Sproull speaking to Koroi Hawkins.

Ms Foster-Sproull's visit included a public lecture and culminated in the performance of a new contemporary piece by the VOU dance group on Friday and the launching of their revamped website, www.voufiji.com