Saltwater feet: The flow of dance in Oceania

Katerina Martina Teaiwa*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    11 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    What does a choreographer do? I make the invisible visible. (Pam Schick in Sally Ann Ness 1992: 12) In this chapter I explore some of the ways in which dance practices and events embody and make visible relations between Pacific peoples, their histories and environments, and the vast body of water that constitutes Oceania. The Pacific Ocean is the largest, deepest and oldest body of water on the planet. It contains around 25,000 islands, and covers one third of the surface of the earth. Despite the region's magnitude, for decades the islands and their inhabitants have been approached and described by countless explorers, scholars, literary critics, artists, travel writers, colonial officials and contemporary policy-makers as small, remote, primitive, dependent and vulnerable. Like the forest for the trees, the ocean is missed for the islands. And yet, the vastness of this region and the manner in which the ancestors of Pacific Islanders successfully explored and settled Oceania over thousands of years contradicts the persistent, terrestrially centric view. Today, many islanders constitute some of the few indigenous communities left on the planet who have autonomy over their lands.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationDeep Blue
    Subtitle of host publicationCritical Reflections on Nature, Religion and Water
    PublisherEquinox Publishing Ltd
    Pages107-126
    Number of pages20
    ISBN (Electronic)9781845537197
    ISBN (Print)9781845532550
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2008

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