Biography

Choreographer Lemi Ponifasio established the MAU in 1995 as the name for his work and platform for critical reflection and creativity with artists, scholars, activists, intellectuals and community leaders. MAU meaning a declaration to the truth of a matter, or revolution, as an effort to transform. As a High Chief of Samoa, Ponifasio bears the title Sala and is among the intellectual, spiritual and leading personalities of Samoa. His radical and ceremonial visual stagings intersect and transcend conventional ideas of theatre and dance, and civic activism. Without ingratiating to Western aesthetics or South Pacific clichés, his works appropriate states of awareness; hauntingly beautiful and unrelentingly disturbing, they address our past, present and future. Globally, Lemi Ponifasio’s epic productions such as “Tempest”, “Le Savali “ “Birds With Skymirrors”, “Requiem” and “Paradise” have provoked controversy and attention. “Tempest”, which features the Maori activist Tame Iti, is a series of works responding to the escalation of state powers and unlawful detention in the post 9/11 world. “Le Savali” questions power and life and the concept of cities of empire, and “Birds With Skymirrors” is an urgent address to Human / Earth relations in time of climate change. Ponifasio presents his work in major festivals and theatres throughout the world including Theatre de la Ville Paris, Holland Festival, Southbank Centre London, Vienna Festival, the Lincoln Center New York and Edinburg International Festival amongst others. Ponifasio is based in Auckland, New Zealand. The MAU work place is a cultural and creative centre hosting lectures, workshops, symposia and celebrations in collaboration with international and local communities.