Changing Pedagogical Approaches in ‘Ori Tahiti: “Traditional” Dance for a Non-traditional Generation

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, dance education on the island of Tahiti is intricately tied to new ideas about movement, technical virtuosity, and access to dance training combined with the view of contemporary Tahitians that the classroom offers a superior venue for transmitting the traditional art of ‘ori tahiti (Tahitian-style dancing). This physical and conceptual transformation reflects a period of social and artistic change that began in the 1980s and 1990s, one that moved Tahitian society from the practice of learning traditional dance as an informal participatory group activity for a specific community event to the transformed notion of dance education as a product of teacher-based learning intended to fulfill individual goals. This chapter discusses a brief history of this transformation and contrasts traditional informal ‘ite (watch; know) learning with classroom training acquired through ha‘api‘i (formal education). Discussion then turns to private dance school instruction as one example of contemporary artistic training and considers Tahiti’s response to the challenges posed by this pedagogical shift.