Interview: choreographer Lemi Ponifasio

Pollution in the Kiribati homeland of some of his dancers inspired Ponifasio's new work Birds with Skymirrors.

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25th February, 2012

Interview

"If you come to my performance, it is like going to a Japanese garden,” teases choreographer Lemi Ponifasio. “There are no flowers around, just a rock, a bit of gravel – so what you do in that garden is your own construction. But you are sitting there contemplating your existence, right? At that moment, I touch the funny bone of your truth – that’s all. I am not trying to tell you anything.” Ponifasio, internationally acclaimed Samoan New Zealand artistic director of dance company MAU, is as enigmatic as his works, which include Requiem, commissioned by director Peter ...

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