dancers — BLOG — PhoTophe

THE NIGHT OF THE ILLUMINATED JAIL

Noumea, New Caledonia

This event was organised by Association Témoignage d'Un Passé, hosted by them and Site historique de l'île Nou, and held at the Centre de Rencontres et d’Échanges Internationaux du Pacifique (CREIPAC) in Nouville. An evening of music, lights, dance and comedy gave vibrance to this heritage site.

My objective for the evening was to capture the lights on these century old buildings. My mistake though was not arriving before blue hour. It would’ve bumped a couple of these photos a notch above average.

Historically, this place was a hard labour prison and is now a place where people from all over the world come to learn French. And I’m sure to discover the culture here and it’s people.

FP - THE LAST DANCE

First off, I have to apologies for not catching the name of this group. This was the last performance of the day and unfortunately the other dance videos of this group didn't turn out at all. They were very jumpy and choppy. Don't know what happened there but the videos weren't usable.

This is another Wallisian, and I think Futunan, dance group. Very different dances compared to Pacifika. You'll notice at the bottom of this video, on the ground, some wood-carved weapons. They used them in their previous dances but, as I mentioned above, those videos aren't available. Just like Tahiti Nui, this group had their own musicians.

FP - PACIFIKA

Here's the second video from last weeks post, Fête Paroissiale. I have one more that I'll post in the next couple of days.

Pacifika is a Wallisian dance group. Male and female dancers of all ages here unlike the Tahiti Nui group. Some of the male dances are very powerful and can even seem aggressive. One of the dances seem to depict a confrontation of two groups. It also reminds me of Kata in martial arts. Looking at the female dances, you'd be mistaken to think there's only upper body movement. But pay close attention to the feet movement in some of the standing dances. They're small and subtle but have quite an impact on the dance. Pacifica dance to traditional and more modern music. An impressive group to watch.

FP - TAHITI NUI

In last week's post, Fête Paroissiale, I said I was going to share a couple of compilation videos of the dance groups.

This first of three videos is of Tahiti Nui. A Tahitian dance group with their own musicians. You'll see that they have very young musicians and dancers, as young as four years old. An all female dance group with beautiful costumes

RETRAITE AUX FLAMBEAUX

LANTERN RETREAT

This event happens on the eve of Bastille Day (French National Day). In the last couple of years the parade has started from Place Bir Hakeim and ends at Place Des Cocotiers, as always (Noumea, New Caledonia). Lanterns are distributed at the beginning of the evening around 6:30 p.m.. At 7 p.m. we had the Royal Australian Air Force band perform with a couple of dancers. There fantastic! Straight after that we start the parade down Avenue Victoire Henry Lafleure onto Avenue Marichal Foch to Place Des Cocotiers. An leisurely half hour walk. The parade ends with fireworks at 7:45 p.m.. An excellent evening for young and old but kids, especially, love it.