Storytelling at Marae Arahurahu
An invitation to experience power and creative energy at a sacred site

Guests streamed up the dirt road and wound through trees and flowers to the site of the performance. The bleachers were almost full when we arrived.
Dancers and musicians rushed through their final preparations, and then the scene was set. If this place had a roof, they were about to blow it off.

Photo by Eric Guth
This show was part of the Heiva festival, and we’re less than an hour from Pape’ete, Tahiti at a site that hummed with life as scores of dancers, actors, and musicians performed an original creation. Some of the scenes were based in old stories, but the impression I got had little to do with the narrative.
We were, again, given permission to be backstage, so Eric, Matt, and I ran in different directions between scenes, trying to grasp the essence of this event. I scribbled in my notebook, “big smiles backstage,” “bare feet,” “so much fun.”

Photo by Eric Guth
It was our second day here as a team, and I could do little but let myself be taken away by the show. We watched as joy, pride, and skill transformed the forest into a theatre.

Photo by Eric Guth
Dancers would run behind the bleachers for costume changes between these intricate scenes.

Photo by Eric Guth
Every detail of adornment and storytelling was organized in make shift dressing rooms between the crowd and the trees.

Photo by Eric Guth
I found it an unusual mix between casual and professional. It was easy to meet and interact with the performers, despite the focus their work clearly required.

Photo by Eric Guth
The creative director of this performance, Jacky Briant, acknowledged the enormous team it took to create an event like this. It would only be performed a few times during the Heiva Festival.

Photo by Eric Guth
The show left its mark on the site with dust and flowers left over once the crowd had dispersed. After colonization, many maraes were unused for a long time – many still are – and as an outsider I had a lot of learning to do.
The last sentence in my notebook simply reads: “These are not performance smiles.”