Traditional French Polynesian music works hand in hand with dance to tell a story. The Polynesian percussion vocabluarly, as demonstrated on a to’ere in the YouTube videos linked through this page, uses multiple flexible phrases, each of which has a distinct name (Napoko, Toma, second Toma, Pahae, second Pahae, Paea, Puara-Ta, Takoto, Mati, Bora Bora, etc.) to construct the narrative that provides context for the dance. In class we’re going to use some of these phrases to develop the narrative of a hip-shaking, grass-skirt-wearing Tahitian dance called an “‘ote’a.”
The Tahitian ote’a is not a Hawaiian hula; it’s much faster and, purposefully, not nearly as graceful. Music used for o’teas is vocal-free–only drums (to’eres, pahu, etc.) are allowed. Some ote’as are for men only, some for women only, some for all to dance together. For their dances men often choose narrative themes such as sailing or battles. Women often sing of nature or create images from their home lives. In either case, the theme of the ote’a should inform all the moves in the dance. Let’s watch some great ote’as: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.
First we’re going find inspiration from the “Mati” rhythm, then we dance!
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