Dance Protest, Project Banaba

Dance Protest, Project Banaba is the latest in an exhibition series by artist Katerina Teaiwa and curator Yuki Kihara, exploring the history of Banaba, an island in the central Pacific. 

In the 20th century, the British Phosphate Commissioners, a partnership between the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, mined 22 million tons of phosphate from the island. In 1945, Banabans endured forced relocation to Rabi Island, Fiji.

Expressing their identity and resistance to this colonial project, Banabans revitalised their song and dance repertoires. In the 1970s, when they sued the British government and company for the decimation of their island, dancers led the protest marches that accompanied the legal proceedings.

American-Australian dancer Beth Dean documented Banaban and other Pacific peoples’ choreography in the lead-up to the 1st South Pacific Festival of Arts, 1972. Some archival documentation and Banaban dance regalia collected by her, held in the Chau Chak Wing Museum collection, form part of the exhibition.

Dance Protest, Project Banaba reframes Banaban dance and cultural authority from a Banaban matriarchal perspective. Taking the dance notation of Te Karanga (spear dance) as inspiration, Katerina Teaiwa has created new artworks in collaboration with her dancer-athlete daughter, Tearia. The exhibition is a dance riposte to Dean and the patriarchal forces that sacrificed ancestral land for short-term economic gain.