Lemi Ponifasio . Mau Company

The post 9/11 age, the pre-Obama period. Bush and his 'war on terror'. On 15th October 2007 the Maori activist Tame Iti was arrested together with sixteen other demonstrators during an anti-terrorist raid in New Zealand. Iti is a well known supporter of social change for New Zealand's indigenous population. In the meantime he has been released on bail and the choreographer Lemi Ponifasio gives him a platform. The background is Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'. Ponifasio interweaves this story about institutional injustice with the ideas of the Italian political philosopher Giorgio Agamben. How readily and smoothly does contemporary society accept practices which in the past were inhuman and exceptional? In 'Tempest: without a body' Lemi Ponifasio introduces reality into the world of illusory reality. This movement theatre grabs you by the throat with its authentic and unprecedented style and its political content. Ponifasio speaks to us in metaphors about conflicts and colonialism as well as the hope for a dignified and distinctive cultural life of one's own.