Events

Paradise Rumour, originally commissioned by Hoor Al Qasimi and Sharjah Art Foundation will be presented at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch on March 17

Neil Ieremia says; “Paradise Rumour is an extension of my 2009 work Gathering Clouds, a response to an economist’s discussion paper on Pacific migration titled “Growing Pains: The valuation and cost of human capital and the impact of Pacific migration on the New Zealand economy”.  His controversial claims caused significant hurt within the Pacific Island community in Aotearoa, while emboldening those with more xenophobic views. The Human Rights Commission released a review of Dr. Clydesdale’s paper titled ‘Pacific Peoples in New Zealand; review of the public controversy about a discussion paper on immigration policy and the economic contribution of Pacific migrants to New Zealand’.  It found that the paper was poorly researched and prejudiced, I couldn’t help but feel that the damage had already been done”.

Ieremia adds, “The provocation for Paradise Rumour, was based on the central question of, how far have we really come since then?”

Paradise Rumour bounces back and forth through time and space, starting with the arrival of the missionaries to the Pacific, and collecting memories, visions, experiences both personal and collective.

Weaving together four separate parts of the same experience within the one person, the first dancer represents hope + resistance, the second sorrow + acceptance, the third control + release, and the fourth faith + crisis.

Paradise Rumour features six performers including dancers, Demi-Jo Manalo, Rodney Tyrell and Faith Schuster.  Original soundtrack by Anonymouz.

The work is also inspired by the poem Paradise Rumour by Neil Ieremia (2008);

Here come the skybreakers, god traders

renovating my culture to fit in an apartment box

with a flat screen and a flat nose

dressed in white with black book measles, muskets and blankets

Flavour said ‘fight the power’

hand vs. knife,

knife vs. gun,

gun vs. bigger gun vs. bigger bomb, vs. bigger budget vs. bigger dick, vs. nothing left

to touch, feel, eat, see, or love

I who am

Must assimilate, replicate, dislocate, shut the gate so the sheep don’t relocate

to Australia, where the tax rate is lower,

human rights is slower

I will return to her someday

Samoa

I owe her

Click here to view the trailer of Paradise Rumour.

Paradise Rumour New Zealand Tour Dates :

Christchurch

Sunday, March 17, 5pm

Isaac Theatre Royal

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