Ace weavers make a song and dance of it

By BRIDGET CARTER

When it is time for a rest, weaving group Tufuga Mataponiu A Niue choose not to take things easy.

As a break from craftwork, they jump to their feet, burst into song and swing into one of their favourite old-time dance routines.

And on Saturday during the Pacific Pathways exhibition at the Auckland Museum they did just that, climbing centrestage to display their three talents.

The group - its name means "the finest craftspeople of Niue," - consists of 14 women, some in their 70s. They were just a handful of the artists who featured at the weekend homage to women's decorative arts.

Group leader Matafetu Smith said her ladies loved to sing and dance in front of the cameras.

She had choreographed the dances herself and composed the songs. Some of them were about weaving, she said.

The 69-year-old picked up her talents as a child. She would watch her grandmother weave, and inherited her singing voice from her father.

She also liked to dance around her village in Niue when young.

All three talents were central to Pacific culture, said Matafetu Smith.

The weaving group also designed their costumes for the exhibition. The hand-printed garments were based on patterns dating back more than two centuries.

The fashion show was Matafetu Smith's idea. It came to her in typical female fashion.

"As weavers, we women were always attending openings for exhibitions of our work. And every time we would ask each other, what shall we wear?"

So the women started printing fabrics and designing their clothes.

"Every year we would have an exhibition and every year we designed something different for all our women to wear. This is the first time we'll be showing them off somewhere like this."

* See Wednesday's Herald for full details about Family Week.