We remember very few dances Tokelau. Their representation was banned by the first missionaries, and they were quickly forgotten. Modern dances consist mainly of gestures interpreting the words of the accompanying song and retain little of the ancient form.
They are usually held in the evening in the meeting house and are accompanied by a drummer beating on a box or roll of mats and a group of singers behind the dance line. A group of 8 or 12 dancers, male or female, sit on the floor in rows of 4. Shortly after the song begins, they stand up and do their moves in unison, joining in with the song .
The dances are alternated between two groups at the ends of the house. According to Burrows, this dance style is similar to that of the Ellice Islands and a type of dance in Samoa. Modern Samoan siva is often played in Tokelau.
During the field visit to Atafu, an exhibition of ancient dances was given, accompanied by the singing of the performers. The dancers stood side by side in a single line throughout the dance. They moved 1 or 2, sometimes 3 steps; but the main movements were done with their arms or their canoe paddles (foe), used in some dances in place of the old dance paddles (paki). The exhibition was led by a woman who had learned the songs and movements from her father.
A second form of Tokelau dances was performed by a group of women to celebrate a victorious cricket match. The dancers formed single file, standing close together, and paraded around the cricket field with short, light steps, stopping regularly to sway in unison or to make an arm swing or a gesture with the leaves held in their hands. They kept time by tapping their open hands with these leaves.
All movements were led by the first woman in line. Several times she did spiral figures in which she placed herself in the center of the circulating dancers and then unrolled the figure by turning and dancing between the converging lines. Burrows and Lister witnessed similar performances of this ancient dance at Fakaofu.
Lister saw men dancing, accompanied by women beating time and singing. Burrows saw women dancing, keeping the beat by beating a piece of wood with an open hand, but not singing. Wilkes describes a similar trigger dance performed at Nonuti in the Gilbert Islands.
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