MOEMOANA SCHWENKE: EQUALITY, ENVIRONMENT AND EMBRACING PACIFIC CULTURE
At the age of 15, Moemoana Schwenke is one of few female Siva Afi (fire dancers) in the world, challenging gender stereotypes while pushing her own limits of fearlessness.
The connection she shares with her Polynesian culture is so strong that it influences almost everything that she does, from performing arts and promoting equality to advocating for the preservation of our environment.
At such a young age, Moemoana shows us a beautiful example of what it looks like to be a young Pacific woman who isn’t afraid to stand up and show the world who she is. We’re proud to bring you her story and we hope it inspires you to embrace everything it means to be who you are as a Pacific person – as Moemoana says, “You are not just anybody.”
-
Tell us a bit about yourself, your connection with your Polynesian culture, and how you came to follow that path?
Talofa Lava. My name is Moemoana Schwenke, meaning ‘sleeping ocean’ and I am 15 years old. I was born in Samoa and raised between the islands of Samoa, New Zealand and Australia. For as long as I can remember I’ve cherished pacific island dancing and had a strong connection to my Polynesian culture, land and people. I express my love of culture through performing arts and creative/visual arts. I have immense pride for where I come, and the customs and traditions my culture beholds illustrates the young woman I am.
I was raised in a family who was bound together by culture and because of that, it has been forevermore imbedded within me. My mother Maryjane McKibbin Schwenke, and father Frederick Schwenke, are the most passionate and purposeful people I know. Crowned Miss Samoa Australia, Miss Samoa and Miss South Pacific, my mother Maryjane is the reason I came to be encapsulated and enchanted by the Samoan Siva. She showed me through dance, the beauty of a taupou, her gracefulness, elegance and warrior like talents. It was that moment that I wanted to become a dancer, because dancing can tell a story without even saying a word.
As a little girl I was mesmerised by my mother and father’s journey, talent and creative minds, but ultimately their love for their culture and people. The same love that gave them the opportunity to travel worldwide and all around the Pacific, sharing Polynesia. Travelling alongside them, mimicking their actions, learning how to dance and understanding culture, at the age of six I can remember preforming in front of hundreds of thousands. When I danced on a stage for the very first time it all made sense, I finally understood. I understood that my connection with culture was because it was what I most proud of. It was something I wanted to show off to the world.
Moving to Australia from New Zealand, nothing has ceased my love for performing arts, but my path has definitely changed. Deep within the concrete jungle of suburban Sydney, a Pacific Island Cultural arts Centre ‘Matavai Cultural Arts’, to which I am a student and teacher has taught me new skills and allowed me to unite, share and connect with fellow pacific islanders. Matavai was founded by my parents, and it is here that the rhythm of wooden log drums can be heard, echoing the heartbeat of my Pacific Island people, alive, full of love, sacred and free. It is here I am free to learn and embrace my culture, to dance traditional dances. I am free to chant the songs of my ancestors and to express my cultural heritage and identity.
Check out full article at Talanoa