Coco Talanoa — Events / Page 14

#ICYMI The Black Friars head into the 2nd week of their "Macbeth" production tomorrow night.

We went to see the play for ourselves on Saturday night and were rapt with the stunning Pasifika costuming, outstanding singing and musical direction as well as the phenomenal acting from the whole cast throughout.  I would dare to say that even if you aren't well versed in Shakespearean literature and don't necessarily like Shakespeares tragedies - you'll still enjoy this production.  

Here's a few reviews from people who have seen the show ...

"Have never seen classic English literature retold like this - in a way that's relevant to us, Pasifika people. Loved the music and dance!! Amazing to see Shakespeare presented in Poly flavour and to see a theatre company actively breaking down negative stereotypes around South Auckland and our Pasifika people. HIGHLY RECOMMEND SEEING THIS PLAY! My favourite Shakespeare production."

- Indira Stewart, Radio NZ Journalist

"I recently had the pleasure of checking out the latest Black Friars theatre production, Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'.…more

Samoa exploded with the colours and patterns of Polynesia last night as a crew of 85 talented designers models and dancers brought their talents to the runway.

Models practising earlier in the week for the Saturday night show 

Models in Dane Fabricius designs

Showcased like jewels glittering across the Tanoa Tusitala pool, the designs saw a mix of emerging and established fashion houses showcase their creations.

While Fiji and PNG have lead the way with their fashion week events, this first ever week long festival of fashion now puts Samoa on the map as a design force to be reckoned with in the region.

Organised by the Samoa Arts Council, the runway show was a chance to put the spotlight on some of the new young design talent in Samoa. As the country now has many different outlets to sell local designs and a huge demand from locals as well as tourists for Pacific fashion, the time is ripe for these clothes to be displayed at this level.…more

HIGHLIGHTS .... 

The crew were in Samoa last week and caught some of the action at the Teuila Festival.

Here's some of the festival highlights in case you missed their facebook posts last week .....

POLICE MARCHING BAND 

Every morning the police marching band would march down to the Government Building in Apia, play the national anthem as the Samoan flag was raised and then march back to the Police Headquarters.

THE ANNUAL FAUTASI RACE 

A group of supporters try to get out as far as they can at Mulinu'u Point to cheer for their team as the first of the boats come around the corner.  The boats start their race out at Malie now.

The first boat passes by at Mulinu'u Point 

The winning boat "Little Rina" finishing in Apia 

Boat coming in to shore in front of Aggie Greys in Apia

Teuila Festival Stalls 

Festival Games 

The people 

Siva Afi Comp 

Miss Samoa pageant 2016 

Suggested Links:

Pani and Pani chair dance 

MACBETH ....

'Something Wicked this way Comes'

The Black Friars Theatre troupe presents an innovative re-staging of the traditional Shakespearean classic for Pasifika in Aotearoa set against a backdrop of imagined Hawaiki, fusing Polynesian music and dance with Shakespearean magic.

The South Auckland based group was formed in 2006 out of a desire to challenge the dominant stereotypes surrounding Pasifika people and to “keep talented young brown people off the street and on the stage”.  These days their mission statement has changed.…more

The Pacific Fusion Fashion Show went off in South Auckland and Coconet.TV caught the action.

Held at the Andrew-Simms Botany car dealership, the fashion design competition featured a mix of emerging and established designers showcasing street wear, evening wear, haute couture and ready to wear fashion.

Besides being a designer's competition and having several non-comp showings the event was a platform for models to face off strut their stuff for a place as the Face of Fusion 2017.

The night was hosted by Latafale Auva'a (previous Miss Samoa NZ, Miss Samoa, Miss Pacific Islands and Miss World Samoa) and judged by international guest judge Lepou Peni of Lepou and Grace; social media sensation Kris Fox; and NZ Fashion Week co-owner Anna Hood.

It was an awesome night with several celebs in attendance and the man of the Olympic hour - Pita Taufatofua - also making his catwalk debut.…more

Our little island nations caused a stir in more ways than 1 at the Olympics opening ceremony in Rio yesterday.  Here's our Top 3 moments.

#1 PITA TAUFATOFUA - Tonga's flag bearer leading out the rest of his team into the Maracana Stadium

at which point the internet collectively lost its mind ....

Way to put Tonga on the map Pita!

You can follow him on instagram here https://www.instagram.com/pita_tofua/  on Snapchat - PitaSii or on Facebook 

#2 OSEA KOLINISAU - Fiji's Flagbearer/7s Captain who was asked by Serena Williams to have his photo taken with her which she shared on her Snapchat! 

#3  COOK ISLANDS OLYMPICS TEAM making the Best Dressed Team & the Boldest Uniform lists in their TAV sponsored uniforms 

Manea tikae!  

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Our Pacific teams at the 2016 Olympic Games 

The Pacific Collection Access Project at the Auckland Museum is a 3 year project that hopes to build knowledge of the Pacific treasures, provide safety for the collection as well as increase public access & engagement, especially for Pacific communities.

Treasures such as musical instruments, tools, ornaments and carvings from 13 different island nations/groupings will be brought out of storage, catalogued, conserved and photographed over the next three years.  These 13 islands will be worked on in alphabetical order with the Cook Islands being the first as part of the Pacific Collection Access Project.

Fulimalo Pereira, the curator of the Pacific Collections at Auckland Museum said of the project "It's finally nice to get the Pacfic Collection Access Project up & running.  As you probably already know we're doing the islands alphabetically and so of course the Cook Islands comes first and it's been just an absolute joy having the Mamas (Mama Mary Ama & Mama Kimi Hakaoro) and Papa William Hakaoro work through the collection with us.…more

Reflections of a non-fashion Journalist 

I don’t do fashion – like never. My sisters do, but not me. Being naturally beautiful and stunning means I don’t need makeup….bahaha….but really, it’s for lack of beauty skills.  I like nice clothes and I do make an attempt occasionally, but when it comes to fashion, I would much rather go the casual route.  So when I pitched to cover the show for Coconet, I was not thinking straight, obviously I had been up all night with the 9 month old to put together logical thoughts.  Also, as a side note, I specialize in environmental journalism, so I must not have been thinking straight AT ALL!

Anyhow, my sister Omega who lives in the Middle East, travels the world for fun & knows the difference between a mascara and a lip pencil and her beautiful friend Liana who is Tongan from Sydney, wearing Guess heels and enough gold to sink a ship joined me “on assignment” that night.…more

Check out this beautiful talk looking at the use of metaphors in our Pacific languages - mainly the Hawaiian language!

Like her ancestors, Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele epitomizes cultural brilliance, beauty and power. A renowned scholar and author who is steeped in the hula tradition, she leads a team of researchers in reestablishing an ancient Hawaiian system of cultural intelligence. Dr. Kanahele is of pure Hawaiian descent and was raised in a hula tradition that spans many generations. 

An explosion of feathers, flowers and finery takes center stage at FestPac, with all the flavours of the Pacific flaunted in the festival fashion.

The styles of Oceania have never looked so stunning as Island nations parade their original designs and prints on the FestPac catwalk.

Costuming and unique Island adornments are on show all around Guam, as Pacificans everywhere represent their Island vibes.

Fijian designer Epeli based all his creations around the Fijian goddess who introduced tatau to Samoa.