Dancing from the Heart: Movement, Gender, and Sociality in the Cook Islands

Chapter Two The Politics of Contemporary Dance

chapter two THE POLITICS OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE Our special and unique culture, is it alive and kicking or is it dying and being overwhelmed by cultural commercialization? Are we enjoying it, the way it was before the advent of modernization? Is financial reward the ultimate weapon to destroy our forefathers, our parents, ours and our children’s, great grandchildren’s and many many generations to come’s heritage? We hope not! —EGDK6A D; 96C8: 8DCHI>IJI>DC 8:A:7G6I>DCH  The epigraph text above voices some of the concerns that are present in discussions of contemporary Cook Islands dance: the impact of commercialization on culture; issues of cultural loss and ownership; and the importance of recovering traditional modes of cultural expression. The ways in which traditions and culture are promoted through the tourist industry are particularly the subject of much debate, especially on Rarotonga, where most of the industry is based. The debate is primarily divided along generational lines: younger Rarotongans (ages twenty to forty) who are involved in the performing arts generally view tourism as one way of reviving aspects of Cook Islands culture, whereas older Rarotongans (ages forty to seventy) frequently argue that tourism leads to cultural bastardization. This discourse of cultural contamination is the dominant frame through which younger Rarotongans involved in the performing arts attempt to assert the authenticity and meaningfulness of their generation’s dance practice. As cultural producers from older and younger generations seek to legitimize their expressive cultural practices, notions of modernity and tradition become  8=6EI:G ILD an area of intense contestation. My intention here is not to determine the veracity of one side of this debate or the other but rather to demonstrate that, in each historical epoch, generations have negotiated contests about tradition and modernity that have been shaped by the specific concerns of the time. Crucially, these intergenerational debates are also highly gendered. Femininity and female dance practice are a potent conduit for the construction of discourses about cultural legitimacy and ultimately the contours of Cook Islands national identity. Tourism is not the only factor shaping debates about contemporary performing arts. Interpretations of tourism are informed by ideas about the government’s ongoing role in the development of dance as a cultural product and a symbol of both Cook Islands nationalism and the place of the Cook Islands in the region (particularly with reference to Tahiti). In common with many Pacific states, the arts are used in the Cook Islands as a strategic resource to display national traditions in order to consolidate political and cultural identities in the present. Another significant component shaping contemporary performing arts is the influence of Christianity. Traditional practices are viewed by certain religious denominations as immoral and “heathen,” a stance that produces an uneasy relationship between religious ideology and the promotion of local cultural traditions in nationalist discourse. In the present era, tradition and modernity are further configured in relation to the influence of global cultural forms and the increased penetration of capitalist economics on local values and ways of life. Debates surrounding dance practice are coupled with broader ideas about the economic, social, and affective impacts of globalization. The performing arts on Rarotonga are underwritten by a discourse of cultural loss and dispossession resulting from global forces. The perceived fragility of local ownership has led to further initiatives aimed at preserving local cultural forms. These processes of global unification and the reassertion of cultural difference need to be viewed as interrelated trends, as a number of scholars of globalization argue. The increasing insignificance of national boundaries in economic and political terms has given rise to the reassertion of national autonomy and distinctiveness around ethnic, religious, and cultural identities (Clifford 1994, 1997; Appadurai 1996; Friedman 1994; Foster 1991). In the final section of this chapter, I analyze the affective dimensions of cultural loss through a consideration of Cook Islands expressive culture as a “structure of feeling” (Appadurai 1996, 181) that shapes local responses to global cultural flows. Tāmataora and tārekareka—the enjoyment produced by dancing—is considered by many Cook Islanders to be a major fatality of contemporary dance practice.  I=: EDA>I>8H D; 8DCI:BEDG6GN 96C8: ISLAND NIGHTS: DANCE AND TOURISM Since the 1980s, tourism has been the Cook Islands’ main industry, accounting for at least 50 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. While Rarotonga is the primary destination for tourists, other islands in...