Culture · Arts
Drums, dance,
ink and stone.
'Ori Tahiti and the Heiva, the tattoo revival, carving from tiki to paddle. The arts here were suppressed for a century and came back.
Iipona, Hiva Oa
Tahitian dance was banned as immoral for much of the missionary and colonial era. Tattooing was suppressed. The carving traditions of the Marquesas survived in valleys and museums. All three came back in the second half of the twentieth century, and today they are competitive, current and everywhere.
01 · The dance
The Heiva.
Every July the Heiva i Tahiti, descended from the Tiurai festivals begun in 1881, turns the To'ata stage in Papeete into the most serious dance and song competition in Polynesia. Troupes rehearse most of a year for minutes on stage; prizes carry village pride. The 'ote'a is the drum-driven group dance with grass skirts and geometric figures; the 'aparima tells a story with the hands; the himene tarava is massed village choirs singing in cascading counterpoint, unlike any other choral tradition.
Listen for the ensemble behind the dancers: the sharp to'ere log drum, the deep pahu, the rolling fa'atete. Around the dance run canoe races, stone lifting, coconut events and craft fairs. If you are on Tahiti in July, book tickets and rooms well ahead. In other months, island Heiva across the archipelagos carry the same competitions at closer range, and hotel dance shows draw on the same troupes.
02 · The forms
A field guide.
- 'Ote'a
- The drum-driven group dance with grass skirts and geometric figures.The Heiva's centrepiece
- 'Aparima
- Story-dances of the hands, sung and gestured.Watch the wrists
- Himene tarava
- Massed village choirs in layered counterpoint.Sung in church and at the Heiva
- Tatau
- The Polynesian art that gave tattooing its name, revived strongly since the 1980s. Marquesan patutiki is its own school with an international reputation.Ask before photographing
- Carving
- Tiki, drums, bowls and the Marquesan u'u war club, in wood, stone and bone. Buy from the carver.Taiohae, Atuona, the villages
- Fibre arts
- Austral hats and mats, tifaifai patchwork quilts, flower crowns for every occasion.Rurutu and Tubuai
03 · The tiki
Marquesan carving.
Marquesan carving supplied the revival's vocabulary: tiki figures, ornamented clubs, whole surfaces of pattern. Its geometry now travels the world on skin. The originals still stand in the valleys of Hiva Oa and Nuku Hiva. At Iipona in the Puamau valley on Hiva Oa, Takai'i is the tallest ancient tiki in French Polynesia at over two metres; beside it lies Maki'i Tau'a Pepe, a figure carved on her front. Kamuihei on Nuku Hiva has tiki and petroglyphs under a banyan; Upeke in the Taaoa valley has one carved on a flat stone about 1.2 metres tall.
The sites are sacred and the rule is the same as at any marae: paths only, climb nothing, no picnics. Photograph performers and artisans as you would anywhere: ask first, especially at rehearsals, ceremonies and tattoo studios. Buying directly from carvers and weavers is the most useful support a visitor can give.
04 · Calendar
When and where.
- Heiva i Tahiti
- July, To'ata stage, Papeete. Programme from the Maison de la Culture.Book everything early
- Island Heiva
- July on most islands: Bora Bora's at Vaitape, Rangiroa's own festival, Farerei Haga, in September.
- Marquesas Arts Festival
- Every four years, rotating between the islands.Check the current date
- Hawaiki Nui Va'a
- Early November, Huahine to Bora Bora over three days.The Leewards fill that week
Related
Related pages.
Marquesas
Hiva Oa
Gauguin's and Brel's graves at Atuona, and the tallest ancient tiki in French Polynesia at Puamau.
Open the island guide
Marquesas
Nuku Hiva
The largest Marquesan island. No reef, no lagoon; valleys reached by boat and a 350-metre waterfall.
Open the island guide
Culture
Language
The words under the songs.
Read more
Plan
When to go
How to time a trip around the Heiva.
Read more