DANZ QUARTERLY No 7 April 2007

Reviews     

Memoirs of Active Service - Maaka Pepene & Atamira Dance Collective
Maidment Studio, Auckland , November 2006

Reviewd by Sue Cheesman

Ka maumahara tonu tatou ki a ratou - we will remember them…poignant last words…   bidding farewell to a generation of veterans moving on...leaving fragments  of memories and diaries for children/grandchildren to honour, celebrate and remember …black costumes billow, fold, swirl and wrap the dancers bodies…wide sweeping arm movements…jumps and turns…slides on all fours - provides the vehicle for five accomplished dancers to fill the space with fluidity and lyricism in this very moving finale, a lament set to Albinoni’s adagio - maybe old soldiers never die.

Thoughts and memories of my dad Ken (25th Battalion Italy and Egypt) were rekindled.  In my experience men who served in WW11 rarely talked about their experiences except over a few beers with other veterans. I suspect Charles John Murphy (Jack, 28th Maori Battalion) was exactly the same, leaving his grandson Maaka Pepene to be the Kaitiaki of his diary recorded during his service in WW 11 and to tell his story. The result is a dance theatre work, Memoirs of Active Service, choreographed by Maaka Pepene for Atamira Dance Collective and first performed in 2006, marking the Year of the Veteran.

Texts from Jack’s diary are beautifully filmed and narrated; uncomplicated, yet insightful, this dialogue to his wife forms the back bone of this piece. The first dance duet captures intimate moments between sweethearts Jack Murphy and his wife, before he leaves for war. The dancers embrace, two bodies mingle, palms touch as bodies arch away and return to each other with outstretched arms becoming one. The moon is their witness.

Jack and his two other brothers, through repetitive drills and combat exercises with a sense of humour and camaraderie, along with the Maori Battalion Marching Song, give us insight into life as a soldier in this special regiment. “And now begins a strange adventure” Jack wrote in his diary in April 1943.

The episodic work also embraces “those loved ones that remain in Aotearoa in the 1940s”. In headscarves, the women Justine Hohaia (Jack’s wife) and Kelly Nash abandon their intense listening to the radio for news to dance a hilarious number to Gracie Fields complete with “thingamebobs for watchamacallits” to support the war effort. Repetitive, gestural movement hints at an assembly line process, however the women in this narrative have other ideas and join the navy.

Climate extremes from desert heat to cold snowy conditions further compounded the plight of these WW11 veterans. Dancer-soldiers Jack Gray, Sean McDonald and Peter Takapuna shuffle, lean back, lie, toss, and turn, restless in their uneasy sweltering slumber indicative of the Egyptian desert. The atmosphere reeked of intense heat, sweat and biting flies that threaten to smother them.

In sharp contrast they huddle in the extreme cold, rubbing hands vigorously as the anguish of war is etched on their faces. Each one breaks away from the group to dance a solo where memories of better days and horrors of war meld into a distorted realism.  Before Jack went to the front line he wrote in his diary "Don’t worry dearest, I’ll come back to you. Yours till the stars lose their glory, your own darling Paddy”. Jack did return to New Zealand after the war and although this is his story, the experience is common to other WW 11 soldiers.

The work has a strong and effective sound score by Paddy Free including 1940’s songs. In keeping with Atamira’s philosophy, this work draws on a personal story, history and whakapapa and is imbued with Maaka’s six formative years in the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment.  With this work Maaka embraces the words of the National RSA President (2006), Kiwis must never forget those who served in wartime and peacetime- this is not an option- it is a way of life.

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