News For Women KATHERINE DUNHAM WANTS TO STUDY MAORI CULTURE

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28261, 26 April 1957, Page 2

News For Women KATHERINE DUNHAM WANTS TO STUDY MAORI CULTURE

The culture of the Maori people and theories on their land of origin have aroused an intense curiosity in Miss Katherine Dunham. anthropologist, artist, and world-renowned dancer.

Toying with the head of a pink chrysanthemum, which had fallen’ from her bouquet, Miss Dunham said in an interview last evening: “I am tempted to stop my theatrical career and study the Maori.”

Miss Dunham supports Mr Thor Heyerdahl’s theory, which he set out to prove on the Kon Tiki expedition. “I spent some time in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, and I see a very strong resemblance between .the people there and the Maoris. My feeling is intuitive; something psychological I feel about race relationships, which sometimes evades scientists,” she said. Similarities But her interest goes deeper than this. She would like to try to prove certain cultural contacts and diffusions, through dance, between the races. The Mayans, Aztecs and Incas all used athletic training for the development of their youth for war, which was a form of dance, she said. Here is a similarity to the Maori haka and its movements to frighten the enemy. “These are slim ideas to go on. but they fascinate me. Then there are certain foot movements in the haka, which remind me of some of the dances in Peru done by wandering bands of dancers who come down from the mountains to Lima. Clothes and Designs “In the museums of Peru are old feathered clothes, taken from Inca tombs, which resemble the feathered cloaks of the Maoris. The build of the people, the colours and patterns of their traditional designs bear out the theory, too,” she said. Already Miss Dunham has traced the African cult, its beliefs, ceremonies and rituals, through the Caribbean into North and South America. Before she introduces the culture of a primitive people into her company’s repertoire. Miss Dunham must first have a thorough

understanding of its meaning. So must her dancers. Nothing must be done by habit or rote. A Challenge

“Creation, to me, comes from something that is real and is a she said. “Sometimes the challenge is in the tracing of origins; sometimes in form and pattern or in its adaptation for the theatre.” The Maori culture, its myths and legends as well as its dancing, could be interpreted into theatre, but it must be done by someone who understands theatre as well as the Maori heritage, she said. It cannot be simply portrayed and presented to the public. It must go through a creative process. “I hope there is work going on to preserve Maori culture by films, because the touch of other cultures is already obvious. The Government should provide some kind of assistance to assure that the Maori culture is carefully studied and recorded,” she said. “Rites de Passage” Asked if she intended to present “Rites de Passage,” a dance which has aroused much discussion and some controversy in other New Zealand towns, Miss Dunham said: “That depends on Christchurch. It is in our repertoire, but we always wait until there is public demand for it.” This number was once banned in Boston, but has since been acclaimed in other capital cities of the world as a fine primary example of the use of basic primitive material in modern theatre. It deals frankly with the crucial transitions of adolescence and mating in a primitive society. “After it was banned in Boston the ‘Christian Science Monitor’ and • the Federation of Women’s Clubs came to our rescue,” Miss Dunham said. When she arrived in Christchurch last evening, Miss Dunham was accompanied by her nine-year-old daughter, Marie-Chris-tine, who is on a long vacation from her school in Switzerland. Miss Dunham’s husband, Mr John Pratt, designs the costumes and scenery for the company, which will open its Christchurch season this evening.