There isn’t much of a descrip­tion for this show on either the Fringe or the BATS web­site. It rather enig­mat­i­cal­ly says ““Fatu na toto” (The Plant­ed Seeds).  Expressed through the Lan­guage of Siva Samoa. “The sand at our feet will remain, we take pride mov­ing for­ward with every grain”.” Thank­ful­ly the pro­gramme explains that “A pic­ture is paint­ed of a migrant fam­i­ly liv­ing in sub­ur­bia and the con­tribut­ing influ­ences that affect the fam­i­ly and the impact that they have on the gen­er­a­tion being raised in this envi­ron­ment.”  I think this is impor­tant because it should­n’t be pigeon­holed as a Samoan dance show. It’s stronger than that.

There are 14 in the cast plus a musi­cian (gui­tar and per­cus­sion). Often there are eleven peo­ple on stage at the same time. It could feel crowd­ed yet it describes com­mu­ni­ty. Their move­ments are crisp and coor­di­nat­ed. We know that it has mean­ing because of the strength and con­cen­tra­tion the per­form­ers are expend­ing. The tran­si­tion in emo­tions is skill­ful­ly pre­sent­ed. While the dance forms are based in tra­di­tion­al Samoan style they’ve played with them to embody a col­lec­tive expe­ri­ence.

Their pas­sion and pro­fes­sion­al atti­tude shines through. What a treat.

  • Fatu Na Toto by Le Moana Pro­duc­tions on at BATS The­atre, 18–22 Feb­ru­ary 2013.