The Festival de l’Imaginaire continues its 15th edition in Paris up to June 15. Following the Wayãpi from French Guiana at the Parisian « House of Cultures of the World » on May 28 and 29, here’s another French overseas peoples, the Marquesan, who’ll be performing in Paris from June 10 to 12, as well as in Vitré on June 15.

Nuku Hiva dancers ® Caroline Issoulieü

Quick reminder; Marquesan is officially recognized as a « regional language of France » in the same way as Basque, Breton, Occitan, the languages of French Guiana or the Kanak languages of New Caledonia. It is known as « Eo ’enana » (in northwestern speech) or « Eo ’enata » (southeastern speech), meaning « the language of humans » or « human language ». It belongs to the eastern branch of the Polynesian languages and is also related to Hawaiian, the islands of Hawaii having probably been populated from the Marquesas.

There are around 16,000 speakers of Marquesan, and a Marquesan Academy saw the light in 2000.

Director of the Maison des Cultures du Monde Arwad Esber’s account on Marquesan:

« Deculturation, acculturation, prohibitions of all sorts including that of speaking the mother language, loss of identity, loss of memory, a population decimated by diseases and grief, a population who let itself die… ‘Because it was no longer dancing’ allegedly said a Marquesan local leader.

So in the 70s, a handful of exceptional young Marquesan wished to recover their « soul » and began a remarkable work of collection with the elders across the whole strip of islands: a memory of the legends, gestures and rhythms. And also dances. Dance had been revived, and with it the enthusiasm of the new generations for whom it an ideal ground for expressing their sense of pride in existence (…).

On each island of the archipelago, one or more associations regularly gather the young and the even-youngers to dance and put up different festivals, but also to create new figures together. »

The Festival de l’Imaginaire has wished to offer its audience an example of the vitality of the renewing Marquesan culture, and in this fashion, has invited the Te Hina O Motu Haka group, from the island of Nuku Hiva, to present a performance created from a legend, that of the creation of the Marquesas Islands…

Places, dates and schedules:

– Paris, Musée du quai Branly:

Friday June 10 and Saturday June 11 at 8pm

Sunday June 12 at 5pm

– Vitré, Jacques Duhamel cultural center theater:

Wednesday June 15

For more information