Moving with
Meaning
Each piece in Lusi's portfolio is a living story — shaped by culture, connection, and a body that refuses to be quiet.
Taupou
Independent collaboration with
Everybody Cool Lives Here & LeMoana Arts 2021
Faiva performed in Wellington's CubaDupa festival in 2021, collaborating with the theatre company Everybody Cool Lives Here and Tupe Lualua of LeMoana Arts, creating a work called Taupou.
Creating Taupou was a journey for Faiva about reconnection and acceptance through her culture, Siva, and community, as a Samoan.
She intends to turn Taupou into a full-length show to tour around the country in the near future.
“Lusi is a queen
of the streets of Wellington”
Lusi’s Eden
Touch Compass
2001
An acclaimed biographical dance theatre work of childhood memories, directed by Christian Penny. Former Auckland Arts Festival director Shona McCullagh described it as one of the most impactful works she had ever seen.
“This was truly ground-breaking work”.
" I live for the moments, both good and bad.
I’m grateful because it allows me to learn from these lessons, to be productive in creative, relatable, honest and collaborative ways "
AIGA
Touch Compass 2023
Exploring identity, family, and desire, AIGA is a show that ebbs, flows, dips forward into the wicked and tilts back toward the heavenly as we traverse through the experience of Faiva’s beautiful and complex life story. Using music, movement and dramedy, AIGA captures Faiva’s life from youth into adulthood, from 1960s Samoa to the warrior that we bear witness to today.
AIGA is a three-year crip time and
c r i p s p a c e devised work that has not only drawn on the life history of Faiva, but also the experiences of
co-collaborators and performers, including Iana Grace Pauga, Forest V Kapo (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Raukawa), Alex Medland (Kāi Tahu), Jake Arona and Fiona Collins.
This collective creative ensemble gives this work its proud identity. With a powerhouse creative team, this work features a story that will make you laugh, cry, think and feel – one that needs to be heard.
“It was a stark reminder of how art - and life - can look so different when it is disability-led and decisions are carefully considered with aroha and alofa.”
- Olivia Shivas (writer for the D List)
PHOTO CREDITS: AIGA images: Jinki Cambronero.
