Tuvalu fatele (dancing )

The early Tuvaluans, untouched by western influences and aspirations highly valued their
traditional singing and dancing. Apart from simply providing entertainment, the fakanau and
fakaseasea, which were formerly very popular form for dance, were composed to
commemorate the reign of an aliki or toa, or to praise certain outstanding figures for their
skills in canoe building, fishing, house building or for their wealth or bravery within the
community.

The fakanau which has a tune that is between speech and singing was performed while
dancers are standing on their feet. The rhythm of the fakanau is much quicker than those of
the fakaseasea and the present day fatele. With the arrival of the missionaries, because of the
wide swaying movements and actions required in the fakanau were considered to be sexually
stimulating, efforts were made to put an end to this kind of dancing. At first it was difficult,
but as more and more people came to accept the new religious beliefs the pastors became
powerful and influential figures who ultimately dominated the rights of the aliki. Because of
this the fakanau, which the pastors regarded as evil dancing, gradually declined until it
disappeared completely.

The fakaseasea is said to be as old as the fakanau. This type of dancing is still performed
nowadays by elders. Unlike the fakanau, the fakaseasea is sung much slower to a lovely tune
and has one or two performers dancing on their feet. Normally the fakaseasea requires no
uniformity of actions but the performers are free to make actions which express the meanings
of the words. The survival of the fakaseasea up to the present time is due to the fact that the
first pastors, fascinated by the lovely tune and the gentle slow actions of the fakaseasea, did
not do anything to stop people from performing it.

However, in the early days the unique fakanau did not only play an important part in social
entertainment but also in worshipping. The faleaitu (house for gods) in which the people
worshipped their gods is where one could hear different rituals and fakanau. There were
specially composed fakanau which could convey to the gods the worshippers' gratitude
together with pleas for mercy. During communal work such as digging of pulaka pits the
women sang and danced on the banks while the men were busy digging. In this way singing
and dancing encouraged the men and stopped them from getting tired easily.

The status of a composer in those days was highly recognized. People had to see the
composer when they wanted to commemorate a special occasion or to perform a fakanau or
fakaseasea for an outstanding figure in the community. Following the composition of the
song the composer himself would call his singing and dancing group to come for practice. As
the time approached for the fakanau or fakaseasea to be sung for the first time in public, the
person about whom the song was composed, and his family and relatives, had to be informed,
well in advance of the appointed day. This was the signal for a great deal of activity in which
that particular person and his relatives would see that a good quantity of food and gifts were
gathered. At the end of the singing much of this would be handed over to the composer and
his group in return for their good work, and some was kept for later occasions. From that day
onwards that fakanau or fakaseasea could be sung at any social gathering, and this often
meant that gifts had to be offered to the performers by the relatives of the person about whom
the song was made up.

Another type of singing was known as kupu. This was composed to commemorate any good
work of a deceased person. The timing of the kupu is like that of the fakaseasea, but
accompanied by crying sounds. When someone died the mourners would, throughout the day
and night, perform a good number of kupu and fakanau in which they requested their gods to
receive their dead kindly. Poor singing and performances could, it was thought, bring more
evil and misfortune to the relatives of the deceased and even result in the death of someone
else from the same family.