Timena Veni Moenoa

The Guerrilla Collection ran a dance competition in September calling all Pasefika dancers aged 16 - 21 to create a short dance about their life in lockdown.

One of the 2021 Lockdown Dance Competition winners was Timena Veni Moenoa.

Talofa lava,

My name is Timena Veni Moenoa and I am full Samoan. I am sixteen years of age and I am currently attending Onehunga High School. I was born in Samoa and moved to New Zealand when I was five years old, and lived in Auckland. I enjoy dancing because I like the feeling of being in the present moment for example not thinking about other things, and just being in the performance moment. Dance is part of my cultural identity and has been an important part of my upbringing.

The dance I created explores a mixing of Siva Samoa and contemporary movement. I wanted to explore how ‘lockdown’ looks through movement choices and setting decisions. I explored the use of light, repetition, size of the movement, energy, and tempo to show the difference between being in ‘lock down’ and ‘free’. I also wanted to explore the grief of my own family and other families who are going through losing a family member during these times. I created movements to show a dove representing how we have lost love ones over lockdown.

Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity.

As a winner of the Lockdown Dance Competition Timena received:
- $500 Prezzy card
- Online mentoring session with dancers from Black Grace to develop dance film
- A limited edition The Guerrilla Collection T-Shirt
- Certificate of achievement