Hi and welcome back to another episode of No Offence, But.I'm happy to be bringing you a conversation with one of my favourite artists and people, Sela Vai. Sela, is a Tongan Australian artist who seeks to create sensuous alchemy through movement. I first saw Sela perform a few years back at a Ngaiire gig at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville, Sydney. A couple of months later, Sela was working with Black Birds as choreographer of our first full-length theatrical show. Since then, Sela has choreographed all of our Black Birds shows and has become our Movement Director and Associate Artist. She's also movement directed for Ngaiire, Thelma Plum, L-Fresh the Lion (to name a few), choreographed for events, commercials and is a sought after teacher for movement and dance programs around the world. Sela also runs an artistic development program called Humxn that aims to connect, up-skill and empower womxn of all walks of life, inclusive of those femme/female-identifying/non-binary. Humxn is a safe space for womxn to explore their artistry to the ends of their unbound potential. Last year Humxn (which was previously known as You Therefore Me) and Black Birds co-curated an event called Reclaim at Sydney's PACT, which went on to win FBi Radio's SMAC award for Best On Stage (yeet!).In today's chat Sela shares her experience of being of the diaspora and living between two worlds, what it was like learning traditional Tongan movement from one of the Tongan Royal Family's ex-staffers and why it's so important for teachers and choreographers to facilitate a safe space. She tells us how the commercial dance industry is inhibiting artists and why she created Humxn. We also touch on the sometimes perilous world of Instagram and Sela tells us why she avoids using the word 'inclusive'.I loved this korero with Sela - I hope you do too! (And if you do ~ rate, review and subscribe!!!)You can find Sela and her program Humxn on IG @selavai and @__humxnor on YouTube (this is her new channel and this is her older channel). I highly suggest you just search 'Sela Vai' on YouTube because a whole lot of gold comes up. To find out more about Black Birds check out @bl.ckb.rds or my IG @eeshash
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