No Offence, But The Industry Is Outdated - with Sela Vai

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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