Very Wetr !

Recorded at the Centre national de la danse in Pantin 28 February 2013

A music and dance project co-developed by Umuissi Hnamano and Régine Chopinot.

Travel, meeting people and learning about herself through contact with other cultures have always been extremely important to Régine Chopinot. In New Caledonia, she became acquainted with the Wetr, a traditional group from the island of Lifou/Drehu which, since 1992, has reclaimed and given a contemporary stamp to the dances and songs which disappeared as a result of French colonisation.

An ancestral art adapted to the modern world

“Traditional dance is an art form in everyday life. Formerly with warlike connotations, strictly reserved for the men, the traditional Kanak dances became the symbol of a whole art form of everyday life and consist of a large variety of postures and rhythms. Transmitted in the oral tradition, from generation to generation, these bodily expressions were transformed into moments of joy and sharing, in particular in the celebrations of social rites. Over the years, the women also found their place in the practice of this art. The Wetr group, which sees itself more as a “collective” than as a “dance company”, has always known how to preserve their Kanak artistic heritage in works that mix the original culture and that of the outside world.

Umuissi Hnamano

“As a group, Wetr is flexible and variable in its number but its spirit remains the same.  Anyone can be the leader for example, but the responsibility of the role remains the same. Each person is both replaceable and irreplaceable! Since 2009, I’ve seen the “same” Wetr perform, with new dancers and in very different contexts. As soon as you have the minimum number of dancers, singers and musicians and a leader, you have Wetr…”

Régine Chopinot, 2012

Updating: May 2013