The ōtea is a traditional dance from Tahiti characterized by a rapid hip-shaking motion to percussion accompaniment. The dancers, standing in several rows, may be further choreographed to execute different figures while maintaining the hip-shaking. The hip motion itself may in some choreographies be synchronized amongst multiple dancers and may be further coordinated with the accompanying percussion arrangement. The dance is with music only played at a slower rhythm, or the smaller faatētē drum. The ōtea is one of the few dances which already existed in pre-European times as a male dance.. Nowadays, however the ōtea can be danced by men, by women, or by both genders. Dancers of the ōtea make gestures reenacting daily occupations of life. For the men the gestural themes can be chosen from warfare or sailing, and then they may use spears or paddles. For women the gestural themes are typically closer to home or from nature: hand gestures suggesting combing their hair, or the flight of a butterfly. More elaborate themes have been adopted; for example one where the dancers end up in a map of Tahiti, highlighting important places. In a proper ōtea the story of the theme should pervade the whole dance. The costumes are extremely elaborate, typically incorporating long plant fiber skirts, belting with tassels that accentuate the hip-motion, may further include decorated headpieces, and may be color-coordinated across the dancers of the company. The same more dress and the same shaking of the knees for the boys and those of the hips for the girls as in all Tahitian dances is used here too.
Modern and adoptive interpretation
Interpretations of the ōtea are frequently included as part of larger Polynesian dance recitals presented at luaus and visitor-oriented live shows in the Hawaiian Islands and other Pacific-rim resorts outside Tahiti. Modern interpretations include costumes fashioned of contemporary man-made materials substituting for plant-fiber or natural materials, and costume coloration such as fluorescent pinks and greens or mirror-reflective surfaces difficult to obtain or maintain from purely natural resources. Modern drum accompaniments may include drums of European- or non-Pacific construction, improvised percussion instruments of modern materials, and the use of prerecorded drum reinforcement soundtracks.
