Salā Lemi Ponifasio is a Samoan theatre director, choreographer, and artist who works internationally. He is known for his radical approach to theatre, dance, art and activism, and for his collaboration with communities. He founded the performing arts company MAU.

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (March 2024)

Salā Lemi Ponifasio was born in Lano, Samoa. He moved to New Zealand when he was 15 years old.

While at high school in New Zealand he started to attend a series of workshops with the Maori Matua Tohunga master artist Irirangi Tiakiawa^[1] in Rotoiti. Ponifasio was then invited by Maori performing arts leader Tama Huata to work with him as part of his Maori cultural group Takitimu Trust, performing in communities throughout New Zealand and in reservations in Canada.^{[citation needed]}

Ponifasio began his artistic career as an avant-garde experimental performer, staging his epic ten-year solo dance investigation Body in Crisis, primarily in non-theatrical and outdoor spaces.^{[citation needed]}

His brief encounter with modern dance, butoh, and classical ballet in the 1980s made him skeptical about the notion of contemporary dance and launched his search for the origin of his own dance. He started to travel the world and danced continuously.^[2]

He explored the life of the body through cosmic vision, genealogy, philosophy, architecture, chant, dance and ceremonies of indigenous communities, especially Maori, Kiribati, Kanaky people of New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti and the diverse islands of the Pacific region.^[3]

After a decade of travelling, living and performing in many countries, Ponifasio returned to New Zealand. Reading Maori rights activist Eva Rickard 'squote "only dead fish flow with the current", he decided to call his first group performance work Fish of the Day.^[4]

Ponifasio formed MAU^[when?] - the philosophical foundation and direction of his work, the name of his work, and the communities he works with. MAU is a Samoan word that means the declaration to the truth of a matter as an effort to transform. With a group of young performers and friends, Ponifasio created Illumina as the first work of MAU performed at the Galaxy Theatre, Auckland in 1992. MAU focuses on arts and culture, avant-garde, and philosophy.^{[citation needed]}

Ponifasio's collaborators are people from all walks of life; the works are performed in factories, remote villages, opera houses, schools, marae, castles, galleries, and stadiums. His projects have included fully staged operas, theatre, dance, exhibitions, community forums and festivals in more than 40 countries. One of Ponifasio's longtime collaborators for over 25 years is lighting designer Helen Todd,^[5][6] and light is often mentioned in reviews of the work of MAU.^[7][8][9] At the forefront of the international art scene, Ponifasio performs and exhibits his work worldwide including the Festival d'Avignon, BAM Brooklyn Academy of Music New York, Ruhrtriennale, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts New York, Edinburgh International Festival, Theater der Welt, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Onassis Cultural Centre Athens, London's Southbank Centre, Holland Festival, Carriageworks Sydney, Luminato Festival in Toronto, Vienna Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Santiago a Mil Chile, the Venice Biennale, and in the Pacific region.^{[citation needed]}

While established within the international avant-garde, Ponifasio grounds his work within local communities and Māori and diverse Oceanic cultures.^{[citation needed]}

In 2023, Ponifasio became a World Theatre Ambassador of the International Theatre Institute (ITI).

In 2016, ITI invited Ponifasio to write the official message for International Dance Day.^[25][26]

The work I AM MAPUCHE was recognized by the Circle of Art Critics of Chile as Best International Production of 2015 in the theater category. The show was produced as a co-production of Fundación Teatro a Mil and the MAU company, and it premiered in the scope of festival Santiago a Mil.

Ponifasio was the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate in 2011, and was the recipient of the Senior Pacific Artist Award in 2012, courtesy of the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards.^[27][28]