Artist Profile

Seidah Tuaoi

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Born in Wellington, raised in West Auckland and currently in Hastings, Seidah Tuaoi is a secondary teacher by trade and a creative artist in life. Seidahs' grandparents come from the villages Falevao, Tafitoala, Fasito'outa, and Safotu in Samoa, and Turangi and Areora in the Cook Islands.

Seidah's training is heavily influenced from her involvement in street dance and the NZ freestyle/battle scene as a member of Projekt Team (Two and a Half Brownies) and LH Combine (Watch:MIN fams).

As a former dance graduate from the University of Auckland, Seidah explored a concept of fusing her cultural identity with the dance form 'popping' as a way of navigating life in New Zealand as a Pasifika female. Coined as 'popping puletasi', she has developed this practice for the past 9 years through video works, festival showings, workshops, and dance battle exhibitions.