Performance: Puku Rangi Tea from Rapa Nui

We welcome Puku Rangi Tea performance group to Te Papa Tongarewa. Join us for a performance showcasing the unique culture from Rapa Nui. This event celebrates the National Day of Chile, acknowledging the special place that Rapa Nui culture and people hold within the country and territory. 

About Rapa Nui

Rapa Nui Easter Island is situated at the southeastern point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. Along with its rich and vibrant culture, the island is also a World Heritage Site, with nearly 1,000 ancient monumental statues – known as moai – created by early Rapa Nui people. 

Rapa Nui, or Isla de Pascua in Spanish, is an island and special territory of Chile, and is the only Polynesian territory where Spanish is the official language. This event celebrates the National Day of Chile, acknowledging the special place that Rapa Nui culture and people hold within the country and territory. 

Puku Rangi Tea Bio

Puku Rangi Tea Ballet is led by its director, Antonio Atán Torres, and includes musicians and dancers from Rapa Nui who have decades of experience working with various musical and traditional dance groups.

Its name means “Stone Like a White Cloud”, which is a place in the town of Hanga Roa where most of the group’s members would gather with their families from a very young age to spend entire afternoons together. There, their elders would teach the younger generations about Rapa Nui traditions, legends, crafts, songs, dances, music, and history. This area is considered the source of cultural transfer from generation to generation. 

Rapa Nui Puku Rangi Tea Ballet, 2024. Courtesy from the Embassy of Chile