Lusi Faiva

Lusi, of Samoan and European descent, is an award-winning dancer and founding member of Touch Compass who has been performing for over 30 years. She performed and toured New Zealand and Australia in the company’s major shows from 1997 to 2008 and starred in the highly acclaimed autobiographical performance Lusi’s Eden in 2001; in 2014, her DanceBox short film Mr and Mrs Jones paid tribute to two key people in her life, her foster parents. Lusi has been a support dancer in Touch Compass’s community classes and represented Touch Compass at the Pacific CNZ Strategic conference at Te Papa, Wellington in 2018. In 2021 Lusi performed Taupou, a new work Samoan traditional dance performance collaboration with Everybody Cool Lives Here and LeMona at Cuba Dupa Festival, Wellington; she presented Taupou on stage at Kia Mau Festival, Wellington in early 2021. Lusi hopes to make a new work called Aiga in partnership with Everybody Cool Lives Here in 2022. Lusi was awarded the High Commended award for her contribution to the dance community at the 2019 Arts Access Aotearoa Awards; Spirit of Attitude award at 2020 Attitude Awards; the Toa Artistic Achievement award at Pacific Arts CNZ 2020 Awards; and the Artistic Achievement award at the Arts Access Aotearoa 2021 awards