Iatua is a multidisciplinary artist who has performed as a poet in Jafa Poetry slam, as a actor and dancer in theatre productions and dance productions, a previous member of Auckland Theatre Youth Company, also serves as a freelance journalist/writer for the Big Idea NZ, and a guest author and contributor for the Craccum magazine at the University of Auckland. Formally Iatua has a BA in Drama and Pacific Studies, Postgraduate Diploma in Dance Studies, Master of Dance Studies with First class honours and is a University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship awardee and currently will be pursuing his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Dance Studies. Iatua's research is centered around the empowerment of Rainbow (LGBTQIA+ / MVPFAFF+) people through mediums of performing arts specifically targeting Siva Samoa in relation to the Samoan community.
'Decolonisation of Siva Samoa'
"Majority of academics who write literature around Siva Samoa (Traditional Samoan dance medium) are not by Samoans, and there is nil scholarship around how Samoans view Siva Samoa (Warech, 2013). Which causes a lack of capturing of the cultural nuance that other scholars writing about certain Indigenous dance forms can never demonstrate in their writing. Through this, as a Samoan Queer Christian I explore Siva Samoa in the way where it delves into gender fluidity and expression. However, with such a layered identity and because Samoa is a traditional Christian nation (Iose, 2018; Tima, 2013; Tuisuga-le-taua, 2009) there has been some conflicts with Samoan dances that due to colonisation and Christianity lots of Samoan dances and protocols were now obsolete (Anae, 1998; Moyle, 1971). I propose a video work from my Masters creative output, where I will engage and speechify talking to the work about how I decolonised and framed Siva Samoa through my lens as a Samoan person within a colonial institution."