ABSTRACT
The community was overwhelmingly female and it was the actions and values of the women which were to influence the children and subsequent generations. The need to survive imposed a certain routine of daily labour, but a particular culture and type of community grew from the fusion of European males and Tahitian females. Traditional Tahitian dance is noted for its rhythmic swaying and sensual body movements. His underlining of 'grown-up' implies that the dancers were from the original settlers who would have known the full range and implications of the dance. And Captain Beechey recorded that there was a lot of laughter from the 'female spectators' at what was obviously a secret joke – 'association of ridiculous ideas' is his expression between them. Tahitian dance and music declined with European contacts, and leisure and recreational activities were to grow to be dominated by association with the Church.
