By Adrien Taylor
There's a week of celebration to go for the Maori New Year, Matariki, and today Auckland’s Cloud on the waterfront was filled with the sounds of kapa haka.
But the Kapa Haka Super 12s competition isn't your traditional song and dance.
Is it song, is it drama or is it dance?
The Kapa Haka Super 12s competition is actually all three – it is fusion kapa haka at its most contemporary.
“This is Super 12s,” says Matariki Festival producer Mikki-Tae Tapara. “This is performing contemporary for 12 minutes for 12 dancers. It's a great breakaway from the traditional performing arts.”
Although that breakaway from the traditional may ruffle a few feathers among the traditionalists, the festival says it's all done with the utmost respect.
“This is a great way of just stepping outside the boundaries of tradition, but still understanding and having an appreciation for that, but creating something new and contemporary,” says festival spokeswoman Hinewehi Mohi.
As well as the entertainment, a Maori market was also in the spirit of things, with a mix of the traditional and the not-so-traditional.
Judges say picking a winner wasn't easy.
But the winner will take home a $10,000 prize and, most importantly, bragging rights until next year's search for the best kapa-haka-come-contemporary-dancing-come-boot-slapping-come-acting group in the country.
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