Polyfest '08

This past weekend we had the privilege of attending Polyfest. It was spectacular! All of the colleges (high schools here) from the area compete through song and dance from their different cultures. There were 5 different stages--the Maori stage, the Tongan stage, the Samoan stage, the Niue stage and the Cook Island stage. The Maoris compete against Maoris, Tongans against Tongans, etc. We were mostly at the Maori stage. After each performance the Maoris in the crowd would get up and do the haka to those who had performed on stage as a way of cheering. It was incredible. All of a sudden 5 groups of people would stand up and start shouting the haka with so much passion. It was so awesome.
We saw a Tongan performance and they have incredible voices. I remember last year we went to a Tongan ward just to hear them sing. It is so lovely.
It was an incredible opportunity to be completely surrounded by the islanders. We were practically the only white people there. Seriously we probably saw about 5 other white people and half of them were cops.


Here are the real deal Maoris in the audience doing the haka. Too bad we can't see their faces. We did get a shot of some of the Maoris behind us, but there were definitely more in the front.