DANZ QUARTERLY No 3 April 2006

CELEBRATING PACIFIKA IN AOTEAROA & POLYFEST 2006

Sefa Enari reviews the ASB Auckland Secondary Schools Maori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival

One aspect of the festival is the on-going debate between the traditional and contemporary factions.

As youth participation in Pacific dance goes, it doesn’t get much bigger than Polyfest. Well before the days of the Pasifika Festivals, Pasifika fashion shows, Pollywood films, Pacific Theatre festivals or notions of Pacific performing arts, there was the ASB Auckland Secondary Schools Maori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, now referred to as ASB Polyfest. A fixture on the Auckland cultural calendar for the past thirty years, this year the festival dates are 22-25 March 2006. It is hosted by James Cook High School and will take place at the Manukau Sports Stadium, Manukau City.

The festival attracts record numbers of cultural groups from the Auckland secondary schools sector. There are five main stages that represent the main Polynesian cultures in Auckland: Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands and Niue. All cultural categories have their distinct judging criteria and are responsible for the programming of items. These include stipulating guidelines such as time restraints, limiting numbers of participants (fifty is the maximum for the Samoan stage while the Tongan stage allows for as many as the stage can fit) and setting the judging standards for musicianship, dance performance, choreography, costuming, as well as cultural appropriateness of the items.

The judging criterion also recognizes the creative leadership skills of the conductors and tutors. Many schools will rehearse their programme at the beginning of the year, so this event allows Pacific young people to gather as part of the extra curricular activities offered and supported by schools. Some schools have earned reputations with superior cultural groups over the years so there is much honour in representing their school.

How has the festival come to be this large and why does it attract schools year after year? As Pacific urban stories go, Polyfest is a product of the Pacific diaspora in Aotearoa New Zealand. Grown from a humble school event at Hillary College in South Auckland in 1976, Polyfest has not lost any of its vision and purpose in 2006. Originally conceived as an opportunity for South Auckland schools to embrace the cultural performing arts of the increasing and young Polynesian migrant community of the day, the festival has also done much to preserve and represent Pacific dance as well as to develop the talents of the young participants.

The festival allows young Pacific people to learn traditional Pacific dances. More than that, they are involved in their own cultural group and for many New Zealand born Polynesians it becomes an opportunity to connect with the performing arts of their homelands (or their parents’ homelands). During the weeks leading up to the festival, groups may spend as much as every lunch hour, after school practices and weekend intensives to practice their items and as a result become immersed in the cultural practices of the cultures as much as the dance-making elements of preparing for dance performances. Many schools report that attendance at practices are sometimes a priority for students and as such, students are encouraged to participate particularly as the festival is at the beginning of the year rather than during the intense schools exams and assessment period at the end.

One aspect of the festival is the on-going debate between the traditional and contemporary factions. On the one hand, many feel the festival has a major role to maintain the traditional dance practices of the Pacific and therefore strict rules are adhered to in regards to the cultural appropriateness of items. But on the other hand there are some who also feel that the festival has become outdated and needs to make allowances for the choreographers and tutors who are New Zealand born and are not familiar with their cultural roots.

Does this matter in the world of dance? After all, isn’t dance appropriated? Yes, it does matter indeed. Some older Pacific Islanders are concerned that while their young are learning to move in the dances, the aspects of culture, language and protocol are often placed as secondary to the dance event. This is actually a larger issue than the festival. Cultural identity and place in Polynesian society is the issue.

The festival is a mammoth collision of colour, song, dance and performance. The performances have become so professional in their execution that school teams earn reputations as innovators or trend setters. One such school is the De La Salle Samoan Culture Group. Located in the heart of South Auckland, De La Salle boasts a large role of Samoan students. As a boys school, they have mastered the art of sasa (a traditional Samoan seated drum dance performed by both male and females) and have gone on to redefine the dance. They incorporate the elements of hip hop beats, pop culture and mana in their choreography. They perform with such vigour and virtuosity that they were able to return to Samoa and win the coveted top Samoan dance troupe award at the Teuila festival, the first non-Samoan based group to do so. Their performance is a combined effort in the art of adoption and adaptation of environmental elements and influences, it is also the art of closing the gap between the elders and young people through the forum of dance.

In terms of demographics, Pacific young people are growing in numbers and during this lifetime, Pacific people will have a major influence on shaping the identity of Aotearoa New Zealand. We need only to look at the success of Black Grace and MAU to see the potential for our Pacific young people to move towards professional dance as careers. The potential to extend dance language and develop traditional dances is a positive outcome and will encourage young people to continue their own journeys of self-discovery, either as Pacific people or as dance practitioners. Polyfest has produced many young dancers, choreographers, directors and leaders over the past 30 odd years. It will continue to do so for the next 30 years.

But I dare say that many young people are not concerned with these matters. After all, the point is to represent your school, your culture and to win! Competition is part of the Pacific way, why compete if you are only willing to participate in the journey?

Congratulations and Happy Birthday Polyfest and to all the past participants, you have left a huge legacy, you are legends! To our 2006 participants, thank you for continuing the strong proud tradition that is Polyfest.

* Sefa Enari is a dance lecturer at the University of Auckland and is Head of Pacific Performing Arts at Te Wananga o Aotearoa.

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