DANZ QUARTERLY - Issue No 8: July, August, September 2007

Guardian of the Dance

By Francesca Horsley

Kuini Moehau Reedy in her garden in Gisborne is magic. Her hands shimmer, arms move from gesture to gesture, her body flows forwards, feet lifting deftly, her vivacious face alive with expression. The folkloric myths of Ngati Porou come alive – momentarily we see their shape and form, hear their voices - as she dances snippets of haka from the mysterious and enchanting Te Haka Patupaiarehe (fairies) to Te Haka a Te Turehu performing the dance of the insects.

Kuini is a keeper of the ancient Ngati Porou folklore. She also is a composer and choreographer in her own right, creating and teaching her works throughout Te Kohanga Reo in New Zealand. This lifetime of expression has led her to be one of a select group of judges at the Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival, held in Palmerston North in February this year.

It was a member of her hapu and iwi, Derek Lardelli, leader of the kapa haka team, Whangara Mai Tawhiti, that won the top title at the festival. Derek, 2006 Arts Laureate, has recently returned from artist in residence in Gallipoli, and is also choreographer of the new, and somewhat controversial, All Blacks’ haka Kapa o Pango. Both Kuini and Derek have the Paikea of Whale Rider fame in their whakapapa.

On dusk in late summer, on an unexpected trip to the East Coast I happened down the road to the tiny beachside township of Whangara, and heard Whangara Mai Tawhiti rehearsing in the marae. The sound of the waiata was sweet against the throb of the last cicadas and the surf. It wasn’t hard to find an excuse to go back to the Coast.

Kuini’s lifetime passion for Te Reo Maori and haka was first nourished as a child in her marae at Hiruharama, on the road from Tokomaru Bay to Ruatoria. “I think when I was little I didn’t learn it as such but I remembered in my mind what they sang about. As I grew older I came to understand that there was a really important aspect in our lives that we needed to rekindle and it was story telling. It is the dance form that is connecting us with the environment; it is trying to keep in sync with everything that’s been created. It’s that kind of relationship. So we learn through that.”

“I came from a hapu and iwi that was vibrant in this. Sixty years ago Hiruharama was just rumbling all the time – how could you miss anything? As a child you never forget it – it’s alive in you and it continues and as you become more mature you say to yourself I want to keep this going and I will do it.”

“There are dances that have been set to rhythms that have been preserved over the years that have not changed. I care for these ancient art forms, keep them and teach them."

"I wouldn’t want to change them. I also create new haka, songs like the old material – like the ancient sounds, I like to capture that sound and ancient way of doing things but I also leap out into the more contemporary as well.”

The ancient has been handed down. “Being a keeper of those treasures is important for me because this is the language of the soul; it is not just the spoken language but the body language and it is really important for me to express this through dance and song and chants. That’s how it was kept – by just doing it. This is who I am – communicating with the environment and the environment communicating with me.  I feel connected and as one with the universe.”

“Our haka speaks to us through that expression. As a child we had these wonderful songs and chants being sung –‘We are that mountain [Mt Hikurangi], we are in sync with that mountain – and that mountain speaks to us.’ We heard our elders saying to the mountain first thing in the morning; ‘He aha te reo o te koroua ra?’ - ‘What is the old man saying today?’ They would talk to the mountain. It is very metaphorical but it’s real for us because we personify so much. It goes back to our traditional beliefs and ethos.”

Some of Kuini’s numerous compositions come while she is travelling, inspired by the many places she visits, the people and marae. She is part of a team that travels as far as Hicks Bay and down to Wairoa, teaching adults, schools and pre-school children. “My work is in the survival of our language so I work with community groups, schools, with Kohanga Reo whanau and with Kura Kaupapa Maori, as well as organizing and lecturing wananga”. Kuini was one of the pioneers of the Te Kohanga Reo initiative and has been acclaimed for her work in taking the model to the First Nations peoples of British Columbia, Canada in the early 1990s.

Her first formal composition was a haka for Gisborne Boys’ High School in 1975, although as a youngster, she was spontaneously creating waiata and haka. She has recorded her works in note form, with the hope one day to publish a book. “I have some videos but it’s mainly getting out there and doing what comes naturally to me – it’s very organic. My family grew up with this and I have kept it going.” One of her most recent compositions, based on the cowboy traditions of the Ngati Porou, was awarded first place in the regional Junior School competitions for the Tairawhiti region.  

She has been cultural leader for nationally chosen performing groups that have toured overseas, including the 1970 New Zealand Maori Theatre Trust tour to Japan, Europe and Russia, and the 1972 New Zealand Maori Company tour to the United States. Kuini has also danced on many First Nation reservations in Canada and the United States.

Kuini’s tipuna, Matakino Ariai Brown was a strong influence in her life. She was well known for her poi dance, and her leadership and teaching. She had a special relationship with all living things, and would converse with forest, fauna and creatures. Her mother, Louisa Tuhura Mere Karaka Ngarimu and aunty Tuhimoana were other powerful figures in her growing years. Also in Kuini’s iwi is the famous composer, Tuini Ngawai from Tokomaru Bay. “Many of her songs were from the war years, and she was renowned for keeping the spirit alive among the families who were mourning and grieving during those years. Her songs are powerful; they are still very much alive, we sing them today to remember those loved ones.”

Kuini has judged at Te Matatini National Competitions a number of times and her specialty is wide-ranging. For this year’s competition, she judged waiata-a-ringa, but she is equally skilled in poi, waiata tawhito – ancient laments, and different forms of haka. The Te Matatini judges are nominated by the competing teams, and a pool is narrowed down to two judges for each particular discipline. “I would be looking at hand work, how they engage their feet, how it looks and how it fits in with their composition, how the hands are moving – and even if they are different, that is ok too. The suitability of actions to words and how they use their bodies to express the mood of their compositions - all those things are looked at. The whole body is fully engaged. As my tipuna Henare Teowai would say, ‘me korero te katoa o te tinana’.”

“First of all we acknowledge that the teams must have been very good – they have won their regional competitions – so they had to be the best from their area to get to Te Matatini National Competitions.”

“Secondly we look at how the team performs as a whole. The dance is the person, like one body, a single voice. We are looking at how that whole body works from beginning to end – they could be absolutely fantastic to about the second to last item – then all of a sudden they have lost their voices or something has happened.”

Although at Te Matatini the more modern contemporary action songs have prevailed in the last two Festivals, Kuini has noticed a return to the more traditional style.  “On the judges’ panel we all commented – ‘Oh, look how simple it was to get that kind of message across – the unity, the harmony, the sweetness, the balance, the different aspects of the performance – we noticed that it was going back to how it was in the beginning.”

“Over the years, community leaders have said ‘Lets preserve our uniqueness - lets do it the Ngati Porou way –or – we in Waikato have always done it this way, lets preserve our way of doing it’.”

Ancient haka brings a strong identification of statement of place. “You have a statement of who they are from way back and that they are still holding that. They say where they are from, they are alive, they are here with a strong presence. The degrees of technicality are quite different. For several words they would be doing one gesture or action in ancient haka, whereas today there is more action upon words, it is more technical. Most action songs are modern compositions, and while more complex, that reaffirmation of place still keeps coming through.”

Kuini says that the poi has seen a major development over the years. “Quite a Polynesian style has crept into the poi movement, especially the footwork. Poi dances are fascinating because every year there are new compositions coming out with some beautiful expressions. Some are staccato styles, others are just gentle twirls. Then there are different sounds, the tapping and rapping of the poi – the twists and body movements that come into play depicting stories.”

There is a wide variety of costumes from modern styles to the whatu kakahu, the ancient weaving style using natural fibres, as well as knitted or tapestry outfits. The content of waiata is also varied. Social issues of the day are used, as is relationships with the environment, ancient myths, proverbs and love stories. This year a number of action songs and compositions commemorated the death of the Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

Each sequence is about 15 – 20 minutes long, and after the introduction there is no set order, so groups choose their own arrangement. Kuini says “Generally when you are teaching a group you would consider times when to use the sweet ‘Tui’ voices and try and reserve the harsh guttural sounds for the men’s or women’s haka at the end – so you are getting the best from your group  – light and shade, tone, colour, all those expressions where you want the impact.”

There are always groups that push the boundaries, introducing new movements and materials - but not necessarily gaining the judge’s approval. “We had one group who were very sophisticated, they looked stunning and pushed the boundaries in every area of their performance. I am sure there would be people who would be influenced by them as well – I don’t think they influenced the judges in this round but they might in the future.”

Kuini says that developments at Te Matatini are quite separate from ceremonies on the marae. “Competition develops competition. If you go on to the marae the performance is quite different, it is presented in a different context.  Whether there are any influences depends on the keepers of marae. If they are strong they will keep it the way they want it and not necessarily the way it is done at competition.”

“On the marae they have considerations - who is coming, who is doing what, who has passed away, or who’s wedding it is and the different kinds of ceremony - all happenings that families decide. Families have their treasures and they preserve them.  We have ours and we never use them for competition. We would be choosy about what we would use, elders would say – thank you, leave it alone. Ruaumoko is one of our ancient classics and it has been done nationwide now. We are not always happy about it because it has gone from pillar to post and lost its core. But kapa haka has its place at the marae, and many of the competition groups train on their marae.”

Kuini says that she believes it is healthy to have new judges every year but if they choose her again she will always be there for them. “I encourage young people to come through as judges.”

And as for her composing? "I will always keep composing – it has been the story of my life.”

Return to Contents page of DANZ QUARTERLY N0 8 July 2007