Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 5, 1 May 1994 — Aotearoa festival: contemporary issues shown in traditional art [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aotearoa festival: contemporary issues shown in traditional art

by Manu Boyd OHA culture specialist The recent New Zealand Intemational Arts Festival, a biennial celebration held in Wellington Feb. 25-Mar. 19, brought dozens of performers from the world over to this breezy capital city. They included the Bunraku Puppet Theater from Japan, Germany's Frankfurt Ballet, Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists from Russia as well as an Australian Aboriginal

rock group, "Yothu Yindi," who cross musical, cultural and racial barriers with their "neo-indige-nous" sounds. For the flrst time, through the persistence of the Māori (New Zealand's indigenous Polynesian community), a traditional segment was added to the predominantly non-native festival performances that gave substantial attention to the Māori visual and performing arts. "Te Toka A Toi," under the direction of coordinator Marina Sciascia, brought forth the very finest examples of the vibrant and impressive native culture of Aotearoa.

Young Māori groups, like "Whitireia" from a polytechnic school in Porirua outside of Wellington, are combining elements of modem dance with their traditional format. Synthesized music and stark, leotard-clad dancers lent an interesting touch to telling traditional stories of the Māori people, past and present, though some elders disapproved. One community leader said, "While the elements of modern dance and traditional Māori are beautiful in their own right, they should walk different paths." As dance is an evolutionary art form, it is inevitable that profound, radical expressions will

emerge from time to time as a result of acculturation, and are certain to "mffle a few feathers." Waka Huia, winners of the 1992 Aotearoa Festival who were also official New Zealand representatives at the Seoul and Barcelona 01ympics Arts Festivals, performed stirring contemporary compositions that greatly impressed the tūpuna (kūpuna). An exquisitely executed "poi" dance by the women included the refrain, "No hea te mana o te

wahine? No Papa-Tua-Nuku toku mana ē!" (From where comes the power of the woman? From Papa [Mother Earth] is my mana!). The men's performed a moving and impressive haka (war dance) waming of the danger of AIDS in Aotearoa and the world. These performers showed that contemporary issues ean be expressed in a traditional framework, a vital concept in the advancement of oral tradition-based cultures.

Adjacent the performanee venue at Wellington Harbor's Shed 1 was an art exhibition of Te Waka Toi, a government-spon-sored guild of Māori artists. Last October, through the sponsorship of the New Zealand government, the University of Hawai'i and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Te Waka Toi assembled a month-Iong exhibition at the UH-Mānoa Art Gallery, during whieh

Māori and Hawaiians were able to discuss their work at a number of forums. Artists at the Wellington festival, including Te Aue Davis, June Grant, Amster Reedy, Sandy Adsett and Derek Lardelli, send their aloha to the many Hawaiians they met last year. Kea'eloa, an eight-member Hawai'i cultural performing group made up of Hawaiian language speakers and teachers, wasinvited by festival organizers to participate in the Wellington Te

Toka A Toi. Directed by Dr. Kalena Silva, kumu hula, chant exponent and chairman of the Department of Hawaiian Studies at the UH-Hilo, Kea'eloa's performances of traditional oli, hula pahu, hula 'ala'apapa and hula 'auana were welcomed by the Māori groups, many of whom had never seen Hawaiian dance.

As is the case in Hawai'i, Māori native language is vital to the native dance performance, and equally important to the quality and depth of culture among the native people in education and daily life. The renewed interest in Māori language is evidenced by the growing numbers involved in immersion education. Kōhanga Reo, the inspiration for our Pūnana Leo (language nest) Hawaiian immersion preschools, far dominate our efforts in that their students number in the tens of thousands. Many of these schools, 16,000 in all, are located at traditional marae (cultural centers or meeting houses) throughout the country. It is estimated, however, that only three percent of those preschoolers are able to continue their immersion education in the Kura Kaupapa Māori, similar to our Department of Education's expanding immersion effort, Kula Kaiapuni Hawai'i. There are 31 Kura Kaupapa under the Ministry

of Education, 15 private immersion schools, and approximately 19 groups trying to establish new ones. Māori language is used throughout the city in signs and the media, no doubt a result of the growing interest in language revival. At the Māori Language Commission headquarters in Wellington, directed by Tīmoti Kāretu, lexicon development takes plaee and language usage policies are implemented. The Māoii Language Commission has designated 1995 as the "Year of the Māori Language," although some will argue that it should be every year. Kāretu, a highlyrespected member of the Māori community and the community-at-large, gave the festival its name, "Te Toka A Toi," whieh translates as "the ancient theme of the arts."

A four-hour meeting was held between members of Kea'eloa, the Māoii language commissioner and his administrative staff, the teacher development coordinator from the Ministry of Education, the principal of the high school where the first immersion class has advanced to (in Hawai'i, the "lead class" of immersion-educat-ed students is currently in grade 7), and the policy analyst from Te Puni Kōkki, the Māori equivalent to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. A eommon eoneem emerge:

the availability of adequate teacher training and the quality of teachers. "Just because you ean speak Māori doesn't necessarily mean you will be an effective educator," said Kāretu. He added, "Language isn't rich anymore. It's becoming quite ordinaiy." Hawai'i's efforts include Leo Ola, a program that, according to immersion educator Kalani Akana, has been very helpful in tēacher training. Immersion teachers argue that the teacher's language skill directly affects their students' language capacity. Constant improvement of language skills is needed.

OHA continues to support the language through programs such as Leo Mōhala, a development program for teachers, students and families involved in immersion education; Pūnana Leo preschools fundraising; education tutorials; the sponsoring of this month's OHA Hawaiian Language Conference, and the eosponsoring of 1993 's Polynesian Languages Forum and the Native American Languages Institute (NALI). The 1995 Polynesian Languages Forum will be held in Aotearoa, during that country's designated "Year of the Māori Language."

Intricate "piūpiū" skirts fashioned from harakeke leaves (flax) are commonly used by Maori performers like this dance group at Wellington Harbor's Shed 1 , the main Te Toka A Toi festival venue.

Māori artist Te Aue Davis weaves a "kete" (hand bag) from dried harakeke.