It was her first year, as she has been so interested in Cook Islands drumming. Like her, I enjoy listening to Cook Islands drumming and the drum dance.
This was due to my being brought up in a church congregation with Cook Islanders, Samoans, and Niueans. I learnt to dance all of the dances, but the most difficult ones to learn were the Cook Islands drum dance and the Samoan sāsā (slap dance).
My daughter's Cook Islands group had seven drummers; she was the tallest and second in line. I also liked the colouring of the girls' costumes, which the mothers and their helpers completed with headdresses, decorated bra tops, and skirts.
Her entering the competition also stopped the drought that had happened with my older two children, who were unable to compete in their school Tongan groups in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic isolations and in 2021 due to the mosque shootings. Interestingly enough, they did not try out for the Samoan groups because they wanted to learn other cultural dances.
Polyfest celebrates its 50th year since the first competition in 1976 (I don't know about the maths). The lady's painting pictured above the dancers pays tribute to Tupou Manapori, whom I met when I was also teaching in Otara, where she also taught at the time.
She was a strong advocate for the Cook Islands languages to be taught in schools alongside other Pasifika languages, and this has come to fruition with Samoan, Cook Islands te re (languages), Tongan, Niuean, and others. Some languages, like Samoan, are now taught in university degrees.
I'm so thankful for those who first considered starting this festival 50 years ago, as the Polyfest has grown from strength to strength, and it has become a place where Māori, Pasifika and other indigenous languages, songs, dance, costumes, etc., are taught to students and these cultural legacies and treasures live on...
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