Cook Islander traditions

Abstract

Among Pacific Islanders who live in Australia, Cook Islanders are renowned for the dynamic maintenance of their dance traditions. Immigrant Cook Islanders, most of whom are from the southern group of islands, live mainly in eastern Australia, especially Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. They have few formal associations here, apart from their churches. Several urban performing groups have formed. They perform music and dance on occasions including extended-family celebrations; parties; school and community events; multicultural festivals, such the Global Carnival at Bellingen (NSW); pub and club gigs; and team competitions held on Constitution Day, which celebrates the anniversary of self-government for the Cook Islands in 1965.Some groups, such as Sounds of the Cook Islands in Armidale (NSW), and Echoes of Polynesia in Sydney, perform an almost exclusively Cook Islander repertory. Sydney's Rhythm of Polynesia and others combine a mostly Cook Islander membership and repertory with dances representingother Polynesian island cultures. The largely Cook Islander Brisbane Polynesian Dancers include Cook Islander music and dance in a pan-Polynesian program.