Lost Souls in a Vast Land: Recontextualising Māori 'Kapa Haka' and the Construction of Home in Melbourne

Abstract

'Kapa haka' (literally, "row dance") is the Māori term for "performing arts", an apt description as 'kapa haka' combines many genres of 'haka' or "dance", and 'waiata' or "song" within the performance. In recent years, the development of a series of formal competitions, or cultural festivals as they are better known, in which teams of Māori performers, 'rōpū', compete against each other, has provided a mechanism not only for the preservation of traditional Māori 'kapa haka', but also for the creation of new dances and the perpetuation of the tradition both in Australia and in New Zealand. 'Kapa haka' is immediately recognisable as a distinctively Māori performance genre, and is regarded by the Māori themselves as a significant part of their culture and identity. For Māori who have migrated to Australia participating in the performance of 'kapa haka' reinforces this sense of identity, of being Māori. The responsibility for the maintenance and creation of 'kapa haka' lies with the tutors, men and women with either the knowledge or the passion to teach this aspect of Māori culture, aided by their 'kaumātua', "elders". In the process of teaching and creating 'kapa haka' in Australia the tutors are recontextualising the performance, catering to the needs a non-Māori audience, may possess a limited knowledge of Māori traditions, and the needs of the performers whose own knowledge may be as limited as the audience. This recontextualisation in turn leads to the reinvention of the perception of "home", a pervasive notion used by all migrant Māori to describe New Zealand, and the invention of a new home, one that is inhabited by the new generation of Australian-born Māori. This study will examine the performance and creation of 'kapa haka' in Melbourne as a dynamic and changing phenomenon, rooted in the past but adapting to the socio-cultural community removed from its ancestral home, and to document the place of 'kapa haka' in the Māori community of Melbourne and its importance as a mechanism for the creation of a Māori identity whereby the Māori can retain their link with their past and with New Zealand.