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Kapahaka Ahurei
Here at BestStart Riverbend Road, we love to celebrate the many cultures that make up our community. We were invited along to our local Kahui Ako Kapahaka Ahurei which we were very excited to be a part of.
Over the past month or so the tamariki in the Tuakana classrooms have been having kapahaka practice with Koka Ripeka. With great enthusiasm and lots of aroha we have been learning "Tutira Mai nga iwi", "to ringa ki roto" and the "Matariki macarena". We started our practices with just singing and gradually moved to adding the actions before we held our very first 'dress rehearsal'. The tamariki took great pride in wearing our beautiful Kapahaka costumes and this certainly added to our performance.
With all the practice under our belts, it was time for a small group to head off to our local Kapahaka Ahurei (festival) at William Colenso College. It was our first time performing, and after watching some of the older children perform, our tamariki took the stage with great Mana (power, charisma). They performed their little hearts out, and all the kaiako and whanau were so proud of them.
Kapahaka practice has become part of daily rituals and we look forward to many performances to come.