Oire Nikao drum dance practice

It’s been dry and dusty in Rarotonga for the past couple of months but the drought finally broke last week and we had a couple of heavy downpours.
The grass and trees are looking green again and water tanks are filling up. The government’s introduced a subsidy scheme to encourage home owners to buy water tanks and according to Cook Islands News it’s proving very popular. Te Aponga Uira (the local power company) will now install meters that run backwards so if people have windmills excess power can feed back into the system and cut down on electricity bills. The messages about conservation and global warming are getting through.
This video has nothing to do with power bills but there’s certainly a lot of energy on display.
It takes a lot of time and effort to get ready for the Maeva Nui cultural dance competition.
Piritau Nga was choreographer and team leader and the dancers and drummers put in long hours of practice to perfect their moves.
This is one of the early sessions for the drum dance, the ura pau.