Te Maeva Nui – Arorangi Kapa Rima

The kapa rima is a story-telling dance and is usually very graceful with lots of hand and arm movements.
The young Arorangi dancers put on a fine performance in their kapa rima (action song) at Te Maeva Nui. Although there was no overall competition, this dance was judged to be category 1 and earned Arorangi $1000.
A huge amount of work goes into preparing all the dances and it usually involves a large proportion of the village. The costumes are made from scratch, the mamas help out here but the young dancers also do their share, and it takes hours of practice to get everyone moving in unison, but in the end it’s all worth it. Everyone on stage and in the audience enjoyed it.
It’s a sobering thought though that it’s a one-off performance.