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Overview
The ASB Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, or Polyfest, began in 1975 and is held in Auckland in March every year. In 2005, over 8000 competing students from more than fifty schools celebrated the festival's theme, 'Through unity, harmony will grow'. At the time, Polyfest involved five core competing ethnic groups - New Zealand Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands, and Niuean - performing simultaneously on five stages.
Lakalaka
This kahoa papai falahola (pandanus key necklace) is part of a dance costume worn by the winners on the Tongan stage. A combined group of students from McAuley High School and De La Salle College performed the lakalaka. This is Tonga's national dance and can involve up to 1000 men and women. The performance from these schools included over a hundred students, and would not fit on the stage.
Prestige positions
Grouped with women on one side and men on the other, lakalaka dancers perform in a line made up of rows. One of the distinctive features of lakalaka compared to other Tongan dance genres is that certain positions in the front row are held in prestige. One of these positions is the third male and third female from the centre, who are each recognised as the two best dancers in the group. This costume was worn by Annunciata Wairasi, who was the best female dancer in the McAuley High School and De La Salle College group.
The costume
The full costume is made up of eleven components made by teachers, students, family members, and friends. While the costume adorns the dancer, it also highlights certain movements. For example, a subtle flick of the head, known as fakateki, might go unnoticed were it not for the tekiteki (feather headpiece), which catches the viewer's eye.
The college
McAuley High School is a girls secondary school in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. It was founded in 1962 by the Sisters of Mercy, a Catholic religious order.