The world's biggest Pacific dance festival is getting ready to take the stage in Auckland next week - but for the first time the show will go on without any crowds.
Kia Aroha College Otuhaka on the Tongan stage
Photo: RNZ / Mabel Muller
Students wowed the crowds with their performances and speech competitions on the different island stages: Māori, Samoa, Tonga, Niue, Cook Islands and the Diversity stage.
Seiuli said this year s theme of Healing the body, mind, spirit and soul with the strength of Culture was appropriate as it showed the resilience of the students and their teachers, families and friends to come together and celebrate their language and culture with the songs and speeches. Right now, our community needed this and we deserved this. We deserved having our students back out there on stage and celebrating our young people.
Covid-19 caused the cancellation of Polyfest last year, while 2019 s festival was cut short by the Christchurch terror attacks.
Polyfest is the annual Māori and Pasifika cultural highlight for Auckland secondary schools and it started with a flag raising of Pasifika and Mana Whenua colours before a pōwhiri of welcome to guests and performers.
Polyfest director Seiuli Terri Leo-Mau u
Photo: RNZ / Mabel Muller
Polyfest director Seiuli Terri Leo-Mauu said they were really excited to have the festival under way after last year s Covid-19 cancellation. There s still a lot of uncertainties and a lot of anxiety out there but at the same time it s kind of overcome by the resilience of these kids and the resilience of the community that comes around this, said Seiuli.