Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Arts symposium draws big crowd to Rotorua

By Sonya Bateson
Rotorua Daily Post·
5 Nov, 2012 07:04 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

It was standing room only at the inaugural Maori performing arts symposium.

People from all over the North Island made their way to the Rotorua Convention Centre yesterday for a day-long symposium on the Maori performing arts, with attendees visiting workshops and listening to experts share their knowledge.

The event was organised by Whakatane-based Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi: indigenous-university in association with Te Matatini Society and was the first - but not the last - of its kind.

Organising team member Donna Grant said the day was a celebration of the excellence of kapa haka.

"When it's put into an academic centre of a conference nature, the presentations have provided validation of the richness of our culture that is imbued within the items we perform on the competitive stage, on the marae and in our communities."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mrs Grant said most parts of the North Island were covered in terms of people attending, including two iconic Maori performing arts exponents: Dr Ngapo Wehi and Morvin Simon.

She said the presentations at the symposium spoke to the audience on an emotional level.

"The engagement of emotions, the freedom of people celebrating what has been on stage has been seen by the tears, the laughter, the applause, the stillness of the audience as they were trying to hang on to every word and the sheer connectivity between the speakers and the audience. In other words, it's been fab."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Symposium attendee Te Ranui Black (Tuhoe, Tuwharetoa, Te Whakatohea, Te Arawa, Ngai Te Rangi) said he had loved every minute of the symposium.

"It's the first time for this and it has been absolutely fantastic, more so for the young people. We got a small group from Te Tawharau a Mataatua, the kapa haka team created to support the Mataatua wharenui. We brought about 10 of them over here to experience this type of knowledge." Mr Black said it was standing room only at the Convention Centre.

"The theatre has just filled up so much from this morning. We had close to 250 people earlier but now it's standing room only. The wonderful thing is there are a lot of young people here, although as adults we're also enjoying it."

He said it was important to support all of the performing arts. "It's a big thing for me because I've got four children, myself and my wife that were all part of Awanuiarangi."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Pene bags season-best performance at mountain biking World Cup

13 Jul 04:37 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Palpable grief': Motorcyclist who killed two people had 11 previous driving convictions

12 Jul 11:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Barn house has shrine to Harry Potter under the stairs

12 Jul 07:10 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Pene bags season-best performance at mountain biking World Cup

Pene bags season-best performance at mountain biking World Cup

13 Jul 04:37 AM

A Rotorua downhill rider clocks the fastest speed of the round-six final for an 8th place.

'Palpable grief': Motorcyclist who killed two people had 11 previous driving convictions

'Palpable grief': Motorcyclist who killed two people had 11 previous driving convictions

12 Jul 11:00 PM
Rotorua Barn house has shrine to Harry Potter under the stairs

Rotorua Barn house has shrine to Harry Potter under the stairs

12 Jul 07:10 PM
No more 'hunting hui': Māori educators launch association to curb feelings of isolation

No more 'hunting hui': Māori educators launch association to curb feelings of isolation

12 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP