On Saturday the 16th of September, Waitaha’s Secondary Schools’ Regional Kapa Haka Competition was held at the town hall.

Regionals is the largest kapa haka competition for high school students and is an amazing opportunity for us kaihaka (performers) to improve our skills and connect us to our culture. This year, 6 ākonga from Christchurch Girls' High School / Te Kura o Hine Waiora performed in Te Rōpū Haka o Kimihia; a group consisting of students from Christchurch Girls' High School / Te Kura o Hine Waiora, Christchurch Boys' High School, Te Aratai College, Cashmere High School and Haeata Community Campus.

Being a part of this rōpū is not easy. Kaihaka dedicate long hours to practices and give up many of their weekends, starting 5 months before the competition. We performed a bracket consisting of 7 items which all incorporated different aspects of kapa haka. The tutors provided us with the most amazing bracket - teaching us new skills and helping us improve our performance. This group allowed us to gain confidence as performers, make friends from other schools, and connect to Te Ao Māori.

All of our hard work, lunchtime practices, and stressing over the poi was all worthwhile, and placing 3rd made it even better!  As a group made up of mainstream schools, 3rd is a massive achievement for our rōpū as it allows us to compete at the Secondary Schools’ National Kapa Haka Competition in 2024, which we haven't qualified for in a long time. The journey was not easy, and there were many speed bumps along the way but standing on that stage performing with our rōpū is an amazing feeling and is so rewarding.

Link to performance (6:43:00): https://tahufm.online/home/waitaha-regional-haka-competition-2023/