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The world's largest school cultural festival took place in Manukau City, Auckland from 14-16 March 2002. Since its humble beginnings in 1976, the 2002 ASB Bank Secondary Schools Maori and Pacific Island Festival has grown from four participating schools to 52 schools involving hundreds of students from the Auckland region.
This year, 1100 students performed traditional and contemporary cultural performances from New Zealand, Cook Islands, Samoa, Niue, Tonga and South East Asia. Most students were seasoned performers and their incredible talents were evident. The traditional date of the competition, at the beginning of the schools' first term, meant they only had seven weeks to deliver a polished and dynamic performance.
The three-day festival had five separate stages, each the venue for competitive cultural performances from the five participating Pacific cultures (Maori, Cook Islands, Niuean, Samoan and Tongan). Performers were judged on standards of performance, dress presentation, originality and creativity. The non-competitive groups were made up of Chinese, Indian, Fijian, Filipino, Sri Lankan and Thai students.
A new feature of this year's programme was an art competition,
providing a visual as well as performing arts focus. The art competition, sponsored by the Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA), was running with the theme of "Life's a journey - travel safely". Students were asked to incorporate the message of travelling safely into their artworks, which was judged and then auctioned to the general public. This was done during the festival's Saturday lunch-break, to raise funds for the festival.
The
overall theme for the 2002 ASB Bank Secondary Schools Maori and Pacific
Island Festival was "Value our ancestors, keep pure our cultural traditions
and promote our identity in peace."
Mike Leach, principal of the host school, Tangaroa College, said their
biggest priority was to promote the students' cultures.
"The festival is the time when young people in our schools can celebrate their language and culture," said Leach. "A significant number of the students in our schools have not experienced or seen the passion by which our youth can show off the 'arts'."
"Many Maori and Pacific Island students also have not had the opportunity to experience the traditions of their culture and this is an excellent opportunity to do so. If young people are proud of who they are and where they have come from, then this reflects on their self-esteem and confidence. It also has a positive impact on their learning."
The ASB Bank Secondary Schools Maori and Pacific Islands Cultural
Festival provided a wonderful celebration of colour, music, dance, art
and culture. Admission was free and this year organisers counted more than 100,000 spectators and was officially opened by the Governor General, Dame Sylvia Cartwright on Thursday, 14 March.
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Samoa stage - Overall category winners
Girl's school: (1st) Auckland Girls Grammar, (2nd) Mc Auley High, (3rd) Kelston Girls High.
Boy's school : (1st) De La Salle College, (2nd) St Pauls College, (3rd) Mt Alberts Grammar.
Co-ed schools : (1st) Avondale College, (2nd) Aorere College, (3rd) Otahuhu College.
Niuean stage - Overall category winners
Girls' school: (1st) McAuley High School
Boys' school: (1st) De La Salle College
Co-ed school: (1st) Tangaroa College.
For further information contact:
Host School - Tangaroa College
Principal - Mike Leitch;
Phone (09) 274-5764
Festival Organiser - Craig Seuseu; Phone (09) 521-5862;
Mob (021) 329-777
Publicity - Dean Wilson; Phone (09) 376-3111;
Mob (021) 637-636
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