Tuesday, August 18, 2009

HAKA


A couple of months back I was approached by a friend of mine that teaches Tahitian dance in Mobara. She was hoping to recruit a few male dancers for a summer performance in Katori City, Chiba. If you've ever witnessed Tahitian dance you'll know that it is very upbeat and involves a whole lotta booty shakin' that is, well, beyond me. I was intrigued though at the prospect of performing a Maori Haka, Ka mate, made famous by the NZ All Blacks.
And, after some research into the history, meaning and Maori language, we started to get together, Dave and I in Kamogawa and 2 young Japanese guys up in Mobara. We finally all got together this past week and ironed out any flaws over several practice sessions and then last Saturday, drove up to Katori City, near Narita, for the show.
We had no idea of what to expect and were kind of thinking along the lines that we would just be part of some kind of 'pre-event' build up. The nerves weren't bad at all, due to the fact that we knew absolutely no-one in the crowd, but we were taken by suprise a little when they introduced us as the 'MAIN EVENT'
Fortunately, we had gone the whole hog with facial and body tatts and had a good costume that Saori had put together. We went all out, tons of energy and nailed it!!! And the crowd loved it. Dave and I were inundated with requests for photos and encores after the show and the Katori City Mayor thanked us personally for our contribution.
It was such a blast. Hopefully, from the pics, you can get an idea of the day.
Enjoy...
Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: The HAKA
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2 comments:

Unknown said...

I feel the hair rising on the back of my neck!

Very cool.

Anonymous said...

Wicked. If i didn't know better I'd've thought you were the deal deal (Maori) at least until the white of your underarm blinded me! (jokes).
Looks like an awesome night. Loved the slide show :)
Liz