SPASIFIKmag.com was at the 2008 ASB Polyfest at the Manukau Sports Bowl which attracted close to 90,000 people during the four day event. Editor PETER REES takes a look at where the iconic event is headed.
The 2008 ASB Polyfest (Auckland Secondary Schools Maori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival) saw the end of an era at the closing of the annual event last Saturday, 15 March. The event’s main organiser Craig Seuseu called it a day after seven years in charge of organising the event that has grown to be the biggest cultural performance event of its kind in the world. He leaves behind a proud legacy to return to the sport that made his name; beach volleyball where he will return to coaching.
The cultural event which he has helped professionalise has evolved from a hand full of schools seeking to promote and preserve the Pacific cultures of their students, to a world class event that now embraces other ethnic groups.
This year’s event was the biggest in the 33 year history of Polyfest. Some 9,000 students from 66 schools performing in over 200 cultural groups entertained close to 90,000 people during the four day event.
“The atmosphere throughout the festival was fantastic,” says Seuseu on reflection. “We had no incidents during the 2008 ASB Polyfest, which shows the great spirit in which the festival was embraced and enjoyed by the participants and patrons.”
Seuseu is optimistic about the event’s future.
“Having 88,000 people attend this festival is a great result for the festival, and the host school – Wesley College. It also meant that the Manukau Sports Bowl was at capacity on the Friday & Saturday, and that the festival may need to look for a larger venue in 2009.”
Like the Pasifika Festival that took place a week earlier at Western Springs, there was sound, music, dance, colour and Pacific food – plenty of it. But where the focus at Pasifika this year was on the stalls, Polyfest has always been about the stage and the performances are enough to ooh and ahh about. As if each year is an opportunity to outdo the previous one, the preparations behind Polyfest have become legend for many of the schools. The serious side to Polyfest epitomises the important link Auckland’s plethora of communities have with the island nations their forefathers travelled from. Polyfest not only celebrates the cultures of the youth taking part, it is also a reminder of their past, of the need to bridge the generation gaps and to preserve their identity. Families are as much a part of the event as the students.
On the other side of the coin, the event is also a skills and confidence building exercise that is perhaps underestimated by the education system. The amount of team work and focus put on it would do wonders if the students applied this commitment to their studies, and judging by their performances, it is well within their means no matter what the setting.
What the Pacific community would not want to see is this event deteriorating into an excuse for Maori and Pacific youth to get together for a social outing or continue their school rivalries. From an entertainment stand point, the concern is also that many of the cultural performances are distancing themselves from the traditional aspects, which many youth fail to neither appreciate nor understand. And that the emphasis is increasingly on becoming “flashier” rather than the focus being on substance and form. That is the challenge for the incoming organisers for 2009.
The diversifying of Polyfest remains the talking point. With the introduction of Asians, is there now reason to encompass other Pacific cultures not included in Polyfest, such as the Tokelauans, the Melanesians (i.e – Fijians) or French territories (i.e – New Caledonia, Tahiti) or even Micronesia?
2008 ASB Polyfest Results & Highlights:
It was a great ASB Polyfest for Avondale College, winning the co-ed Samoan stage title for the seventh straight year, the overall prize on the Niue Stage, and first equal for the Tau’olunga section on the Tongan stage, along with Kelston Girls Grammar & James Cook High School.
Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate also had cause to celebrate winning the overall title on the Cook Islands stage for the third consecutive year.
The host school for this year’s festival – Wesley College, had a great festival both on and off stage. They were delighted at how well the festival flowed from an organisational perspective, and also managed to win Division 3 of the Maori stage in a combined performance with Waiuku College, and the Kailao section on the Tongan stage.
The winning groups will now have the opportunity to perform at the first ever ASB Polyfest Showcase. This gala event takes place at the Telstra Clear Pacific Events Centre on Saturday, 29 March and features the top groups from the Polyfest.
Highlights:
• Avondale College added their seventh consecutive co-ed title on Samoan stage. Avondale also won the overall title on the Niuean stage, dethroning last year’s champion Tangaroa College.
• De la Salle and McAuley High School returned to ASB Polyfest. McAuley celebrated by taking out the girls overall title on Samoan stage.
• St Peters edged out rivals De la Salle for the boys overall Samoan title.
• Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate cleaned up the Cook Islands stage winning four of the six categories and taking out overall title.
• This year’s hosts Wesley College are the smallest school ever to host the Polyfest with a school roll of only 360
• On the Tongan stage, six schools took out six of the twelve categories: Kelston Girls College won 2 categories: Tau’olunga & Mau’ulu’ulu (1=), Mt Roskill Grammar School won 2 categories: Fahaiula & Lakalaka, Sacred Heart won 2 categories: Mako & Taufakaniua
• Five winning schools will feature in the first ever ASB Polyfest Showcase at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, in Manukau on 29 March.
• Rutherford College’s Josie Marie Matthewman, a deaf Year 11 Student who was a member of her school’s kapa haka group.
• Polyfest began in 1976 when four schools took part. This year’s festival saw a record 200 cultural groups enter.
Results – 2008 Polyfest:
Maori Stage
Division 1
1st Kahurangi - Auckland Girls Grammar
2nd Te Kapunga – James Cook High School
3rd Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Piripono
4th Te Wharekura o Hoani Waititi
Division 2
1st James Cook High School – Pou Herenga Waka (their 2nd group)
2nd Penrose High School
3rd Kelston Boys High School & Kelston Girls College
Division 3
1st Wesley College & Waiuku College
2nd Edgewater College
3rd McAuley High School
Cook Islands Stage
Overall Winners
1st Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate
2nd Otahuhu College
3rd Mangere College
Niue Stage
Overall Winners
1st Avondale College
2nd Tangaroa College
3rd McAuley High School
Samoan Stage
Overall – Girls Schools
1st McAuley High School
2nd Kelston Girls College
3rd Auckland Girls Grammar School
Overall – Boys Schools
1st St Peters College
2nd De La Salle College
3rd St Pauls College
Overall – Co-ed Schools
1st Avondale College
2nd Otahuhu College
3rd Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate
Tongan Stage
Fahaiula 1st Mt Roskill Grammar School
Hiko 1st Clover Park Middle School
Mako 1st Sacred Heart College
Mau’ulu’ulu 1st= Kelston Girls College
1st= Epsom Girls Grammar School
Me’etupaki 1st Rosmini College
Milolua 1st Aorere College
Otuhaka 1st Marist College
Taufakaniua 1st Sacred Heart College
Soke 1st Auckland Girls Grammar
Tau’olunga 1st= Kelston Girls Grammar
1st= Avondale College
1st= James Cook High School
Lakalaka 1st Mt Roskill Grammar School
Kailao 1st Wesley College
* ASB POLYFEST 2008 photos coming soon to BROWN & AROUND. Keep an eye out and check out the faces in the crowd at the Manukau Sports Bowl.
