Te Rautahi

Tu Tangata, Issue 33, 1 December 1986, Page 33

Te Rautahi

Getting the best out of everyone

Tamaki Makaurau haka team, Te Rautahi, know well the secrets of the tree which shares their name te rautahiri or unity. The rautahiri’s whispering leaves are the siren which entices the listener forward to the real attraction the bellshaped flower which holds the secret of unity. When the flower is pulled from its perch, a hole is left in the middle, leaving it open-ended. Each cupped bloom moulds perfectly into the next when placed one inside the other, and endless chains can be made if a strand is passed through the middle. If each flower was a person, then that strand would be ones whakapapa the binding rope of the Maori. For Te Rautahi, (third equal overall at the Polynesian Festival) those facets of the rautahiri easily apply.

The blood call of the Maori performing arts was the shimmering silver leaf which enticed them to come together. Once together, they shaped and moulded each other into a unified force with a real whanau tie that whakapapa strand. The team, taught by Mavis Tuoro of Te Arawa, is only 18 months old though its roots lie with the well-established Henderson High School cultural club in West Auckland. Mrs Tuoro explains: “When some of the kids left school, they found they couldn’t do without culture. It was like they had it in them and that was it. “We got together informally just to see how things would go it wasn’t as if we wanted a senior team with a vengeance.

“Everything just developed and before we knew it we had a team their brothers, sisters, aunties and uncles all came in so we had a base to work from.” She encouraged a whanau system to help bridge the gap between young and old. “It had to be done that way so that we could get the best out of everyone,” she says. “The young ones who had come through Henderson High had most of the skills while the older ones who weren’t as skilful had the maturity.

“Whakarongo kite hihiri ote rautahiri ma ratou e tohutohu mai me pewhea te whiriwhiri i te taura here tangata hei whakarautahi i te iwi Maori”

Listen to the shimmering of the leaves of the rautahiri for they will teach how to weave the rope which binds the Maori together.”

“It’s always been my philosophy that everyone has something to offer somehow and my job is to encourage and push them to bring those things out. “For me it’s really important to foster that feeling of unity and togetherness and, once that’s done, then I need to motivate everyone so they keep on pushing outwards and giving more.” She says the team is young and “full of vitality”, part of which she puts down to the fact they come from the city. “There has been a real resurgence here with Maoritanga and the kids have come up to it. They can’t take anything for granted here they have to fight for everything including their own cultural heritage. The good thing is they really want it.” The team has about 70 members and they are based at the Hoani Waititi marae. The Polynesian Festival isn’t its only success. Only one day back from that weekend and the team flew to Melbourne and took first place honours at the Melbourne Maori Cultural Festival. Last year, Henderson High School, also tutored by Mrs Tuoro, won that competition.

“We were pretty ngenge by the end of it all,” she says. “We didn’t even have time to unpack our bags between leaving Christchurch and taking off for Melbourne.” She believes a team of people can do anything if the commitment is there. “It’s like everything there has to be the commitment from everyone. You can’t have half measures. “I’m very rigid in my approach where discipline is concerned, but if I can motivate everyone then it balances out. “The young ones often teach the older ones how to do things like the poi. It wasn’t easy for the older ones to take that in the beginning, but now everyone accepts everyone else. They know that different people offer different things. She says it’s unimportant to her that the team was placed at the Christchurch festival. “For me they performed the way they knew how. “They knew they weren’t just representing themselves they were representing their people, their tipuna, their very culture. “For me that was enough. “They’re young, they’re vital and I’m proud of them.”