The Poi Section That Cannot Be Cut
Te Kāhui o Te Awa is a Year 11 kapa haka roopu of 22 tauira. Their 12-minute set for the regional festival in eight weeks has four items: whakaeke, waiata ā-ringa with poi, haka and whakawātea. Two tauira joined three weeks ago and have never used long poi. At the last rehearsal the poi section of the waiata ā-ringa collapsed four times, and the kaitātaki wants to cut two of the sixteen poi movements to tighten the item. The waiata was gifted to the school by a kaumātua on the condition that the poi section is performed complete. Rehearsals are two 40-minute lunchtimes and one 90-minute Sunday session, but the hall is booked for the next three Sundays for senior exams, leaving only the corridor. The two new tauira have Saturday jobs and cannot attend extra weekend practices. The kaiako has said the assessment deadline will not move. The roopu must decide what to change, what to protect, and who decides.
1. Recommend what the roopu should do about the poi section. Weigh at least three competing considerations and state clearly what you would not change, and why.
Read the worked answer
Framing the problem. There are three separate pressures, and they should not be traded against each other as if they were the same kind of thing: (1) technical readiness, (2) the conditions attached to a gifted waiata, (3) available rehearsal time and space.
Option A – cut two movements. Fastest fix, but it breaks the condition the kaumātua set when gifting the item. That is not a rehearsal decision; it is a relationship decision, and the roopu does not hold the authority to make it alone. Reject unless the kaumātua agrees.
Option B – perform the full sixteen movements badly. Protects the letter of the condition but fails the performance standard, which rewards accuracy, unity and control, not complexity. Also reject.
Option C – protect the structure, change the delivery. Keep all sixteen movements. Reallocate: place the two new tauira in the back row with short poi for the first four movements, then bring them in with long poi for the remaining twelve; front row carries the full pattern so the shape of the item reads correctly from the audience. Replace corridor rehearsals with sectionals: experienced tauira take groups of four (tuakana–teina), 20 minutes at a time.
What must not change: the number and order of movements, and the waiata's text.
Who decides: the kaiako and kaitātaki propose, but the kaumātua (or their nominated whānau representative) confirms. The recommendation is Option C with the kaumātua's endorsement sought in writing before the next rehearsal.
2. Describe the process you would use to make and communicate the decision, given the kaumātua is unavailable for a week and the festival is closing in. Explain how you would record the outcome.
Read the worked answer
Sequence matters. Consulting the kaumātua after the decision has been announced is not consultation; it is notification, and it damages trust. So the order is:
- Kaiako first. Confirm whether the assessment conditions allow a staging change at all, so the kaumātua is not asked to rule on something the school will overrule.
- Written approach to the kaumātua within 48 hours. Not a general 'what should we do?' but a specific proposal: we want to keep all sixteen movements; we propose the two new tauira join at movement five; we will send a video of the full item by [date]; do you agree? A specific question is faster to answer and shows the roopu has done the work.
- Interim action. Rehearse the full item on the assumption of consent, so no time is lost, but do not publicly announce a changed staging.
- Kaitātaki and roopu briefing. Explain the reasoning, not just the rule: the waiata was gifted with conditions, and keeping them protects the group's mana when they stand.
- Record it. Short written note in the roopu log: date, who was consulted, what was asked, what was agreed, what changed. Video the agreed version and send it to the kaumātua.
If consent is declined, revert to the full sixteen movements with the original staging and accept a simpler presentation: slower tempo, fewer poi in the front row, more rehearsal on the transitions rather than the movements.