The kapa haka community is debating the idea of a dedicated national stadium as it looks at the future of Te Matatini.
Roopu from throughout the country gathered at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia at the weekend to celebrate the half century since the first Polynesian Festivals in Rotorua and to look at what the next 50 years will bring for te ao haka.
Board member Annette Wehi says everything was on the table including the judging system, the draw, the way compositions were developed, and the increasing cost and logistical challenge of the national competition.
There was a suggestion for a megadome as a home for haka, with Tainui and Te Arawa being raised as possible sites.
“The down side for that is when we do travel around the motu we get to hear the stories we compose about those people and their stories and our relationships and connections of the motu to that wahi, that host rohe so certainly the korero is there but we’ve got a little bit more of a wananga to go on that,” she says.
Ms Wehi says people were also considering new directions like haka theatre and boosting the Super 12s and Super 20s, as well as extending the instrumentation from a koauau and a couple of string acoustic guitars.
