default-output-block.skip-main
Regional | Rotorua

Raukura performers head to Portugal

Two weeks out from the National Secondary Schools Kapahaka competition, Raukura plan to find further inspiration for their upcoming performance overseas.

Rotorua Boys and Girls combine every year to become 'Raukura' a Māori performing arts group that competes on a regional and national level.  This year they will be representing Te Arawa at the national competition in Hawkes Bay.

Today the teachers and students of Rotorua Boys and Girls High Schools embark on a 16-day life changing experience to showcase Māori culture in Portugal.

The Rotorua based team returns to New Zealand, six days out from the start of the competition.

Tutor, Kimiora Webster says "we hope to showcase the world to our students providing them with a new outlook on the world and you only can do this by leaving home, because the majority of our students have never been on a plane, they have never left to go overseas".

There are 51 members in the touring group, 46 of them are performers.  The group will be participating at the Folk Cantanhede which began in 2006.

"For us, the competition is second on the list, teaching the oaths and giving experiences to our students is up there so the competition is like the icing on the cake in teaching our students", says Webster.

The group took out second place at the last national competition