Polyfest day 2: Papatoetoe High students shine with four class acts

Papatoetoe High School students dominated the afternoon on the second day of Polyfest, the world’s largest secondary school competition for cultural dance.

In four groups representing Fiji, Punjabi culture, Tahiti and India, students raised the largest cheers from a crowd of fellow students, friends and family – and their principal, Vaughan Couillault, a former student of PHS himself.

Up first was the Fijian group, which excelled in 2022 and won first place in the Oceania category of the Diversity stage, dedicated to all cultures outside of Polynesia.

They also won third place overall last year. Students Sia Pal and Esther Vamarasi said they think they’ve got a good chance of winning again.

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It was Pal’s first Polyfest and she said she loved representing her culture on stage. That in itself was enough – winning would be a “cherry on the top”.

“I am just so happy to be on stage,” Vamarasi agreed.

“Being here, performing, that’s the best thing,” said Pal.

Their group danced in red and black sulu chamba to represent power and strength, they told the crowd. Their group also included two boys in traditional liku, or grass skirt.

They were a large group of around 30 students, and moved effortlessly as one unit and out of formations across the stage.

Up next was the Punjabi group, dressed all in black except for their brightly coloured headscarves.

They performed traditional gidha and Bhangra, but with some particularly modern backing tracks.

Students Jasmeen Shergill and Sharan Rehsi said they felt their team gave it their all.

“I was really nervous before but once I got up there I saw everyone’s reactions were positive, and that was really good,” Rehsi said.

The crowd’s near constant cheering was a “boost of energy,” she said.

Third was the Tahitian group. They made their movements look effortless, but anyone who has tried Tahitian dance, or ori will know it takes intense legwork and control.

Student leaders Charntae Potoru Bataillard, who is from Tahiti, and Kai Dittmer said the performance felt overwhelming.

“It was kind of scary with a big as crowd,” Bataillard said. It was her first time performing to such an audience.

“But it was good!” She didn’t want to jinx their chances of winning by guessing their chances.

Dittmer said returning to a live crowd after many years of disruption felt amazing. As a non-Tahitian in the group, he considered his participation an honour, he said.

“To be able to stand in a group of a culture I’m not a part of is a massive feeling of pride,” he said.

As well as dancers, the group had five musicians behind them on traditional drums to accompany the dance.

Finally, the Indian group performed. They shone in green, orange and gold fabric to honour the Indian flag – which they waved towards the end of their number.

In just 10 or so minutes, they whipped through an Emirati song, a Gujurati song, a Punjabi song and a Tamil song, and closed with a dance for all of India.

Students Divashna Lal and Himani Bhatia said they were nervous and excited before going on.

“It’s intimidating, a bit,” Bhatia said. “It’s my first time on a Polyfest stage.”

The group rehearsed for four weeks – two weeks short thanks to the Auckland Anniversary floods.

Lal explained the group opened with an act of prayer to Ganesh, to bring them prosperity. “It’s a pure thing to do,” she said.

“India is a very diverse place. Everyone should see the different cultures – you can’t come to India and go all around in one go. This is our way of showing each culture’s folk dances.”

They also included props in their dance, using Dandiya sticks to punctuate their dance, Matka pots (traditional water storage) and tealight candles, or Diya, to bring depth to their dance.

Polyfest continues on March 10 and 11, with prizegiving and results starting from around 2pm on Saturday.