Te Puia Cultural dance and art school

Te Puia is the home to the Māori Arts and Crafts Institute. The tour guides, artisans and performers are from the indigenous community and I understand that the family as our guide Mr. T, referred to himself as, has been here for about 400 years. They took over the place from another Iwi or tribe as we know it. The dance is a Haku and it comes with the introduction of being a welcome dance. The welcome part is stressed a lot on the verbal introduction. You might have misinterpreted the dance as threatening as you can see from some of the pictures.

In their dance culturally the men stick theirs tongue out while the women bulge their eyes. Only the men get facial tattoos and the women get tattoos on their chin. Both represent status and you require permission from elders!Read more