Cook Islands dance connects cultures at Te Maeva Nui NZ 2025

The world’s largest Cook Islands festival kicks off in Tāmaki Makaurau this Friday, celebrating culture and heritage for everyone, Kūki or not.

Modeled on the original festival in Rarotonga, Te Maeva Nui NZ (TMNNZ) engages communities from across Aotearoa and this year will be held at the Trusts Arena in West Auckland on 3-4 October.

The festival’s reach has expanded to include a number of performers from across the Pacific, some on their reconnection journey, others who are simply Cook Islanders by association.

Dancers like Benji Timu (Kūki, Sāmoa, Niue), Leo Waitai (Māori), and Katalina Vailala (Tonga) have found themselves learning, adapting, and discovering pride in Cook Islands performing arts with the group, Oire Vaipe.

Between two worlds: Benji Timu

Timu has Cook Islands (Aitutaki - Vaipae, Mangaia, Atiu), Sāmoan (Letogo) and Niuean heritage. Originally a Siva Sāmoa performer, his curiosity about Te Maeva Nui NZ led him to explore Cook Islands dance.

“After getting my pe’a (Sāmoan tattoo for men), I actually felt this obligation to grow closer to my Cook Islands side. Everybody knew I was Sāmoan, [but] before this, everyone thought I was [also] pālagi, which was so strange,” he says.

“I always felt this guilt, my conscience within me was like, ‘you're not just Sāmoan, you actually come from a whole other side that people don't know’.”

Timu began his Cook Islands dance journey with renowned choreographer Vivian Hosking-Aue in 2020, making his TMNNZ debut with Vaka Tākitimu a year later.

This year, Timu will represent his people with Oire Vaipae, deepening his cultural connection through the vibrant rhythms and storytelling of Cook Islands performance.

“I was in awe of how beautiful the colours, the drumming, the costumes were. Ironically, getting my pe'a was the catalyst to leaning into my Cook Islands side.”

Reflecting on transitioning from Sāmoan to Cook Islands dancing, Timu says he has found it interesting “oscillating between his two cultures”.

“It’s about beats and hitting the rhythms and coordination. The principles remain the same, but the canvas changed a bit. The drums are louder, it’s more flamboyant.”

Adapting across traditions: Leo Waitai

Leo Waitai is of Māori descent and has whāngai* links to Taumarunui and ‘Enuamanu village in Atiu, Cook Islands.

Waitai was a competitive performer in regional and national kapa haka competitions before joining Oire Vaipae with his daughter.

“In high school, my whāngai dad asked me the question, ‘Hey, when are you gonna start (Cook Islands) dancing?’ That was my opening to venture out into te ao Kūki ‘Āirani…haven’t looked back since then.”

Waitai had to unlearn habits from te ao haka (the world of haka).

“Everything starts on the right, [in] Kūki everything starts on the left. So when I’m thinking I’m normal, I’m not normal here,” Waitai laughs.

Confidence and belonging: Katalina Vailala

Katalina Vailala, (Koula, Ha’apai), joined Oire Vaipae in 2023 as a singer, and stepped into the dance team this year. She discovered the group through social media and was drawn by its welcoming, family-like environment.

“Until a couple of weeks in, they didn’t know we weren’t Cook Islanders. Some of them were speaking to us (in te reo) and we would just nod.”

Vailala has embraced the confidence and freedom of Cook Islands performance, stepping right outside of her more conservative Tongan upbringing.

“I used to see these guys and could not believe how confident they are, like they don’t care. So I thought 'Oh man, I’ll probably be too shy to do that'. But they really built the confidence in me in 2023.

“When I told my mum I’m dancing, she was like, ‘You going to show your stomach?’ And I’m like, ‘yeah!’", she says.

“The confidence that Oire Vaipae has instilled in me is different. I promise no one is looking at your toes or your belly button.”

A festival that matters

All three dancers emphasise the significance of TMNNZ as more than a performance, describing it as the “pinnacle for Cook Islands performing arts”.

Timu says that while the festival provides audiences with a “glimpse” into the culture, what’s often overlooked is the amount of behind-the-scenes work that goes into a 30-minute performance.

From writing compositions and creating choreography to painstakingly crafting small costume details, preparing for the festival takes months of commitment and sleepless nights.

“When people think about the Cook Islands, they think about the dancer with the kiriau (dancing skirt) and the headpieces and beautiful swing and all that. When you think about Te Maeva Nui, think about that on steroids,” Timu says.

“Sixty people on the stage doing the exact same dance moves, times five different items, times maybe 10 plus different groups. Each costume probably takes more than a working week to make and you multiply that by 60 and another 60…it’s a lot of work.

“The only people that can truly appreciate the time and effort are Cook Islanders, but I think for other cultures, it'll be awesome for them to be able to experience it because it's like nothing else.”

*Whāngai is the Māori customary tradition of fostering or adoption where a child is raised by someone other than their birth parents - usually by a relative or extended family.

Te Maeva Nui NZ will be held at Auckland’s Trusts Arena from 3 - 4 October. Free entry to the Kapa Markets and tickets for performances are available here.