Choreographer Wetini Mitai-Ngatai teaches Maori men the ancient warrior Haka dance.

When you go back to our villages, you'll see that many of the old songs that date back well over 1000 years are still performed and Haka for us, as a people, is a glue that is part of the expression of ourselves as a people. It's not lost. Everything goes back to the Marai, back to the village, that's the Marai — the Marai is the village. So when you look at it like that, Haka is only a small part of the expression of our dignity. This is who we are. We are very strong, even still today, but it will never be lost.

Wetini Mitai-Ngatai: I feel that if it's not done properly, then it doesn't represent my ancestors properly.

When I see other people performing the Haka, depending on whether they are doing it really well, or not — and that really comes through in the expression of the face, and the ferocity then can produce, then really my admiration just comes forth. I love it. I love it. But if it's not done properly well, I just think, well, they've just got a little bit more (work) to go, and they come round.

And even with the All Blacks (New Zealand's national rugby team) when they are representing New Zealand — what they had done (perform the Haka), to be proud and strong; makes me feel proud.

Okay, let's take the entry for a start. The entry was about my people and their history, our past. And so, in that entry we talk about a battle that we talk about a battle that occurred in Hawaiki'i. Hawaiki'i means the original homeland. That original homeland to us was Baiyatear, back there in Tahiti.

"Ha" means breath. "Ka" means on fire or fiery words. That's why they poke out the tongue, the eyes. To tell the enemy that "My mouth waters for your flesh."

The Haka was based on a war party. It's called Hakahahuni, which is to put down your opposition. And so, in that Haka you produce all the displays of the weapon, the body, the coordination, the use of the eyes.

The poi dance, well, the little ball on the end of the string, now that was originally produced by the mean to strengthen and supple the wrist. And we make it from a small, we call ripel. And to strengthen the wrist, all they would do is back and forth with the hand and wrist and the poi ball is hitting the back back of the wrist and the front. Now, the girls took it and started twirling it about. So when they pick it up, they make it very attractive. And so, it is a game. It is pursuit of excellence in the use of the poi. As all the dances, it's all about coordination. It's all about the pursuit of excellence in the performing arts, no matter what dance there is. There is a right way and there is a wrong way. And you are inclined to do the best you can within that particular dance structure.

Because of the unbroken link back to your past, that is what makes us as Maori, our identity, as not being broken throughout these years.

The Maori culture is a living culture, and we incorporate in things of today. We have moved very strongly into the Western way of living, in terms of school education, business, doctors, lawyers. We are going into those fields, too, today. And have been for a while. But now we have got a real push towards education, and our younger generation is more educated. And so we feel that is very strong in this day and age.

Elements of our culture have been integrated into things of today. And in terms of Haka being performed before rugby matches. Now, we as modern people, at different schools, we get up and perform the Haka, people competing. And that's not just in Rugby now, there's competition in the schools, in many other schools. I see it also being incorporated into design work and, our visual artists, you see it in the design work of buildings, clothing — all that sort of thing. So industrial-wise, they are using many of our symbols. And also the dance art — I see it now coming up in modern choreography, modern dance — you have a group such as Black Grace. You have other groups incorporating of all those old stories (into) dance, costume, uniform, everything.