Female Tongan lakalaka (dance) costume

The ASB Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, or Polyfest, began in 1975 and is held in Auckland in March every year. In 2005, over 8000 competing students from more than fifty schools celebrated the festival's theme: 'Through unity, harmony will grow'. Polyfest involves five core competing groups - New Zealand Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands, and Niuean - performing simultaneously on five stages.

Lakalaka

This costume and the lakalaka dance in which it featured were both winners on the Tongan stage at Polyfest 2005. The lakalaka was one of two Tongan dances performed by students from McAuley High School and De La Salle College. It is Tonga's national dance, and can involve up to 1000 men and women. The combined performance from these schools included over a hundred students, and would not fit on the stage.

Prestige positions

Grouped with women on one side and men on the other, lakalaka dancers perform in a line made up of rows. One of the distinctive features of lakalaka compared to other Tongan dance genres is that certain positions in the front row are held in prestige. One of these positions is the third male and third female from the centre, who are each recognised as the two best dancers in the group. The best female dancer, Annunciata Wairasi, wore this costume.

The costume

The costume is made up of eleven components. Teachers, students, family members, and friends all contributed to its making. Not only does the costume adorn the dancer, it also highlights certain movements. A subtle flick of the head, known as fakateki, might go unnoticed were it not for the tekiteki (feather headpiece), which catches the viewer's eye.