Many chants, in many cultures, are not composed of intelligible words, but serve merely to provide a rhythm. I lack familiarity with Maori culture, and so I did not know if that was the case here.
I’d definitely vote for her.
There is a big difference between folk dancing and contemporary dancing. If a group dancing in an organized fashion to a song that just came out recently, then that was choreographed.
Folk dance is different. Folk dances aren’t choreographed, they evolve. A folk dance would be executed on a regular basis at celebrations and get-togethers. Each person would have learned the dance by watching their elders execute the dance. The dance would change very little, even over generations. The dance would be done to a particular song, so as soon as the musicians started playing, everyone would know what to do.
The people here are reciting a poem (for want of a better word). That many people join in is because they are familiar with the text. That would be like someone in the Senate singing “America the Beautiful” - everyone would join in because everyone knows the song.
The poem probably informs the movements. Those movements are very simple. I also notice that people’s movement are not particularly in sync, except in general terms, like, everyone might be shaking their hands, but their hands are at different heights.
…it would be like me asking “the French national anthem, is it a chant of intelligible words? Or does it serve to merely provide a rhythm?”
It isn’t the sort of thing people would say when white people do anything.
This is pretty much it.
From here:
https://www.thehakaexperience.com/what-is/haka/
So well spotted.
One of my favorite YouTube videos is of a bride and groom being moved to tears when their wedding party breaks into a haka for them.
I first heard a haka when one was interpolated into the song Kia Kaha by iconic NZ band Split Enz (the haka-like bit starts around 2:32):
There was a haka at my brother’s funeral. It’s the first time I’d seen one in person, and it was so powerful and heartfelt, performed by people who truly cared about him, amongst people who were already missing him so much, and therefore had the perfect level of impact. It’s something I will never forget.
…this was my old college haka.
I haven’t heard it in decades. I haven’t performed it in over 30 years. But the minute I heard it, the moves, the words, the energy, all came flooding back.
Here is the NZ Army doing the haka for fallen comrades. It’s always the silence at the end that makes me break. You’ll notice it’s not just Māori that perform the haka.
Huh. Judging from the subtitles, that appears to be the same one I remember from an episode of Wellington Paranormal. (About 18:47 in.)