Moving Together: The Impact of Hupahupa with Tautape
Photos by Ralph Brown
When the drums begin and the tamariki move, it becomes immediately clear that this is not just dance — it is a living, breathing practice shaped by care, commitment, and collective effort.
Each week in the HWT – Hupahupa with Tautape programme, tamariki gather to learn through their bodies. Sessions are grounded in repetition and rhythm, with time spent practising sequences, refining timing, and moving together as a group. Tamariki learn how to listen with their bodies, follow the drum, respond to one another, and hold their energy across long rehearsals. The work is steady and demanding in its own way, asking for focus, presence, and endurance over time.
Alongside movement, tamariki are immersed in Cook Islands language, drumming, and storytelling. Learning happens through doing, watching, copying, correcting, and trying again. Drummers practise maintaining rhythm and pace. Dancers learn how to control their bodies with intention and grace. Knowledge is shared collectively, not rushed, and carried through the body rather than taught as instruction alone.
As rehearsals progress, changes become visible. Tamariki move with greater confidence and assurance. Their bodies grow more grounded, their movements more intentional, and their sense of rhythm more embodied. This physical growth sits alongside cultural reconnection - identity is strengthened as culture is experienced, not just spoken about.
When the HWT tamariki stepped onto the stage for the West Auckland showcase, with whānau filling every seat and some sitting on the stairs, it became clear that this journey had reached something special. The full house reflected months of commitment, learning, and collective effort. What unfolded on stage required focus, composure, and the ability to move together with confidence under pressure. The pride felt in the room was not only for the performance itself, but for the work that led there — the rehearsals, the discipline, and the shared belief that carried the tamariki to this moment.
The impact is felt beyond the tamariki. For Tautape Samson, guiding this kaupapa is physically and culturally sustaining. Tutoring involves constant movement, drumming, and demonstration, supporting their own wellbeing while deepening cultural roots and strengthening relationships with whānau and community. The exchange is mutual with energy, knowledge, and care flowing between generations.
Families are also part of the work from the beginning with having to commit to regular attendance, support rehearsals, help prepare costumes, and show up in numbers on performance nights. Through this shared involvement and intergenerational approach becomes something that is valued and takes the whole family on the same journey.
Now grown into a Cook Islands youth dance programme that fills venues across both West and South Auckland, HWT demonstrates what is possible when cultural movement is given the time, space, and respect it deserves. The programme creates a consistent, structured pathway where Indigenous movement is practised, developed, and sustained - not as something separate from physical wellbeing and movement, but as one of its strongest expressions.
The Le Moana West Collective is proud to support the HWT – Hupahupa with Tautape programme through the Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa fund, standing alongside a kaupapa that shows, through practice, how cultural movement can sit confidently within our understanding of physical wellbeing, without losing its cultural integrity.
