Where the Whole Village Moves: Aktive Zone’s End-of-Year Showcase

The streets were buzzing as Aktive Zone’s end-of-year Christmas showcase took place. This was more than a celebration - it was the culmination of a full year of movement, commitment, and community.

Aktive Zone and partners gathered in one place: beginner and advanced Siva Afi, hip hop dancers, rock ’n’ roll performers, cultural group items, ukulele players, drummers, and youth choirs. Tamariki, rangatahi, adults, and elders shared the same space, the same stage, and the same sense of pride. Families filled the room, cheering on performers of every age, while food stalls, laughter, and conversation flowed around the edges. It felt exactly as the team from Aktive Zone intended - intergenerational, joyful, and deeply connected.

What unfolded on stage was the visible outcome of what happens every night of the week at the New Lynn Community Centre. Aktive Zone runs year-round, transforming the centre into a shared space for movement - from field to court to dance floor. Sessions are open to all ages and skill levels, creating pathways where no one is left behind. Children move alongside teenagers, parents, and mentors, learning not only technique, but confidence, coordination, rhythm, and presence.

Aktive Zone’s approach to physical movement is deliberately inclusive. Pacific dance, fire performance, music, and sport fundamentals are practised side by side, recognising that movement takes many forms. Tamariki build strength, balance, stamina, and body awareness through dance and performance just as much as through traditional sport. Rehearsals are consistent, structured, and demanding in their own way requiring focus, repetition, and commitment over time.

What makes this approach powerful is how movement is held collectively. A three-year-old might practise alongside older siblings. A teenager may lead a group while learning from elders. Parents stay, watch, support, and reconnect with culture themselves. Physical activity is not separated from identity or community, it is something shared, visible, and celebrated together.

The Christmas showcase brought all of this into one moment. Performers moved with confidence, composure, and pride, holding the energy of the room as they transitioned from item to item. Each performance reflected months of practice - not just learning steps or routines, but learning how to show up, support one another, and move as part of something bigger.

The impact extends beyond performance. For many Pacific young people, cultural movement provides grounding in a world that can feel fast and uncertain. Through Aktive Zone, movement becomes a way to build resilience, confidence, and connection, not only to culture, but to self and community. Knowing how to move with intention, rhythm, and pride supports wellbeing across mind, body, and spirit.

The showcase also reflected the strength of the wider village that holds Aktive Zone. Parents, aunties, uncles, elders, tutors, musicians, MCs, and volunteers all played a role. Families didn’t just attend - they participated, supported, and celebrated together. This collective presence is what allows young people to feel seen and valued as they grow.

Aktive Zone’s work shows what becomes possible when physical movement is broadened to reflect how Pacific communities actually move. Dance, music, fire performance, and group activity are treated as equally valid, physically engaging pathways to health and wellbeing. By bringing these forms together in one shared space, Aktive Zone makes cultural movement visible, active, and accessible.

The Le Moana West Collective is proud to support Aktive Zone through the Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa fund, standing alongside a kaupapa that strengthens physical wellbeing by honouring the ways Pacific communities move, gather, and grow together. The Christmas showcase was not just the end of a year - it was a powerful reminder that when the whole village moves, everyone benefits.