Polyfest 2022: Supporters cheer livestream from afar

The world's biggest Māori and Pacific Islands cultural festival kicked off in Tāmaki Makaurau this week, but with no crowds for the first time.

Secondary school students instead performed to a host of on-site judges, while families across the country huddled around screens to cheer their loved ones on from home, watching the livestream.

It's the first time in the festival's 47-year history the event has been scaled down and brought online.

The number of groups performing dropped down from around 200 pre-Covid to just 68 this year. But even pandemic disruptions weren't enough to put a damper on the days.

RNZ spoke to some of the students who overcame many hurdles to bring the best of their culture and dance centre-stage at this year's Polyfest, which began on Wednesday and ends today.

"I feel like I performed with my whole heart."

Manurewa High School's Salena and Osana were proud of the way their group performed at Polyfest.

"They did so good, just sitting at the back hearing them, they did really good, I'm so proud of them," Salena said.

"When you're performing you'd love to see your family there. Seeing your family there just motivates you and not seeing them there was hard, but it's just learning how to discipline ourselves and how to motivate ourselves as welI. I feel good. I feel like I performed with my whole heart."

Osana agreed: "It's different, there's no audience to cheer you on, so we kind of had to motivate ourselves to keep going. We did really good compared to every other day. I think I did great."

"Our support teams at home were cheering us on."

Avondale College students Shalisa and Douglas are in their final year of school. They say performing at Polyfest was a great way to say goodbye.

"I'm proud of what we put out there today and how we ended off the year," Shalisa said.

"It was really different with no audience because there was no cheering, we also didn't have our families there, but we know that our support teams at home were cheering us on in the [livestreams], and just knowing that was enough for us to put our hearts out on the stage."

Douglas said performing to no crowds was "pretty weird."

"Usually there are people screaming my name but now, a bit quiet. But they're watching - my mum, my dad. My fans. I reckon they'd just be proud of me, eh.

"Going out there in our last year was pretty fun."

"Lucky our group hyped it up."

Sapati and Perenise from Māngere College were feeling relieved to have their performance over and done with after many weeks of practising in restricted settings.

"Pretty buzzy that we just finished performing. It's been ages practising, but ultra proud of my group," Perenise said.

"It was stressful - very stressful - preparing. Pretty stink we couldn't have family members cheering us on from the side. There was no hype, but lucky our group hyped it up."

"It felt kind of weird, eh," Sapati said.

"Usually there's crowds cheering you on but this year it's a different story."

"The judges were just looking straight at you."

Teneal said performing in front of the judges without the support of a crowd felt nerve-wracking.

"The judges were just looking straight at you, and you could just see them and nobody else. It was less scary in 2019 because my family were there and I could just look at them and feel not nervous, but it didn't happen this time.

"It's so relieving, not having to be scared about me having to stand anymore."

Despite the lack of a big audience, tutors watched on from the sidelines and cheered their students on.

"They were so happy for us, they're so proud of us."

"It was good to get on the stage with our brothers and sisters."

Mt Albert Grammar School had somewhere between seven to eight weeks to prepare for their performance, but students Lisi and Tyler said Covid-19 made the road to Polyfest a rough ride.

"It was good to get on the stage with our brothers and sisters," Lisi said. "It was hard considering the circumstances.

"We were put off a couple of weeks due to people being in isolation, so we really only got together after a couple of weeks to really do our top jobs and prepare for today. But proud of our efforts today. Proud of our group."

"I'm just super proud of the boys and the girls," Tyler said.

"It's good to be back. And shout out to Peter Walters, our tutor that couldn't be here today. Just super proud of everyone and all the mahi we've done today."