Ngā whatinga-rau o Iho: Critical reflections of iho in Haka Theatre through personal pūrākau of four Hawaiki Tū kaihaka

Abstract

This thesis explores Haka Theatre performance practice through a critical reflection on personal pūrākau (narratives) and experiences of four kaihaka (performers) who reside in Aotearoa and are part of an Auckland-based performing arts group, Hawaiki Tū Haka Theatre Company. The key question motivating this research is: How might four Hawaiki TŪ kaihaka understand iho in relation to their Haka Theatre performance practice? I propose such conversations can bring understanding through performance of how Hawaiki Tū kaihaka are navigating within the 21st century. This Kaupapa Māori research was gathered over a four-year period where I, the researcher and past member of Hawaiki Tū Haka Theatre Company, negotiated the role as researcher and practitioner. Through in-depth wānanga (discussions), personal pūrākau (narratives), and mātirotirohanga (observations), the four kaihaka shared their diverse experiences of what iho (the heart, or essence) within their Haka Theatre performance practice meant to them. Through various wānanga between my grandmother, partner, and I the notion of iho emerged. Such discussions developed my own understandings of iho, moving past more common uses of iho as a grammar particle and including notions that acknowledge and understand iho as the ‘heart or essence’ of something, in this case Haka Theatre performance practice. Three key findings emerged from this investigation. The first key finding revealed how specific processes within Haka Theatre contribute towards whakawhanaungatanga (process of building relationships, kinship) approaches, revealing ways of strengthening and affirming Māoritanga (identity), reconnecting kaihaka to their whakapapa (lineage), and assisting in processes of whakamahu (healing) through Haka Theatre. The second key finding discovered how the kaihaka embody spiritual and performative experiences. Specifically, how they rely on performative Māori concepts such as ihi, wehi, and wana and the practice of specific ritual processes within their Haka Theatre performance practice. And finally, the third key finding engages in discussion of negotiating and navigating Homi Bhabha’s (1994) notion of third space within Haka Theatre performance. Furthermore, this research provides an articulation and critical reflection of the attitudes and experiences of the four kaihaka, contributing to the knowledge and understandings of Indigenous practices and process within the performing arts in Aotearoa and globally.