How Te Matatini made kapa haka a spectator sport
Plus: other performances by and for the people, co-governance, courage and climate change and the last days of Jami-Lee Ross's 2020 election campaign
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend, fuelled, as always, by the great brews of Coffee Supreme. Some small wins this week: I made a loaf of sourdough that rose perfectly, I precisely timed my bike rides to avoid getting rained on, and some outstanding coverage from my colleagues made me really excited about Te Matatini. I hope that amid any hecticness, you’ve had some wins too. This weekend, we have reads about performances, co-governance, and looking straight at the devastating reality of climate change. Enjoy!
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
110 years of the Hamilton Operatic Society
Some of the society’s performers (image: supplied/Archi Banal)
At 109 years old, the Hamilton Operatic Society is the oldest theatre organisation in New Zealand. What’s their longevity secret? In a word, community. As Sam Brooks writes in his profile of the society, “there’s an unfair perception of theatrical outfits like this – that because they’re populated by non-professionals the work they put on is not as good or as worthy as their peers’. And to be fair, the shows aren’t always as perfectly turned out as those in professional theatre. But there’s something that just hits differently when you see a performer doing it for the love of the game, rather than a jobbing actor from overseas doing their hundredth performance of ‘Defying Gravity’.”
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The performances at Te Matatini reverberate beyond the stage
The vibe at Te Matatini is sparkly, reports Charlotte Muru-Lanning, who writes about how it feels to watch the best of the best kapa haka, and why it matters. At The Spinoff, we’ve been playing performances from Te Matatini on our office TV. It’s been incredible to see the synchronised and powerful kapa haka rōpū, each with their own story: the team from Wairoa, for instance, performed with mud up to their knees. The finals are today, and you can watch on TV2 or TVNZ+; find a schedule here. If you want to know more, Alice Webb-Liddall has a feature about the West Auckland gym that helps kapa haka performers train, and Charlotte Muru-Lanning has a beginners guide to how the competition is run and the different disciplines each team competes in.
A photo essay from our newsletter about kai, The Boil Up: offstage at Te Matatini, people gather for the kai
The 12 groups who will go on to perform today, competing to be crowned Toa Whakaihuwaka, the winners of Te Matatini 2023
Weekend watch: Elements of Truth
Do you have to believe in what you’re selling when you’re a politician? Jami-Lee Ross, the former National MP who linked his fortunes to conspiracy theorist Billy Te Kahika in the 2020 election, isn’t sure. In new short documentary Elements of Truth, film-maker Tony Sutorius followed Ross through the campaign as he tried to make sure that donors were adhering to electoral law. Ross is surprisingly candid about the realities of political life, and how they can mean you find yourself promoting positions you don’t really back. Plus: behind the scenes of that Tova O’Brien interview.
Tony Sutorius talks to Toby Manhire about how he gets such candid soundbites, and why political history is important
After you’ve watched Elements of Truth, read Stewart Sowman-Lund on the mysterious potential donor who features
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Who’s afraid of co-governance?
To some people, the idea of co-governance is as scary as walking in an empty neighbourhood at night. But neither are inherently dangerous, argues Nadine Anne Hura in this insightful column. Co-governance is complicated to implement, but it’s nothing more than is promised under Te Tiriti, Hura notes. Implementing co-governance might look different in each context, she says, but even if the phrase is a political flashpoint, it’s worth embracing rather than running away in fear. “Co-governance could provide mechanisms for long term, enduring political coordination and planning, which is exactly what we urgently need.”
The Side Eye: Futility, then action
Sandbagging is a sign of things to come (Image: Toby Morris)
Did this month’s edition of The Side Eye make me tear up? Yes indeed it did. Toby Morris writes about living through a month of storms and floods, knowing that the climate crisis makes these events worse and feeling, that despite making lifestyle changes, there’s no way to make a real difference. Toby illustrates how it feels to look at, and live with, a climate that has already changed. When things are bad, he says, we need courage to change everything so that it doesn’t get worse. If you’re feeling similarly, I recommend subscribing to Climate Club, a weekly newsletter about taking climate action, and Future Proof, The Spinoff’s weekly newsletter that takes an honest but hopeful look at climate change realities and the agency we have to respond to what lies ahead.
And now, everything else
It’s been a year of the war in Ukraine. Personally, while I know it’s important I find this a really hard topic to read about. I found this podcast from The Economist, about Russians who oppose the war, moving and informative.
Personal trainers need to have greater awareness of eating disorders.
How charities change the places they work in following a disaster
What’s it like in Napier after the floods? Stewart Sowman-Lund reports.
The documentary ‘Pamela, A Love Story,” is a damning indictment of how the media treats women.
After emergencies across the nation, the humble transistor radio is making a comeback.
Gone By Lunchtime gets a dispatch from Wairoa:
Everything you need to know to get excited about Super Rugby Aupiki, the women’s domestic Rugby League.
Cuttlefish have pupils shaped liked ‘W’. They’re very weird – but that’s what makes them beautiful (the census thing has obviously reawakened long dormant One Direction lyrics in my mind).
“The govnernment’s books are in good shape” is a meaningless statement when we don’t have enough investment in infrastructure.
This Emma Chamberlain interview is great but wow am I glad that I’m not a 21-year-old with millions of followers
Why do so many people feel younger than they really are?
Renting is bad beyond New Zealand too – a dispatch from seven years of renting in London.
Weight loss drugs aren’t magic, and they need better regulation.
At the end of the day, will chatbots make writing even more cliched?
Accountability: this week I have been not reading A Swim in a Pond in the Rain.
I wrote an essay about why I love trains, featuring snacking on samosas and childhood nostalgia.
It’s a good moment to return to Ignorance, the perfectly named album Canadian band The Weather Station released in 2021 about the climate crisis.
