HakaHa — the breath of life.Ka — to ignite.

A conference, an opening, an awards evening, a welcome or a ceremony is a call to bring people together under an idea, a value or a shared purpose. Let haka energise, open an event and invigorate attendees, under the auspices of the purpose of the gathering.

How it works. We work with your conference organisers before the event and discuss the key values and messages your conference wishes to share, and we incorporate those — where we can — into the presentation.

We open with the call: a challenge to all there to arise, to be ready. Then we lead with the haka.

At the end of the haka we welcome everyone and explain it — what it asks of those in the room, whether that is a call to authenticity, to leadership through vulnerability, to teamwork or to belonging. We carry that into the kōrero (the telling — what the words mean and where they come from), which sets out why that particular haka was chosen for your occasion.

We can also build in a workshop element, where those in attendance feel the passion and share in the experience of haka. Let the power and prestige of haka be an uplifting and memorable addition that your attendees remember long afterwards.

The haka is a challenge, a wero (the formal challenge). It is seen, heard and felt. What it asks of those receiving it is whether they will step up and accept the challenge. It does not ask you to do it alone. It asks you to stand with those around you, to stand into the power of haka, to feel the breath of life and to ignite that within.

When we present the haka in a workshop, it is to feel first and to lean into the space we create. We then teach and share the haka through key Māori concepts: wero, the challenge; kotahitanga (unity), unity in thought and movement; mana, prestige and pride; and whakapapa (genealogy), history and legacy.

Nobody is left exposed and nobody performs alone. It works as a conference opener, an afternoon restart, team building, an away-day session, or the thing a team does to reset. The people who arrive most sceptical are reliably the ones who commit hardest, once they understand what they are saying and what they are being asked to do.

When a haka is presented, people are moved. They feel its energy and its cohesion, and receive something that is hard to explain. Haka is used to move states of mind, and to bring cohesion, clarity and purpose to teams in high-pressure environments.

This programme unpacks the haka, its principles and its values, and looks at how those can be applied in your own business setting. How do you build, develop and lead a team effectively using the principles and values found in haka?

This programme does not teach you to perform the haka. It looks beyond what you see and asks: what is it about haka that moves and inspires people, and how do I take that essence and apply that thinking in my own high-performing team?

Our keynotes speak on courage, unity and performing under pressure, on connection to legacy, on collective commitment to a shared purpose, and on working as a team — through the lens of Māori cultural knowledge and haka.

Haka itself is the ignition of the breath of life: hā, the breath; kā, to ignite. While haka is a Māori expression grounded in custom and history, the ability to draw on your inner strength and work towards a shared goal grounded in purpose is universal. Haka and its pedagogies are grounded in Māori philosophy, and are the framework by which we ask you to enter, to accept the challenge and engage, and to share the breath of fire within.

The keynote works on its own, or alongside a performance so the audience sees the thing described and then sees it done. Suited to conferences, leadership offsites, awards evenings and university programmes.

We advise museums, institutions and organisations that hold or exhibit Māori taonga (treasured objects), or that engage in Māori protocols. We provide cultural advisory services for Māori cultural experiences, delegations and trade, for protocols on the use and handling of Māori artefacts, and for content creation — whether film, podcast, photography, theatre or television.

Engagements run from a single consultation to an ongoing relationship.

Our chief executive is a licensed translator who worked on the translation of the Māori Language Act and who leads the live simultaneous translation of the Te Matatini national haka competitions.

We translate written material, prepare spoken text for events, and check te reo that has already been drafted. Engagements run from a single piece of copy to an ongoing relationship.