Polynesian Dance 173R

Today we learned the Haka. It's a war dance from New Zealand that is meant to intimidate an approaching enemy. The men of the island used to violently dance it in order to prepare for war. Today, most of us with fair skin, jeans and hoodies took a stab at it. With wide eyes (which facial expression is called a pukana, fyi) and fierce hands we begin "KA MATE! KA MATE! KA ORA! KA ORA!" We learned the whole chant from words smeared on a whiteboard in the Wilk. After we went through it a couple times, barely catching onto the words and foot movements, our teacher divided the class in half. We faced each other and had a contest to see which side was the scariest. We hardly knew the words let alone the arms and legs to go with it. Maybe that's why it was so surprising to see one of the guys in our class, a native from New Zealand I believe--he had a fiercely intense expression, with feet violently stomping, knowing exactly what words were coming next. It blew us all out of the water! He was so passionate; it was AWESOME! By the second line, I was laughing hysterically and so was the girl next to me at our sad attempt to look fearsome. The giggles were contagious. The whole class was exploding with peals of laugher while trying to keep a straight face that would intimidate our enemy across the room. It was hopeless. By the end of the song, we were doubled over laughing at how silly we must have looked. "KA MATE!"