2020 has been a very different year for He Waka Kōtuia. In a normal year we would have finished practices in September, we would have completed over 50 performances, we would have had at least 3 noho and prepared for and competed in the National competition and stood at Otago Polyfest. As it stands because of Covid this was our last practice, we've had five performances, we have not had any noho or prepared for any performances. We also would have organised a fancy dinner and invited our wider whānau to celebrate our year's work. We thought that might be a bit overstated this year so we decided to have a low-key pizza party instead.
We celebrated our year 13s, Abby, Arwen and Tomuri who will all be moving on next year. Abby has been under the tutelage of Komene and Paulette since she was 5 years old at Tainui school. We also celebrated the fact that through kapa haka she received a performing arts scholarship to the University of Otago as well as the 'Class Act' for Queen's High School.
Tomuri has grown in to a leader in this group especially this year with his commitment to the boys and to the group, staying involved all through the year even with his many other commitments. He has excelled in his own songwriting becoming a finalist in numerous national songwriting competitions and received the Māori entrance scholarship to Otago University for 2021. Tōmuri has managed his significant workload of plays, musicals, and performance alongside his commitment to HWK.
Arwen has grown in confidence and ability in her short time with us, we have appreciated her strong stance on environmental issues. She will definitely be missed.
Looking forward to next year, although Covid-19 and the issues that might come with it are still hovering over the world, we are hopeful that we can return to some sense of normality.
Bring on 2021!
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