The Manukau Sports Bowl will burst into life in a fortnight’s time with the 45th anniversary of the ASB Polyfest. From Wednesday March 18 to Saturday March 21 the Sports Bowl will reverberate with traditional song and dance from Auckland’s youth.
With regard to the Coronavirus, the organisers of the ASB Polyfest are monitoring the advice and recommendations of the Ministry of Health on a regular basis, and at this stage are going ahead with the festival.
“We’re confident at this stage the chance of any spread into the community is very low, as long as people take the sensible precautions,” said Minister of Health David Clark on Monday. He added, “If anyone is feeling unwell, they shouldn’t go to a big public event,” and they should self-isolate.
The 2020 ASB Polyfest was officially launched last week by the Minster of Pacific Peoples, Hon Aupito William Sio, at a special function at ASB’s North Wharf.
This year’s festival will see more than 12,000 secondary school students from across the Auckland region perform on stage, with a record 286 performing groups entered (including 3 international groups) from 75 schools, with 8 schools coming from outside of the Auckland region.
Students will compete in speech, song and dance on six stages – Cook Islands, Maori, Niue, Samoan, Tongan, and a Diversity stage which features cultures such as Chinese, Fijian, Tokelau, Indian, Korean and Sri Lankan.
In a Polyfest first, Tokelau will have its own speech competition this year. “Entries into our Pacific speech competitions close this Friday, so we encourage students and teachers to enter, with details available on the ASB Polyfest website,” said Event Director Seiuli Terri Leo-Mauu.
This year’s festival will get underway with a special flag-raising ceremony at 7am, followed by a powhiri at 8am which includes a mass haka from Kura Matua Schools – Kia Aroha College and James Cook High School.
The theme for the 2020 ASB Polyfest is, “Ma roto mai I te Ahurea whieikoka, ko te whakaora tinana, hinengaro,wairua me te ira tangata” – “Healing the body, mind and soul with the strength of culture”
