The group, Whangara-mai-tawhiti, won New Zealand’s kapa haka championships in 2007.

Kapa means to stand in rows while haka is Maori dance and the term kapa haka refers both to Maori performing arts and to the groups who perform the chants, songs and dances of the Maori people of New Zealand.

As national kapa haka champions, Whangara-mai-tawhiti won the right to represent Aotearoa at the tenth Festival of Pacific Arts in American Samoa in 2008.

Many members of the group are descendants of whale rider Paikea...the inspiration for the movie Whalerider.