SALT LAKE CITY — The sight of young men doing the haka war dance that originated with the Maori people of New Zealand has become commonplace at college and high school football games across Utah, but some Maori people think the widespread use betrays the sacred origin of their cultural ritual.
When dancers tear their shirts or use the moves to sell hamburgers and hot dogs, the dance becomes a caricature of the ritual, they told the Salt Lake Tribune.
The dance first popularized by New Zealand’s All-Blacks rugby team has been performed by athletes in Utah since at least the 1970s, when the coach of Highland High School’s first ruby team incorporated a haka dance into the team’s pre-match routine. The successful team racked up national titles and the haka was memorialized in a film, “Forever Strong.”
The dance of scowling men in formation chanting and bending their arms and knees in unison is now a staple that energizes fans and players in Utah, which has a relatively large population of Pacific Islanders.
But a recent YouTube video of an Idaho football team performing it without any ethnic players raised concerns that performances are becoming too separated from haka’s roots.
The haka dance was created in the 19th century by famed native New Zealand warrior chief Te Rauparaha after he escaped enemies with help from his wife, according to an academic paper by Brigham Young University-Hawaii vice president Debbie Hippolite-Wright.
She said the dance can be seen as offensive if it’s unmoored from those cultural anchors. While it’s typically considered a war dance, it is also traditionally performed at weddings as a welcoming ceremony that includes women and children.
Ra Puriri, who moved back to New Zealand after living in St. George, says education about its roots as a symbol of strength and solidarity can ease many cultural concerns.
Moana Uluave-Hafoka of Salt Lake City says she’s not a purist, but laments that haka is sometimes used to perpetrate a “stereotype of hyper masculinity” and “savagery.”
“No one should be performing it in ignorance,” Uluave-Hafoka said.