Aula para a turma · Music · 🇳🇿 New Zealand

The All Blacks and the haka

Why New Zealand's rugby team starts every match with a dance

O que é isso?

The All Blacks are New Zealand's national rugby team - one of the most successful sports teams in any sport, anywhere in the world. They are famous for two things: winning a lot of games, and the spine-tingling haka they perform before every single match.

Me conte mais

The All Blacks get their name from the colour of their kit. Almost a hundred years ago a journalist watched them play and wrote that they ran 'as if they were all backs' - meaning all of them ran with the ball like attacking players. The story got passed on as 'all blacks', because of the all-black uniform, and the name stuck.

Rugby is a bit like American football but without the heavy padding. Two teams of fifteen players try to carry an oval ball over the other team's line. You can run with it, kick it, or pass it - but only ever pass it sideways or backwards. It's fast, muddy and full of teamwork.

The haka the All Blacks perform is called Ka Mate. It is a traditional Māori chant that was first composed by a chief called Te Rauparaha around 200 years ago. The team stands in a tight group, stamps their feet, slaps their thighs, pokes out their tongues and shouts the words together. It is a way of saying: we are ready.

The haka is not just for sport. In Māori tradition, a haka is a powerful way to welcome guests, celebrate a wedding, mark a graduation, or honour someone special. Many New Zealand schools learn haka as part of kapa haka - performing arts groups that practise traditional songs and dances together.

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Sugestões de discussão

  1. 01Why might a team perform a chant or dance before a game? What would it feel like to take part?
  2. 02A haka can mean welcome, congratulations, or 'we are ready'. What does our class do to mark special moments together?
  3. 03Rugby asks every player to do a different job. Can you think of other things in life that only work when everyone has a different role?
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Atividade para a turma

Listen to a recording of Ka Mate (with the teacher) and watch a clip of the All Blacks performing it. Talk about what you noticed: the stamping, the words, the eyes. Then, as a class, invent a short chant your school could use to welcome a visiting class - what words and movements would you choose?

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