“Members of Waihirere from Gisborne perform during the Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival at North Hagley Park on Sunday in Christchurch, New Zealand. The biennial event celebrates Maori traditional performing arts.”
Source: Wall street Journal: photos of the day, March 8th. By Martin Hunter.
SMWI* = Saturday Morning Work-Out Inspiration
Live & Learn 
Movie trivia tidbit: The actor who played Azog the Defiler in The Hobbit Trilogy is Maori–Manu Bennett. His performance was filmed with Motion Capture (like Andy Serkis’ performance of Gollum). One of the real bits they kept was this wide-eyed look. It’s meant to intimidate foes (basically scare the crap out of them). Works for me.
http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1660
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Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
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Funny, this is the same look members of my Saturday morning Bootcamp class got when the instructor said we were doing another round of burpees….😉
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Ha. Funny!
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I absolutely love the Haka! I have watched the New Zealanders beat the Australian Rugby team so many times and I think its because of their connection to the land through honouring the practice of the Haka which has been passed on from many generations. 🙂
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It must be, otherwise, how can they dominate so year after year?
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Up and running 🙂
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The Haka is our identity. The All Blacks have two – the latest one was specially created for them. Now the English want to ban it from the Rugby World Cup. Yet many go to the games, just to watch it.
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It’s the best part of the game!
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awake and ready to go!`
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That’s it!
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That’s funny. My husband is half Maori (and half British). It never gave me any inspiration for a Saturday morning workout.
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2015 08:01:39 +0000 To: m.pepere@hotmail.com
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Better tell him to set the British aside and get the Haka going.
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Why do some of them look terrified? Well…except for that guy in the center, he looks just plain crazed…perhaps because his skirt (loincloth?) is separating in the middle just as the photo is taken???
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LAUGHING. There are so many places I can take a response, but I’m going to let it go. It’s killing me to do so, but I’m going to let it go.
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