Coco Talanoa — Events / Page 11

New York, London, Paris, Ōtara, Milan - High fashion lives here.

The Otara Town Centre was transformed to fashion central for the Pacific Fusion Fashion Showcase and created the perfect stage in the heart of South Auckland for emerging Pacific and Maori designers to showcase their fabulous designs.

Event Director Nora Swann said of the event "Some people found it hard to picture a sold-out high-end fashion event in Ōtara, let alone it being a runway down the middle of the Town Centre. We were always confident that we could do it and that we would find designers and an audience who would want to attend. We know the talent is out there and we hoped our community would support it. This just goes to show that yes, high fashion lives here".

Hosted by former Miss Samoa Latafale Auva'a, the showcase included entertainment from Ura Tabu/PIPA and Otara's own Giant Killa with other Groovehouse artists, Exit Four 44, Pascal Roggen and Aleisha Wallabh Smith.…more

Keepin it Fresh at Barbercraft 2017! 

Barbers from around New Zealand were out in force to showcase their skills in demonstrations & battles.

The 2 day event also included an industry preview for barbers & others in the hair & beauty industry.

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Credits:  

Director & Editor:  Aaron Taouma

Camera Operators:  Fa'anati Mamea 

Sound Operator:  David Green 

Highlights from One Love Festival 2017 in Tauranga ...

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Director/Editor:  Mario Faumui 

Camera Operators:  Darryl Laumua, Jared Leith & Lizie Koroivulaono 

Sound:  Nate Leith & Marcus Lawson 

Researcher:  Olly Coddington 

Production Manager:  Natasha Panui-Morris 

Producer:  Lisa Taouma 

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Thank You:

Pato Alvarez 

Bernadette Talanoa 

Shantelle Mahia 

Daz finds out what everyones festival essentials are & helps them with a bit of Jandal DIY

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Director:  Shimpal Lelisi 
Editor:  Jared Leith 
Camera Operators:  Adrian McBirney 
Sound:  David Green 
Sound Assistant:  Sefa Taouma 
Talent:  Darryl Laumua 
Researcher:  Olly Coddington 

The Kingdom of Tonga held its annual Miss Heilala pageant this past week with the grand ball & crowning of this years Miss Heilala/Tonga.

Miss Heilala 2016, Laura Lauti completed her final duties this week with the girls and handed over the crown to the winner.

16 girls from Tonga, Australia, New Zealand & the USA were vying for the crown.

Congratulations to Miss Apraxus New Zealand - Opehilia Kava who has been crowned Miss Heilala this year.  

She will now go on to represent Tonga at Miss Pacific Islands.

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BALL GOWN PHOTOS 

LAURA's FINAL WALK 

PLACINGS

MISS HEILALA 2017 - Ophelia Kitiliti Kava 

In the village of Moana’s ancestors, leaders are made.
They are warriors, armed with creativity and bravery; alofa and reciprocity.
They are born to serve their people.
As Moana starts University she is called to lead her family, but what does it mean to Lead in South Auckland?

Alofa. Bravery. Rugby. Fagogo. Reciprocity. Community. Tauolunga. Faikava. Education. Social Media. Family. Creativity.

What does leadership mean to you? And who are the leaders in your life?

Southside Rise brings together 60 young leaders from 10 South Auckland schools in an all-singing, all-dancing, full scale original musical production that answers these questions.

Watch the young leaders of South Auckland as they are called to lead.
They are called to serve.
They are called to Rise.

60 young people took to the stage at Mangere Arts Centre with a full theatre production produced by The Black Friars theatre group and supported by the Creative Thinking Project, Creative NZ, Teach First NZ & the Manukau Institute of Technology.…more

The iconic Pasifika Festival celebrated its 25th birthday last week.

With free entry, more than 220 performance groups and 60,000 visitors, Western Springs Park was transformed into 11 villages representing the different Pacific Islands and included a 25 yr anniversary showcase.

Here are some of the beautiful Pasifika faces we came across at the festival ....

Now that Pasifika goes for 2 days we thought we'd try out the food on Saturday and give you our recommendations on what to try today if you're going down for the first time or maybe you're just ready for Round 2.

We went around to each of the villages and checked out some of the unique dishes to their island or in this case Pasifika Village 

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COOK ISLANDS 

Tiare Events - Rukau Pie & Cook Islands Poke 

"In the Cook Islands our parents feed us with the Rukau (taro leaves) - the rukau is boiled in the water and we put the coconut cream in it.  When we come to New Zealand we learn from other Master Chefs and put our own twist on it.  So we put the rukau into a pie.  

Then poke is the over ripe banana which is boiled and then add arrowroot starch to it with Coconut Cream and bake it but not in the oven, in our underground oven - they wrap it and bake it in the umu.…more

Polyfest 2017 wrapped on Saturday afternoon and we've got more behind the scenes, performances & action from the Cook Islands & Niue Stages PLUS the results for each Pacific Island stage at Polyfest.

COOK ISLANDS STAGE 

OVERALL WINNERS:  Mangere College 

2nd - Aorere College

3rd - Sir Edmund Hillary College 

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Behind the scenes, some performance highlights & action from the Samoan & Tongan stages at Polyfest 2017