Rugby World Cup 2011: Flash mob hakas spring up all over New Zealand

from Guardian UK:

The Rugby World Cup is already delivering a new addition to the New Zealand lexicon: the flash mob haka.

On the opening day of the seventh World Cup, dozens of performers of the traditional Maori war dance wowed crowds in two cities as New Zealanders shed their reserved image by transforming downtown Auckland into a party zone with a distinctly Pacific feel.

Tens of thousands of rugby fans flooded the streets, draped in the flags of their favourite teams. Some brought guitars, others sang their national anthems. One man used hair spray and lacquer to paint his shaved head in black with a silver fern, in support of the New Zealand All Blacks team. Hundreds of cars cruised through the city with flags waving and horns blaring.

So many people lined up to get on to Queen’s Wharf on the Auckland harbour front to watch festivities that the authorities were forced to start turning them away within 30 minutes of the wharf opening, when it hit a capacity crowd of 12,000.

Thousands more jammed into the Viaduct Harbour to watch the arrival of 20 waka – traditional Maori canoes – a 600-person haka, and a concert headlined by the New Zealand musicians Tim and Neil Finn.

The opening ceremony at Eden Park featured a stylised sequence in which a young boy in a rugby jersey smashed through crowds of would-be tacklers who fell at his feet like skittles. The ceremony paid tribute to Maori creation myths, New Zealand’s spectacular scenery and Auckland’s obsession with sailing with dream-like sea sequences.

It was spectacular by comparison with 1987’s hastily put together Rugby World Cup opener, which New Zealand also hosted, which featured marching girls.

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