Nau mai, haere mai, you are warmly invited to come to Wellington for:

AANZPA Conference 2013

ANZPA 2013 Conference

The committee and Ohomairaki are working together to produce the conference.

9.30am Thursday 24 to 4.00pm Sunday 27 January 2013

Conference opening / welcome / mihi whakatau

What it is about…

The following is an outline of the format that the opening of the conference will take. This is offered so that you may enhance your experience of the welcome and opening as the guests of Central Region and the AANZPA Executive.

The conference will be opened with a mihi whakatau. This is a Māori form of welcome that follows principles and values (tikanga) that have been adhered to in this land over many centuries.

  • to mihi is to greet
  • whakatau is to settle

The mihi whakatau process has as its intention the coming together of two groups to unite as one. In a traditional Māori sense the visitors status as tapu (sacred) is transformed to a state of noa (common, free from tapu) through the various processes undertaken including the karakia, hongi and sharing of food.

The conference committee have worked closely with members of Ohomairaki and have chosen this form of welcome as an expression of great respect and as a reflection of our commitment to honouring the indigenous culture of Aotearoa   New Zealand. The host group of the central region and the Executive will welcome, greet and assist to settle the members of AANZPA from other regions.

What happens…

This opening and welcome will take place in Te Puni Village main meeting room and will begin at 9.30am. Please gather outside of the entrance to Te Puni Village reception by 9.15am.

As the manuhiri (visiting group) you will gather together and prepare to be welcomed into the facility and the conference. This will be a time when the waiata (song) that will be sung by your group can be practised. The words of the waiata will be available at that time and you will be guided through both the waiata and the format of the whakatau. The waiata for your group will be E toru nga mea and E tu kahikatea.

Those of you who are our AANZPA elders will be encouraged to sit in the front rows of seats as an expression of the respect and esteem that you are held in by the association and as acknowledgment of your tuakana (elder) status. In this format of welcome men will sit in the front rows and women will sit in the seats behind them. Within a traditional frame this symbolises the essential need for the protection of women as both the bearers of the next generation and the holders of knowledge.

Before we begin, your conference hosts will be gathered inside the Te Puni Village main meeting room.

A karanga (call) will begin the movement of the manuhiri towards the host group. The karanga will be responded to with a karanga from the manuhiri group. Karanga is the role of women and is a high pitched cry or call that penetrates beyond the confines of the physical world and into the spirit realm. The calls of the women weave together and form a figurative rope for pulling the visitors inside. Those who have passed on and the kaupapa (purpose for the gathering) are acknowledged.

Once inside the building the visiting group moves towards the host group to hongi (the pressing of noses and sharing of breath) and hariru (shaking hands). The hongi is a sign of peace and also a sign of life and of wellbeing. You may want to think of this as the meeting of souls. Each person of the visiting group will hongi with each person of the host group. As each person completes this meeting they will move to their seats.

Once everyone is seated a karakia (incantation or chant) will be spoken to set the kawa (protocol) of peace and wellbeing. This traditional recitation will incorporate acknowledgement of the Universal life force, the Atua (Gods and Goddesses), the heavens and the earth.

This will be followed by whaikorero (formal speech in Māori) from the host group which will acknowledge the spiritual realms, those who have passed on, the indigenous people of the area that we are in, and where a formal greeting will be made to you as guests. This speaking is done on behalf of the host group and will be followed by a waiata which will be the ‘relish’ for the speech. The whaikorero is the role of men.

A member of the guest group will reply with whaikorero, and this will be followed with your waiata as ‘relish’ for his words on your behalf.

Other speakers will follow in English from both sides and each speaker will be supported with waiata. To conclude the spiritual process and to re enter the ordinary world we will move together into an area where we will share kai (food) and have a cup of tea.

After the cup of tea and leading up to lunch we will have a session making connections (whakawhanaungatanga and sociometry). This will be led by a member of the core committee and a member of Ohomairaki.

Pre Conference workshops

9.30am Tuesday 22 to 6.00pm Wednesday 23 January 2013

A psychodramatist creates responsive actions in life and work

Led by Dr Max Clayton

This workshop focuses on reviewing and enlarging your ability to make immediate responsive actions while interacting with others. These are called for in everyday life and certainly, in your work in producing dramas, conducting and participating in group sessions, and being an auxiliary. Your actions bring about what you are here to create in this world.

I am committed to being involved with you through coaching, teaching, demonstrations, and supervising the work you will be doing each day.

The workshop leader: Max Clayton has spent the greater part of his life encouraging spontaneous expression through dramatic enactment. He is a Psychodramatist, Trainer, Educator and Practitioner who conducts experiential training workshops in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hungary, Greece and other parts of the world.

Dates and Times: 9:30am Tuesday 22nd – 6pm Wednesday 23rd.
There is a Tuesday evening session.

Meals: The workshop includes lunch and dinner on Tuesday and breakfast and lunch on Wednesday.

Fee: NZ$495

Pre conference hui – gathering on Hongoeka marae

The hui is an opportunity to be with one another (whakawhanaungatanga) within Te Ao Māori (the Maori world) for two days on Hongoeka Marae. This will include an overnight stay.

The hui will be led by Chris Hill, Mairehe Louise Tankersley, Arohanui Grace, Sara Crane and Rollo Browne. The Māori members of Ohomairaki will hold the tikanga (protocol) over the days of the hui. Sara and Rollo will guide us with the psychodrama process and as a group we will weave the two together. There will be between 20 and 25 participants.

Dates and Times: 9:30am Tuesday 22nd – mid afternoon Wednesday 23rd. A bus will leave Te Puni at 9.00am on Tues and return participants to Te Puni on Wednesday by 6pm.

Meals and overnight stay on the marae: The hui includes lunch and dinner on Tuesday, an overnight stay, and breakfast and lunch on Wednesday.

Fee: NZ$195

Powhiri

We will be welcomed onto the Marae by the tangata whenua (home people) who are of the iwi Ngati Toa. This welcome will take the form of a powhiri which is a traditional, formal ceremony conducted in the Māori language.

Tapu / noa

The powhiri process has as its intention the coming together of two groups to unite as one. In a traditional Māori sense the visitors status as tapu (sacred) is transformed to a state of noa (common, free from tapu) through the various processes undertaken including the karakia, hongi and sharing of food.

The following steps outline the powhiri process.

Preparation

Our roopu (group) will be the manuhiri (visitors). We will gather together outside the marae. Here we will prepare ourselves by practising our waiata (song), having a karakia (chant /prayer) and forming up as a group with the women in the front and the men in behind. Dress for the powhiri includes trousers, not shorts, for men and a skirt, sarong or wrap for women.

Karanga

We will be called onto the marae with a karanga. The karanga is a unique form of female oratory. It is a high pitched cry or call that penetrates beyond the confines of the physical world and into the spirit realm. The home people will begin the karanga and there will be a responding karanga from our group. The karanga can be likened to weaving, with the calling from each of the women building strand by strand to form a figurative rope for pulling the visitors inside. Those who have passed on and the kaupapa (purpose for the gathering) are acknowledged.

As the karanga begins our roopu will move towards the tangata whenua who will be on seats outside of the wharenui (the main house). There will be a place where we will pause to remember those that have passed on. As we move together towards the seats set aside for us the men will move to the front seats and the women sit in the seats behind them. This represents the high esteem accorded to women, their role in the tribe as the bearers of the next generation and the necessary protection of the fertility of the tribe.

Whaikorero

We stay standing until instructed to sit. Once we are seated the whaikorero ( formal speech making) takes place. This oration is usually the role of men and is often metaphorical. This role will be fulfilled for us by a kaumatua (elder). After each man has spoken there will be a waiata (song) sung as the ‘relish’ to his words. The waiata we will sing is ‘Ohomairaki’. The words for this waiata will be made available on the Conference’s Ohomairaki page. We will rehearse our waiata as we are able to gather prior to heading to Hongoeka.

Karakia

A karakia (incantation/chant) will be said by the tangata whenua.

Post-Conference workshops

9.30am Monday 28 to 6.00pm Tuesday 29 January 2013

Warm-up, you and the Emperor

Led by Peter Howie

From a young age we are taught to notice some things and respond to them.

We are also taught to act like we haven’t noticed other things, even when we have. The story of the Emperor’s new clothes reminds us that what is before us is not necessarily to be commented on. If you have been in business meetings this is also the case. Often with family there are times when we are forbidden to notice and comment on what might be before our eyes. In all systems there are emperor-like elements that we become oblivious to, to which we are effectively blind, that yet profoundly affect us.

In psychodrama groups we are taught to develop our awareness of warm up. To notice that there is a warming-up process in ourselves as protagonists, is usually the first step. This is followed by a tuning-in to our warm-up. We become familiar with being a person who is part of a human system, where response and counter response is more and more visible.  And we are taught to make something of what we see, to value and produce what we see, and to value the noticing of the warm up. This is socially counter-intuitive. We are in effect learning to call the emperor on their state of dress.

In this group we will work together to notice and value the warm ups with one another, in the group, in our work and in our lives in the world.

About the workshop leader: Peter Howie, TEP, B.Sc, M.Ed, PhD candidate, has been working with groups since the early 1990s and has been training people in psychodrama since 1996. Peter is the Director of Training in the Moreno Collegium in Brisbane, Australia. He is currently researching warm-up full time as part of his PhD. Peter has broad experience using psychodrama with organisational groups, as well as self- development groups and psychodrama training groups.

Dates and Times:  9:30am Monday 28th – 6:00pm Tuesday 29th. There is a Monday evening session.

Meals: The workshop includes lunch and dinner on Monday and breakfast and lunch on Tuesday.

Fee: NZ$435

Commitment in action

Led by Dale Herron
This workshop allows us to consider our commitments to learning and participation in the life of relationships, communities and the planet during the coming year: to use fully all we are learning and becoming.

We will use of psychodrama and sociodrama to assist us develop the actions and activities needed to bring these to life.

About the workshop leader: Dale Herron has been involved in psychodrama since its inception in Auckland in 1974 -75 and has been an active member of the staff of the Auckland Training Centre for Psychodrama. Dale is a Trainer, Educator and Practitioner, and Psychodramatist who has a particular interest in all aspects of personal growth.

Dates and Times:  9:30am Monday 28th – 6:00pm Tuesday 29th. There is a Monday evening session.

Meals: The workshop includes lunch and dinner on Monday and breakfast and lunch on Tuesday.

Fee: NZ$435

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city of Aotearoa   New Zealand, and is filled with sculptures, cafes, waterfront walks and hillside suburbs. (More…)

Conference Programme

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Venue and Accommodation

Book your accommodation directly with Te Puni Village. Go to the accommodation page for more details and the booking form.

Dinner Dance

6:15pm Saturday 26th January, on Wellington’s waterfront in Te Wharewaka.