Three days of intense competition at the Torian Pro led up to a final event for athletes facing a make-it-or-break-it moment in their quest to secure a ticket to the CrossFit Games. As athletes lined up, ready for the finale, tribe members entered the arena and performed a dance. It was a fierce display of pride, designed in part to give the athletes support and the strength to push to the end.
The dance was one of two official ceremonies that take place at the Torian Pro each year to showcase and celebrate the local and indigenous cultures of Australia and New Zealand. As roaring fans packed the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane at the start of the competition, they were treated to the “Welcome to Country” demonstration, and the haka dance closed out the event.
Before competitors took the floor on Friday afternoon, the “Welcome to Country” ceremony commenced to highlight the “cultural significance of the surrounding area to a particular ... tribe who are recognised as traditional owners of the land,” Johno Snape, co-founder and organizer of the Torian Pro, said.
For thousands of years, Australia and New Zealand’s indigenous tribes have performed this ceremony to welcome visitors from other lands. Visitors who participated in the ceremony asked for permission to enter and pass safely, and in return, they were required to respect the rules of the country they were entering. The ceremony became mainstream in Australia in 1976 after a performance at the Perth International Arts Festival. It has been culturally significant at the beginning of formal events ever since.
The haka ritual was the other half of the traditional ceremonial demonstrations bookending the event and has a different impetus and energy than the “Welcome to Country” ceremony.
A haka ritual is “a ceremonial Maori dance or challenge, associated with the traditional battle preparations of Maori warriors,” Snape said.
The first haka ceremonies were performed by Maori tribes as a war dance. Originally, the ritual involved gestures and facial expressions designed to scare opponents. The haka ritual also served as a way to call upon the god of war to help win a battle.
John Cunningham explains there is a connection between the dance and the sun or summer as well: "The sun god Tama-nui-te-ra and one of his wives, Hine-raumati, who embodies the essence of summer, had a son named Tane-rore. The Maori consider the quivering appearance of the air on hot summer days to be a sign of Tane-rore dancing for his mother, and this light, rapid movement is the foundation of all haka, with the performers’ trembling hands in particular representing Tane-rore’s dance."
Today, the haka is synonymous with New Zealand sporting teams. It is traditionally a pre-match ritual to put out a “challenge” to the opposing team. At the Torian Pro Semifinal, the haka ritual took place before the final event for the individuals to energize and extend luck to the athletes.
“In the context of our event we positioned it before the final as a cultural celebration but also a symbolic challenge to the warriors about to go to battle for their ticket to the CrossFit Games,” Snape said.
Symbolically, the haka can also represent a tribute or show of respect among tribal members.
Athletes performing a haka for CrossFit Urban Energy on Day 2 of the 2022 Torian Pro Semifinal
Learn More
- The Haka: What It Means and Why It's Performed
- Haka: Maori Dance
- 40 Years of the "Modern" Welcome to Country
Relive the 2022 Torian Pro
Cover photo by Ben Watson