Haka

Team building Haka workshops, ice breakers and energisers and with authentic New Zealand Maori warriors

Join our in-house genuine Maori warriors for an incredible conference ice breaker, meeting energiser or traditional Haka workshop – for your best ever team event.

For centuries, the Haka has been used to unite people to face their challenges head-on with a positive mental attitude.

The Haka is still as powerful today as it has ever been and provides the opportunity for your team to grow stronger, together. It is surprising, entertaining, motivating, uniting…and different.

For help, ideas or more information, please get in touch. You can contact us by phone, email or contact form. Full contact details are on our Contact Us page. We can provide a no-obligation quote within an hour. Get a Quote now.

Group size:
5 to 5000

Typical duration:
30 to 90 mins

Ice breaker, energiser and team building workshop

Watch our video summary

Click the play button below to see a video summary of our Haka events.

The Haka is a great choice for any event

The Haka is ideal for conferences, meetings and team building events since:

• it provides an amazing visual spectacle
• it is perfect for team building, with an uplifting story
• there is no set-up needed
• there is no equipment to dismantle
• there is no limit to numbers
• it provides great fun
• it provides powerful business and personal messages.

We can offer anything from a 30-minute energising ‘blast’ or ice breaker to a deeper 90-minute Haka workshop. Also, the Haka can be integrated alongside one of our drumming or other tribal activities. We often perform the Haka as a morning ice breaker and drumming as a finale.

Insist on authentic Maori warriors

We are one of only two companies with authentication from Tribal Elders in New Zealand to use Haka for team building, ice breakers and energisers. With so many companies offering non-authentic versions of the Haka, insist on your Haka masters being Maori. There is no substitute.

For the full effect, it is essential to understand the language, the story, each tiny ritual, the traditional welcome and the traditional close.

Our Maori team will amaze your group with their passion and knowledge of this famous ritual.

Watch our information video about Haka

In the video below, our Maori Warrior Bruce provides a Haka display. Bruce and Lisa Hunter then answer the following questions about our Haka workshops and events, which we often receive from potential clients.

• Why are Haka events so popular?
• Can any size of group be accommodated?
• How does an event begin?
• Does the Haka make a good energiser?
• Why use Haka for team building?
• Can Haka promote strong leadership?

The typical structure of a Haka workshop or event

Nothing rivals the Haka for a dramatic and memorable entrance! Your delegates take their seats and all seems normal.

The doors shut behind the last guests and the world music, which has been playing as they enter, is increased in volume, signifying the start of the session. Suddenly…silence. Then, the roar of ‘the call’ – the loud and haunting tribal call of the lead tribesman – gives the team their cue to storm the stage. The team perform the Haka to the delight and surprise of your guests.

Within moments of our team finishing, we have everyone on their feet, and we take them on a whirlwind energiser where they will learn and perform the Haka as one unified team.

In his book Maori Games and Haka, Alan Armstrong explains that hands, feet, legs, body, voice, tongue and eyes all play their part in blending together the Haka.

Your group will experience 100% Maori passion from our authentic New Zealand warriors, some of whom are related to the original tribesmen who wrote this Haka.

Building towards a powerful finale performance, the group will go head-to-head in a bit of healthy tribal competition. Then the battle for tribal supremacy is on as we come together as one tribe for the ultimate Haka.

Haka is surprising, entertaining, motivating and uniting

The Ka Mate Haka is the story of a leader overcoming a new and life-changing predicament. Forced to trust and undergo a significant change in environment, he rises victorious by being open to new ideas and being adaptable.

The Haka is not just a male activity. In fact, the role of women in performing the Haka is regarded as sacred and acts as a vital tribe defence.

This traditional and ancient Maori tribal ritual acts as a powerful group activity, whether it is used for team building, a conference ice breaker or a meeting energiser.

It brings people together and gives them a shared emotional experience.

Download our PDF brochure

Please download our Haka events brochure (in PDF format), which provides further information about our authentic Haka events.

We have delivered over one thousand Haka events worldwide

We are trusted by many of the world’s leading companies, as shown by our client list and have delivered over a thousand Haka events across the UK and worldwide.

Testimonials

Going deeper: the fascinating history of Haka Ka Mate and the words

After our Maori Haka Masters stun and surprise their unsuspecting audience, they first explain the fascinating history and tribal context that surround this cultural experience. By understanding this history, our participants buy in and engage much more deeply with the activity. Our Haka instructors skillfully deliver the Haka history authentically and in a way that is also thoroughly entertaining. For more information about the history of Haka Ka Mate and the words in full, visit our dedicated page:

The History and Words of the Haka Ka Mate

Haka is about quickly adapting to a changing environment, just like in business

Because Haka in general is all about tribes working as one, being focused and powerful together, it is the perfect addition within team building days or conferences with similar strong messages.

In the Ka Mate story, we see a leader having to quickly adapt to a very changing environment and then be creative and unorthodox to ultimately survive and lead in the future.

This sounds like every mission statement or management goal that corporations are using all over the globe today.  This is why the metaphor of this Haka is so relevant to business and team development. To survive, we must adapt to our changing environment.

Unleash the power in your tribe

There is a another reason to explain the growth of this corporate team experience, when groups of any size perform the Haka together, and that is the undeniable tribal power created. The Haka is very popular within general team building events or management training programs. It provides a window into distant tribal history, delivers a useful business metaphor and then ends with great physical euphoria.

Creative Team Events is very proud and extremely mindful that our first duty is to uphold and respect the Maori tradition. Bringing the Haka to a worldwide corporate audience provides our Maori teachers with the platform to spread their ancient knowledge to vast numbers of people.

Please contact us for help, ideas or a quote

“We’d love to help you, whatever stage you are at planning your next event. We’re happy to provide further information, ideas or a quote. Just enter your details below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

Lisa Hayes, Director of Creative Team Events

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You can also contact us by phone and email. Full contact details are on our Contact Us page.

We can provide a non-obligation quote within an hour. Get a Quote now.

Pages you may be interested in:

Posts on our blog related to Haka | The History and Words of the Haka Ka Mate |  Drumming  |  Boomwhackers  |  Clap Happy  |  Team Building Singing  |  List of Indoor Events