It was a full house at Te Pūtahi o Manurewa, as hundreds of tauira and whānau gathered to celebrate the Express Yourself concert, a programme delivering hip hop lessons in te reo Māori.

The kaupapa is spearheaded in kura kaupapa Māori by renowned hip hop dancers Brooke and Starce O’Neill – widely known as the O’Neill Twins.

“The tamariki love it aye and I feel like we’re naturally talented, our tamariki, ‘cause they’ve got the TikTok, they’ve got coordination – it’s already there, you just got to push it out of them,” says Starce.

Express Yourself has delivered its programmes to local kura across Tāmaki Makaurau for the past seven years, but this is the first year it has been delivered in te reo Māori to Kura Kaupapa Māori, Te Aho Matua schools.

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Piripono, Manurewa, Te Raki Paewhenua, o Ngaa Papaonekura, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori a Rohe o Māngere, Te Rūmaki o Freemans Bay and Te Rūmaki o Manurewa East were all part of the concert, working hard throughout the year in preparation for the big showcase.

“Ia wiki ia wiki, kei te harikoa rātau ki te kanikani,” Starce says.

“Kei te mataki rātau i te kanikani i ngā wā katoa, so when we have them, [they’re] already picking up the nekehanga fast.”

‘Ka ora te ao Māori i roto i ngā mahi kanikani’

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori a Rohe o Māngere arrived in full force, dressed in blue jeans and white t-shirts, rehearsing right until the last minute for the big showcase.

Year 10 student Korus Tawha says while many students are used to performing kapa haka, hip hop is a new form of creative expression for them.

“Tēnei mea he tauhou rawa, kāre anō kia kitea i ngā hītori katoa o Māngere,” he adds.

“Me te mea pai, ka ora pea ētahi o te iwi Māori me wēnei tūmomo mahi kanikani.”

He akoranga hou mā ēnei tautōhito

The O’Neill twins bring with them over two decades of dance experience, but say that this teaching journey has also seen them become students.

“Kua whakawhiti ngā pūkenga, cause you know, ka whakaako kanikani māua, and they’ll like teach us kupu Māori or rerenga hou.”

“It’s been ātaahua and definitely helped our haerenga with our [reo]. We’re not new to teaching tamariki, that’s for sure, but teaching in te reo Māori is very new for us.”

As the crowds were welcomed in with a roaring pōhiri, Brooke says this marks a significant moment in their dance journey.

“That’s the first time we’ve had kanikani hip hop, for us anyway, merge with te ao Māori,” she says.

“It’s so cool that we can have both, and I think finding fun ways to keep our reo alive.”

The pair say that the future of this programme in kura is dependent on funding; however, they continue to move forward with this kaupapa, with the launch of Kani Māia – a new digital dancing platform.

“Ka whakaako māua i te kanikani ki runga i te ipurangi, engari ka whakaako kanikani māua i te reo Māori.”

This platform makes all their dance classes available for everyone to participate in.

“We can’t be everywhere at once, so we’re trying to think – how can we be in more than seven kura and expand?”

Brooke says her dream is to make world-class kanikani accessible for whānau.

“This is my moemoeā – a māmā’s in the kitchen making kai for like the whānau, and instead of them just scrolling on any TikToks, they can chuck on a half an hour dance class and ako.”