Postgraduate Diploma in Māori Performing Arts
Postgraduate Diploma in Māori Performing Arts
Embark on a transformative journey. Advance your craft and deepen your expertise in ‘Te Ao Haka’ – the world of Māori performing arts.
Te Rautoki a Toi, the Postgraduate Diploma in Māori Performing Arts at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi is designed for performers, educators, composers, and kapa haka leaders who are ready to expand their knowledge in te ao haka, including traditional and contemporary Māori performance forms.
Grounded in tikanga Māori and delivered by skilled practitioners, this diploma refines your skills, deepens understanding, and prepares you for leadership in Māori performing arts.
The programme is a next step for undergraduates and emergent researchers to pathway into postgraduate study by combining academic excellence with creative expression, offering the opportunity to explore theory and history with the applied practice of te ao haka.
Why Study the Postgraduate Diploma in Māori Performing Arts?
Cultural & Academic Excellence
Learn from accomplished kaiako, performers, composers and researchers with deep knowledge of te reo Māori me ōna tikanga, Māori performing arts and culture.
Holistic Learning
Learn in a supportive, inclusive kaupapa Māori environment grounded in tikanga Māori.
Creative Opportunities
Explore traditional forms such as haka, mōteatea, tikanga, as well as contemporary Māori performance.
Flexible Delivery
A blended delivery model of both online learning and face-to-face noho.
Further Pathways
Pathways to master’s and doctoral levels for those with research interest in performing arts.
What you’ll learn in the Postgraduate Diploma in Māori Performing Arts
- Advanced performance techniques in Māori performing arts
- Historical and cultural foundations of kapa haka such as tikanga and mōteatea
- Composition and performance critique
- Māori performance theory
- Leadership, management and teaching in Māori performing arts contexts
- Kapa haka excellence – advanced haka composition
- Influence of wairua in haka
Who should apply?
- Graduates of Bachelor of Māori Performing Arts or related disciplines
- Experienced kapa haka performers and tutors
- Those passionate about preserving and evolving Māori performance traditions
- Educators in Māori language, culture, and performing arts
- Anyone committed to advancing Māori performing arts as a profession or vocation
Dates
Feb to Nov 2026Duration
40 weeks (full-time including 4 weeks recess)Commitment
Blended learning including noho, wānanga, online learning and self-directed learningApplications close
Feb 2026Locations
Noho are based in Whakatāne, rohe tutorials held nationally.Requirements
View link for detailsPathway to
View link for detailsFees
2026 Tuition: $7015.00 (note fees are updated annually)MPA801 Wānanga 1
Course Type: Core
Description: This course will allow tauira to critically examine how social, cultural, political, creative, academic, and tacit knowledge (knowledge gained through lived experience), has contributed to their practice. Tauira will then reflect on their examination and analyse how this has influenced them as exponents of Ngā Mahi a Rēhia. In addition to this tauira will then present a performance derived from their journey within Ngā Mahi a Rēhia.
MPA802 Tikanga 1
Course Type: Core
Description: This course will enable tauira to gain an in-depth appreciation for multiple views and understandings regarding cultural principles, values and beliefs while further building their own knowledge on how their cultural principles, values and beliefs inform and guide their practice. Tauira will critically analyse their cultural principles, values and beliefs that underpin their practice. Tauira will then utilise this analysis to compare and contrast their cultural principles, values and beliefs with that of other practitioners. In addition to this tauira will then present a performance supporting their cultural principles, values and beliefs that underpin their practice.
MPA803 Performance 1
Course Type: Core
Description: This course will enable tauira to evolve and advance performance skills in a specific Ngā Mahi a-Rēhia discipline. Tauira will select a discipline and perform multiple genres of the chosen discipline. Tauira will review the origins and critically examine the development of the chosen discipline.
MPA804 Composition Critique
Course Type: Elective
Description: This course will enable tauira to develop a range of rangahau and practical skills to advance composition knowledge and practice. Tauira will develop a research plan that incorporates tikanga (ethics) that will be utilised in the composition process. Tauira will design and implement a tracking system that encapsulates and validates the process of composition from the initial thought to the final product and present the original Ngā Mahi a Rēhia item.
MPA805 Haka Leadership and Management
Course Type: Elective
Description: This course will enable tauira to develop a range of rangahau and practical skills to advance haka leadership and management knowledge and practice. Tauira will critically analyse traditional and contemporary Māori leadership models that can be utilised to advance haka knowledge and practice. During the critical analysis, tauira will use reflexivity to examine their own beliefs, judgements, and practices within their leadership role inside a haka roopu.
MPA806 Wairua in Haka
Course Type: Elective
Description: This course will enable tauira to delve into wairua within Te Ao Haka. Tauira will critically analyse the source of wairua and how wairua influences kapa haka. Tauira will explore the impacts of wairua on composition, leadership, and performance. Wairua can be interpreted in many different ways, given that it is multi-faceted. This course provides the space for tauira to explore ways in which wairuatanga can be interpreted, defined, determined, articulated, performed and felt from a personal perspective.
MPA807 Te Reo Mōteatea
Course Type: Elective
Description: This course provides an opportunity for tauira to develop a deeper understanding of mōteatea. Tauira will critically analyse a particular genre of mōteatea to identify any unique characteristics and attributes in style, tune, sound and language. Tauira will then have an opportunity to practically apply their learnings through composing a mōteatea and capturing the evolution process from conception to completion.
What scholarships are available?
Te Matatini Māori Performing Arts Scholarship
Whakapā mai/Contact us
Tuhoe Huata
- Email: tuhoe.huata@wananga.ac.nz
Interested? Make an enquiry
We will email you an info pack