Welcome to Rutakina, we are Las Vegas' premier Tahitian - Cook Islands Dance Troupe!

Rutakina Dance Group

"... E PEU TA RATOU,
KA RUTAKINA E KA PAKAPAKA KINA ..."

and so hails a portion of a Cook Islands chant composed for the Cook Islands Maori Cultural Society in their presentation of Cook Islands Dances at the 2001 Utah Pacific Islands Festival. The extract in Cook Islands Maori means "they have a cultural performance where the audience will be uplifted and entertained". Rutakina means to uplift, to elevate, to glorify, to honour, and to hoist.

Rutakina Dance Group was created to educate, share, and promote the culture of the Cook Islands in the Americas. It is not restricted to Pacific Islanders or to Polynesians. Rather it is open to all ethnic groups and to all who are interested to learn about the culture, history, and the people of the Cook Islands. It is open to those who consider themselves as professionals and those who are novice in any form of dance.

The Cook Islands culture consist of such dance forms as the:

• kapa rima or action song,
• kapa rakau or spear dance,
• kapa rore or stilt dance,
• ura pau or drum dance,
• ingo pia or box dance,
• pee or chant,
• ute or love ballads, and
• imene tuki or traditional singing.

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