Pasifika: What's on guide

The Pasifika Festival starts tonight with a free opening night concert on the Western Springs lakeside.

The show, which starts at 7pm, features performers from 10 Pacific communities - Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Tahiti, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Maori - with performances based around the festival's 2010 themes of the molokau (centipede) and frangipani.

In Pacific culture the centipede is a symbol of authority and is a popular adornment on tattoos, tapa and mats. The way women wear a frangipani is an indication of their relationship status. If it is worn over the right ear they are looking for love, and over their left ear means "sorry, I'm taken".

Then, come festival day, Western Springs will explode with the sights, sounds and smells of Pasifika.

There will be 12 stages representing everywhere from Papua New Guinea and Tokelau to Tonga and Aotearoa, and for the hungry, the Kiribati stage will have samples of traditional food throughout the day.

The two performance areas (the International Stage and Emerging Artists Stage) feature contemporary talent like chart-topping smoothy J. Williams, hip-hop veteran King Kapisi, and dance crew Prestige alongside traditional acts such as Samoan dance group Tatau and Hawaiian dancers the Mana Maoli Collective. With more than 200,000 people expected, parking will be tight. There is a free Park and Ride option from Unitec (on Carrington Rd) and public parking is available at Western Springs College and Motat 2 (both off Motions Rd). Connecting buses from Britomart to Great North Rd and Pasifika will run throughout the day.

International stage

10am Opening
10.10am Sunameke Contemporary (Papua New Guinea)
10.20am Vou Contemporary (Fiji)
10.30am Collaboration (Contemporary Pacific dance)
10.45am Bella Kalolo
11.10am Tatau dance group (Samoa)
11.25am Anonymouz
11.50am Anuanua Performing Arts Troupe (Cook Islands)
12.15pm J. Williams
12.50pm Air New Zealand Big Beach Dig
1.05pm Sweet & Irie
1.35pm Unison dance crew
1.40pm Fiji
2.10pm Luminious dance crew
2.20pm King Kapisi
2.45pm Prestige dance crew
3pm Mana Maoli Collective (Hawaii)
3.25pm Mihirangi
3.55pm Mana Maoli Collective (Hawaii)

Emerging artists stage

10am Ah Rega
10.25am D'Vive
10.50am NRG Rising
11.15am Local Vocal Crew
11.40am City of Missiles
12.05pm Church Boiiz
12.20pm Tribal State
12.45pm The Collective: Featuring MCs Suspect 5, Chase, Usual Suspect, Tyson Tyler, Queen Shirlee, KD Loksta
1.35pm Nick Hohepa
2pmThe Tenement Yard
2.25pm Electric Kokozoids
2.40pm Tyronne
3.05pm Dance off between Unison, Tatau, Luminous and Retro.
3.50pm 4DG
4.15pm Pieter T.

Lowdown

What: Pasifika
Where & when: Western Springs.
Opening night concert tonight, 7pm-9pm; Pasifika Festival, Saturday, 10am-5pm.
Info: aucklandcity.govt.nz