Celebrating its 41st year, the ASB Polyfest sees thousands of secondary school students perform cultural dance and songs on six different stages: Niuean, Samoan, Tongan, Maori, the Cook Islands and the Diversity stage.
That stage includes performances from Fijian, Chinese, Indian, African, Japanese, Korean and Malaysian groups.
Among the 9000 students taking the stage this week are teenagers from Kelston Boys' High School, in West Auckland.
In downtown Auckland today, performers from the school's Maori, Tongan, Samoan and Fijian groups showed what festival-goers could expect to see in front of a lunchtime crowd.
They slapped their chests and thighs in haka, traditional siva (dance) and tapped out rhythmic beats of the island drums.
Kelston High's Pasifika dean, Margaret Simei-Afamasaga, said the boys had been rehearsing for the past five weeks.
"For a lot of them, it's about identifying with their culture. A lot of our boys are New Zealand-born and don't speak the language or don't know the culture -- and this is the only way they can connect."
Head boy Levi Farrell, 17, said joining the kapa haka group helped him to express his pride in his Maori culture, but also appreciating others.
"A lot of groups go to Polyfest for the win. But we're just doing it for the love of the culture."
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