Kia Orana,
My name is Maruia, Founder of UKA Fitness.
UKA Fitness was born in 2024 from two simple realities: I love fitness, and I missed home.
I train a lot. I'm someone who enjoys strength training, sports performance conditioning, and challenging myself through fitness. Most of my training takes place in the gym or on a field, usually preparing for a rugby or rugby league season, a HYROX event, a running event, or some other fitness event.
But I found myself wanting a different way to move—particularly a form of cardio that wasn't running or sitting on an erg machine. I wanted something that still got my heart rate up but felt fun, freeing, and enjoyable at the same time.
Living in Auckland, I always miss home (the Cook Islands)—my family, my people, and my culture.
In 2024, the Cook Islands National Arts Team (CINAT) was made up of many friends and people I knew. Seeing photos and videos of them filled me with immense pride and joy, but it also made me realise something: I hadn't danced in a long time.
Inspired by CINAT, and reminded of my own experiences dancing at home, at school, at family events, as part of Te Maeva Nui Constitution celebrations, and during the Miss Cook Islands Pageant 2019, I started dancing again in my room.
And I loved it.
I loved the release. I loved the connection. I loved how it made me feel.
But I missed the energy of dancing alongside other people.
Joining a dance group wasn't a commitment I could realistically make, and while there were some amazing Cook Islands dance fitness classes around Auckland that I enjoyed attending, they were often too far from home. There was nothing available in my local area.
That's when it clicked.
Dancing was the movement I had been looking for all along.
Cook Islands dancing gave me a way to reconnect with my culture, move my body, release stress, loosen my hips, engage my core, and simply enjoy myself. Every time I finished dancing, I felt lighter, happier, and more connected than when I started.
So I thought: if I can't go to class, why not bring class to me—and to those around me?
I love movement. I love fitness. I love sharing my culture. I love bringing people together and helping others. Creating a space where girls and women could move, laugh, sweat, release, and enjoy themselves felt like a natural extension of all those things.
That is how UKA Fitness was born.
UKA comes from Ura Kūki Airani (Cook Islands Dance). In Cook Islands Māori, "uka" refers to the swaying motion of the hips in traditional Cook Islands dancing. UKA Fitness was created to celebrate movement, culture, connection, and community.
This isn't about reinventing the wheel. There are many incredible Cook Islands dance fitness groups and instructors doing amazing work, and I continue to support and attend their classes too. UKA is simply my own take on something I love—a welcoming space for you, me, and other like-minded women to move together.
I'm an athlete, a fitness enthusiast, a teacher at heart, and a proud Cook Islander who loves movement, music, and culture. UKA Fitness isn't about perfect technique or choreography. It's about showing up, moving your body, and enjoying the experience.
Today, UKA Fitness combines movement, music, fitness, and community in a beginner-friendly environment where girls and women can move freely, reconnect with themselves, and have a good time.
My hope is that every girl and woman leaves class feeling lighter, happier, and more connected than when she arrived.
Whether you're here for the fitness, the culture, the community, or simply an hour to yourself, UKA is a space to move, sweat, release, and have fun.
Move. Sweat. Release.
— Maruia Willie
Founder, UKA Fitness
