Exchanging, sharing knowledge

By Vatapuia Maiava 10 February 2016, 12:00AM

The Le Moana dance group wants to impart as much knowledge as they can to the Samoan community before they return to New Zealand. 

As part of that, the group has been hosting workshops to share their experiences about dancing, theatre and production work with the youth of Samoa.

Director, Tupe Lualua, said this is a great opportunity to give back to Samoa.

”We have loved working with the youths of Samoa. They are obedient in a way that when we give instructions they just follow,” she said.

“We have been trained in four different dance forms by some of New Zealand’s best Haka, Tahitian and Siva Samoa tutors and we wanted to share what we have learned with the people of Samoa.”

Ms. Lualua, who  attained a degree in dancing, once taught at the Pacific Culture Centre (P.C.C) at Brigham Young University, Hawaii.

“The participants in our workshops have done beautifully. Once we get the people up, we just need that little area for them to trust us and confidence, they all did wonderfully.”

The dance group hosted eight different workshops in Samoa teaching youths of all ages.

Among the participants on Monday night’s workshop was the Fa’atoia E.F.K.S youth group.

Va’aelua Mulitalo Tulifau, the group leader, said the opportunity was golden.  “It’s good to see what groups from other countries can teach us,” he said.

“This is a good opportunity to be together, fellowship with one another and share our experience as fellow dancers. As someone heavily involved in cultural youth performances, I support any development within the youth in this field.”

After a few lessons in the Maori, Tahitian, and siva Samoa, Rosalina Inu Tanielu was proud of her new found skills. “It was amazing. I managed to learn many new things such as the Pukana and how to make my eyes big. I also learned new Maori, Tahitian and Samoan moves which is great.”

La’auli Victor Elisara agrees. “I learnt many useful moves that could be used in different events,” she said. “This is such a good opportunity for church youth groups, school students and all those young energetic people to learn something new and have fun doing it.”

The Le Moana Group returns home today.

By Vatapuia Maiava 10 February 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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