Samoan Dance Research Paper

This project is connected to me because im samoan. Also my mother and father had experiences with dancing.Actually both sides of my family have dancing backgrounds. My mother is a taupou of her family. Growing throughout my elementary days i would always help them prepare also watch them perform at PCC.Traditional choreography comes from place and custom; the dances tell a story of cultural values and celebrate simple events. They are graceful, exuberant, comic, and emblematic of the oldest culture in Polynesia. These dances were past down from generations and generations. Our ancestors have had dance moves that were created and soon shown and danced today. The siva samoa is a cultural dance performed by female and men.It is a way of dancing …show more content…
Samoans love to share their love of dance. The male performers will wear traditional lavalava, and the women will wear puletasi, and all involved will be proud to share their traditional culture with guests to Samoa. Samoans are often noted for their innovativeness and ability to "Samoan-ize" practically anything. This ability to indigenize foreign elements probably accounts for many developments throughout Samoan dance history. In addition to these elements, many changes occurred as the result of Christian missionary influences in all facets of Samoan life.
Although there was never a ban on dancing in Samoa, as was the case in Hawai'i and Tahiti, many dances and dance events were discouraged by the missionaries, especially dances performed at night (paula), which they considered to be indecent. Eventually, as stated earlier, many of these dances were either replaced by new dance types, or the names of the dances were changed to disguise them. Samoan dances are most often large, group dances, although solo dances also exist. In group dances, the performers are generally arranged in rows and columns,although different arrangements are becoming more common and are entirely up to