As part of our inquiry, every class who goes through Room 5 will be learning about the beautiful and graceful Siva Samoa. We are very fortunate to have Mr Wright to help us and take the boys through a fa'ataupati which is a slap dance. The girls however, once they learnt about the meaning/storytelling behind the actions, were able to choreograph their own actions for their siva Samoa. Check out the girls and boys from Room 1 in action.
I really enjoy watching these videos and seeing more about the Samoan culture. I am Samoan myself, but I am not as involved with my Samoan culture as I would like to be, so seeing these dances encourages me to want to connect with my culture more. I like really like the idea of having the girls compose their own choreograph for the Siva Samoa. This makes the dance even more powerful for them because they are able to understand the meaning behind their motions and allows for more student centered learning. I also like that the boys were able to learn the slap dance from another teacher because they are able to perform it and pass this dance down to future generations to come, which I learned is such an important part of many cultures.
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