Thursday October 18, 2012

Hello all our family and friends.  Today we are going to blog about the Poly Fest that they had in our stake on October 6, 2012.  Nada helped our Young Single Adults with some basic Cha Cha steps and then they put together a great dance from there..  It was really fun to be with them and be part of the practices.  We will write little descriptions by each of the pictures. 

The festival was suppose to start at 1:00 p.m. but it was closer to 1:30 before the first performers came out.  It was at our ward building.  There is no air coniditioning and it was a very HOT day.  But they just seem to take it in stride.  We were only watching and sweating like crazy.

 The women wear beautiful floral arrangements in their hair.

The little girl on the right is our Relief Society President Sister Lesa's daughter.  We just thought she was so cute sitting there watching everything.  Her name is Janettssar which is a combination of letters from her parents and 5 siblings names.

On the left are some members of our Motootua Ward.  The woman in yellow is Sister Jessop and she is our Bishop's Mother.

The dancers on the right are doing a traditional island dance.  They announced everything in Samoan so we are not sure which ward or what dance they are doing.

This ward group is doing a dance from the Island of Fiji.  The young man who is leading it really was great.

In between performances they had the different Bishopric's get up and do a fashion show.  Some of them were quite funny.  The Samoan people do not seem to be bashful about getting up in front of people.  Some of the couples posed and acted like they were on a fashion runway.  The women are wearing the traditional pula tasi and the men mostly had matching shirts called alo'a shirts.

This ward group did a hip hop dance.  You can see that there are a lot of youth and they don't have problems getting the boys to dance and sing.

This shirt is on Brother Iosefa from our ward.  We belong to the Apia Stake which is the first stake in Samoa.

Another ward doing a traditional Samoan dance.

 Another Bishopric.  They were so funny to watch.

 On the right is the Motootua Ward members.  Our ward.  They are doing a traditional Samoan dance called the Lapalapa and they are using sticks that are part of the dance.  Some of our Young Single Adults are dancing with them.

On the left is Anni and OJ two of our YSA's.  They are both returned missionaries.  She served in Sydney Australia and he in Washington State in the US.  They seem to be a couple right now and are great kids.

The picture on the right is Lincoln one of our YSA's and he is leaving on a mission in December to the Phillipines.  The lady right in front of him is Sister Jessop our Bishop's wife.  She put this dance together.  The two kids on the bottom of the picture are Emmalene and Alisi from our YSA group.

 

This is Brother and Sister Maru from our Ward.  He is the 2nd Counselor in our Bishopric.  He and his wife are both medical doctors.

This is our Bisop and his wife.  Bishop Jessop and Katerina Qwendolyn.

Another ward doing a traditional Samoan dance.  During the Teuila Festival we saw a lot of dancers and the men all had these leaf things on their legs.  They are called laufa'i and they usually make them from banana leaves that they shred and then the whole thing together is called tau vae (bracelet).

                                                                      

 Below is a close up of the shirts of the ward group doing the hip hop dance.  We were sitting by the door where everyone kept coming in and out so Reed took different kinds of pictures.  The man is our Bishop.

This woman is modeling a dress she made all out of leaves.  They are real.  I talked to her after and she said it was a lot of work but worth it.

This is Helen Kaleopa and Tapaau Lesa.  They are modeling some traditional Samoan outfits.  He is the son of our Relief Society President who is also one of our school counselors at Pesega

Another ward group doing a tradtional dance.  Their  hair pieces are very elaborate.  These wards go all out with matching outfits as well.

 These pictures are dancers doing a Mauri Dance.  You can see their tongues sticking out and they paint up their faces.

This ward is doing a fight dance and those are regular sized real axes that they are throwing back and forth.

Notice the tau vae on their legs.  They wear these bands around their knees, ankles or wrists when they dance. 

The following pictures are of our YSA's doing their Cha Cha dance.  All the girls had heels on which I have not seen since we've been here.  They usually dance in their flip flops or barefooted.  We had 9 couples and 1 YM who just danced in and out because he didn't have a partner.  They did a great job.

 They started the dance with the boys doing some latin moves and then the girls joined in with them.  They danced to the song La Isla Bonita by Madonna.  They had so much fun.

The girls getting a little groove on here.  The girl in the pink is Emmalynn, on her left is Uriana.

The girl with the blue and white skirt is Ingrid.  She has been really helpful to Nada in translating during Relief Society and sometimes Sacrament.  She is dancing with Adrian.

After they finished dancing we met them downstairs and gave them all an ice pop (like an otter pop).  We told them we would bring a treat for whoever danced and they were glad to get something cold.

These women did a dance from India and they are from the Vaimoso Ward.  They did a great job.  Definitely some dancers in this ward.

One ward had their children get up and sing.  They did a fabulous job.  They sang some primary songs in English and Samoan.

This is Ingrid and Pulemau Silao from our Ward.  They did a little evening wear fashion show at the end of all the musical things.                

Well after 3 1/2 hours of singing, dancing and modeling the Poly Fest was over.  It was a very interesting afternoon.  We enjoyed watching and learning some more about the culture and people of Samoa.  We hope you enjoy it, too.  It is great to mingle with the Saints in all kinds of settings.

Until next time.  Love Elder and Sister Spencer