Transcript
The Pasifika Education Centre holds a number of cultural workshops during the year, including a one-off stint of learning traditional Samoan dance or siva Samoa.
However, dance tutors of the workshop say one day is not enough to learn everything surrounding Samoan dance.
Tatau dance group member and dance tutor Albert Tupuola is also the Pasifika Cultural Advisor for New Zealand prisons.
Mr Tupuola says he sees a positive difference when educating Pacific inmates on their culture and believes this will help the youth of Auckland.
"It's a connection to your culture and embracing your culture. It goes a long way. Keeps the kids off the streets. Keeps them occupied and for them to learn our fa'a Samoa and our culture through language and dancing is cool."
Tertiary student Lia Ioane has been tutoring Polyfest groups for 7 years.
Ms Ioane says Polyfest doesn't necessarily follow the traditions of Samoan dance, hence why the workshop is important.
She says traditionally in the dance item 'taualuga' the female role called the 'taupou' is performed by the high chief's daughter.
"It made me question the old school theory. Nowadays it's not the same especially with taupou. I learnt that nowadays it's more of a competition on who dances best, where in the olden days, there was a true meaning behind the whole taualuga concept."
Niuean mother Joey Wong See wants her children who are half Samoan to learn how to dance in Samoan.
Ms Wong See says the workshop was a lifesaver for her.
"My husband is full Samoan and he can't teach my children siva Samoa. We've actually been dancing at home for awhile now and we just teach ourselves off YouTube, but I thought, I think we better get taught by, you know, some people that actually know, so that's why we are looking at workshops like this and they're free, so you can't not say that you never were taught any kind of culture."
Ms Wong See says the workshop as a way to pass down the history of the Pacific cultures.
"It's important to keep your culture alive, like my children they go to school and they know more Maori than they do Niue or Samoan language and I wanted to find ways for them that they can be taught our culture, so that they don't lose it. There nothing against Maori people, but I would really like for my daughter to learn, you know, some of where we come from, our culture, our Polynesian island roots."
Ms Ioane agrees that not all New Zealand born Pacific people have the luxury of elders to pass down the cultural knowledge.
"I feel that its really important because our parents and grandparents are not going to be around all our lives, so I think that it's good that we learn now and take that in the future with us. Don't want to lose our siva Samoa, do we?"
Pasifika Education Centre Samoan language tutor Sebrina Fa'avae says the workshop brought different ethnicities together to learn about Samoa.
Ms Fa'avae says seeing mothers like Ms Wong See participate in the workshop with her daughters was beautiful.
"I felt honoured. It was a privilege to not sharing my knowledge with the Samoan community, but to all cultures, so that was a really good experience."
The Pasifika Education Centre has more one day cultural workshops such as Tongan dance and Niuean cooking open for all and is free.
