Samoa’s Best Dance Crew competition 2014 - A dance critique

Soaring above the deafening cheers of the crowd, thirty five dance crews took to the stage in early January vying to be Samoa’s Best Dance Crew in the 2014 Samoa’s Best Dance Crew (SBDC) Competition. The SBDC Dance Competition fuses dance genres from; Hip Hop, Salsa, Acrobatics, Samoan Siva, Polynesian dances, mime, clowning which are performed to music from these popular dance genres.

According to the CEO of Samoa Broadcasting Corporation Limited (SBCL) and founder of SBDC, Galumalemana Faiesea Matafeo … “the SBDC started in 2006 under the initial name of Go Hip Hop in response to the demand by young boys who had developed a keen interest in contemporary dance. Galumalemana continued … “We hoped to be able to develop these young men’s talents to a standard where they could compete internationally and be recognised at that level.”

Samoa Broadcasting will be showing the finals of 2014 SBDC competition at a film exhibition in Pape’ete Tahiti with the hope that it will inspire other small island countries television services to produce similar programmes that could eventuate into a regional competition.

SBCL is also sharing the video of SBDC finals 2014 on Fiji’s Sky Pacific service for the regional audience. For the 2014 Samoa’s Best Dance Crew Competition the teams were dancers ranged from thirteen years of age to their late twenties and numbers ranged from four to fifteen in each competing teams. Some dancers exhibited basic training in acrobatic skills while others showed no prior training at all.

Choreographic styles blended both traditional Samoan and island dances with western style modern dances. Most dance teams reflected that team members had all contributed various sequences of movements to the creation of their final pieces.

JUDGING CRITERIA Three Judges for the 2014 SBDC Competition were: Tuilagi Seiuli Allan Alo Va’ai (Former Artistic Director and Lecturer in the Performing Arts Program at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji (13 years) and President of the Samoa Arts Council; Letisia Schwenky (Director of Culture X Samoa Fitness Program and Entrepreneur), and Tuala Joe Ponifasio (Lawyer and trained Performing Artist).

The six main criterions were Creativity, Choreography, Technical Aspects, Costumes, Performance, and Musicality. The competition was open themed and for the purpose of this article these criteria will be briefly examined below. Creativity – There is abundance of creativity in the young people of Samoa and this was apparent in the originality of the performances.

An example was the winning team from Nofoali’i Dance Crew (NDC) with a conceptual performance portraying the Manu Samoa rugby team that triumphantly breaks into a vibrant celebration of dynamic choreography.

Some groups were consistent with their theme from the beginning, while others failed to maintain consistency. CHOREOGRAPHY – Each competing group showed clear indications of beginning, middle and end in their choreography.

This showed that the choreographers responsible for the creation of the pieces had basic understanding of what choreography is. The Renaissance Fraternity’s (Matafele) performance repeatedly showed dancers ripple movements effortlessly.

Choreographic tools were evident in the experienced groups who are confident and show the greater ability for experimentation. TECHNICAL ASPECT – Technicalities of dance included flips, lifts, technique of body movement, body alignment, posture, positions and so on. In dance, technique is vital to execute any sequence of expression or choreography more accurately regardless of its theme. Expertise, time and practise perfect these aspects of dance.

There were strong indicators throughout the competition that this was the least developed section in every dance group. COSTUMES - Costumes are the visual manifestation of the theme, time, effort and craft displayed by the dance groups. Additionally, the colours, design and the practicality and originality of the costumes contribute to the overall production. Almost every dance crew that competed took time to produce their costumes with care and planning. Some crews that failed to pay attention to this detail and this was obviously detrimental to their placing.

PERFORMANCE – Performance with confidence and sustained energy is crucial and projecting attitude and posture adds to the effectiveness of the whole ensemble. For some groups, lack of energy was largely due to lack of fitness. This affects the choreography and hence the overall projection of the piece. A single upcoming girl group called D4G rose to roaring cheers from the crowd as they took ownership of the stage with vivacity, power and grace in their performance. It was certainly a breath of fresh air to have a female element in the competition. MUSICALITY - All music for the competition was pre-recorded using existing music with sound effects. to enhance parts of the performances.

The relationship between music and how it is portrayed in dance is of vital importance as it sets the mood of every dance piece and depending on how skilful the dance choreographers and dancers are, the music may be complemented or at times compromised.

The dance groups in the competition seemed to exhibit some understanding of music genres and its balance in terms of compilation.

TRAINING: There is clearly a need for professional dance training as indicated from weak areas of the competition. This will inevitably avoid injuries in terms of difficult flips and lifts and will enhance the level of skills and knowledge of dancers in future competitions.

Choreography, musicality and performance also need work. Short workshops throughout the year leading up to the opening of the competition will undoubtedly elevate the level of the competition and heighten its standard to an international level.

STAGE: The venue for the competition was at the National University of Samoa Gymnasium. This venue was not conducive to the Performances on a number of levels; it was not a professional stage, the dimension of the stage were not big enough, and in the first heat the stage was not secured as each plate kept moving around which was dangerous for the dancers. As well the lighting was not used to the fullest advantage to enhance each performance as there were no lighting scripts or lighting directions for each performance.

The Samoa Best Dance Crew competition is a reflection of where our youth of Samoa is at this point in time given new technology, modernisation and globalisation. To examine their dance psyche is a closer step to hearing their struggles, aspirations and needs in the arts. Martha Graham, a world dance philosopher said … ‘the body says what words cannot’, and this clearly supports the need to factor into our curricula performance programmes that enable our young people to express themselves through dance.

As an Arts Educator, Artistic Director and Dancer as well as an advocate for the importance of Performing and Visual Arts Education in the Pacific region, I must commend and CONGRATULATE all the choreographers and dancers of this year’s SBDC 2014 for being bold enough to compete and tell their stories through this form of dance and music. From the Samoa Arts Council and the University of the South Pacific, Faculty of Arts, Law and Education perspective, we are happy to see this development take fruition in Samoa as it expresses the contemporary spirit of our young people and we look forward to seeing more of these kinds of artistic productions in the Arts take flight in Samoa as well as in the Pacific region.

*Tuilagi Seiuli Allan Alo Va’ai - President of the Samoa Arts Council & USP’s Pacifi c Outreach Co-ordinator for Polynesia.