Fiafia Night

Unlike the independent country of Samoa, American Samoa is not a tourist destination. Every once and awhile a business gives it a try, though, and comes up with something for tourists. Given that we don’t have many tourists to make the business much money, these things never last very long. We are lucky right now to have the newly renovated Sadie’s by the Sea hotel/beach bar hosting a Fiafia night every Saturday. This is a night of food and dancing. As dancing is a big part of Samoan life I wanted my parents to experience this event. We arrived at Sadie’s and were seated in one of the many outdoor tables, with views of the beach on one side and the pool on the other. We were some of the first diners there, but eventually there were about 40 guests, which constitutes a good turnout. We were prepared for a sub-standard meal as is typical of island cuisine. I think the lack of good food is the worst thing about living on this island. The meal had mixed reviews-- my dad and Emma loved their steaks, but Paul and I were not too impressed with our seafood kabobs. The dinner was as expected, but the entertainment during dinner was quite unexpected. We actually heard the dinner entertainment before we saw it. I thought it was just a bad Samoan cover CD that we sometimes hear on the buses. Little did we know that we had live entertainment direct from the Samoan Love Boat. Our lounge singer appeared and then it all made sense.Dinner wrapped up and partly to escape the singer and partly to entertain Emma, we took a walk on the beach. Emma had fun playing on a rope swing. She said, “Wow, it would be really fun to be in the circus.” Unlike other parents that may worry about their child running away to join the circus, I agreed that yes, it would be a lot of fun and if she put her mind to it, she certainly could become a trapeze artist.

The dancing finally got started. We were treated to Samoan, Tahitian, Hawaiian, and Fire Knife dances. Samoan dancing is very beautiful and graceful. There is not a lot of swaying, but the hand motions are very pretty. The girl in yellow is performing a classic Hawaiian dance, while the other girl is representing the islands of Tahiti.

I find the variation of dancing between South Pacific islands interesting, but my favorite is the fast hip-shaking of Tahitian dancing. The girls wear kikis around their hips to accentuate the shaking.

The Fire Knife dancing was the highlight of the evening. The performers are three brothers, all teenagers, who have won fire knife competitions here and in Hawaii. The mere fact that they can twirl and throw the knives so fast is impressive in itself, but then you add the fire and it is truly amazing!