Oh my gosh it looked like she was doing a hula! Don't get me wrong she is a very beautiful Samoan lady but the Siva Samoa she displayed looks more of a fast paced hula.

Too much body movement and less foot work? That's a no no! She darn near utilized the whole floor of the room because of the long legged strides she took. That's a no no. As graceful as you can be with your hands so should a taualuga be with her feet. You occupy your dancing space by gracefully se'e se'e your feet other wise you could continue to run a marathon and take the room by storm.

Good posture and formation! Lovely hula hands! Like I said great for tourists to view but for a Samoan audience truth be said this video is nothing that we have not already seen in our lifetime. The look on the audience faces on the video shows it all they were not impressed at all. Just another AVERAGE dancer who loves the Siva Samoa.

Our people are very critical they are looking for something extraordinarily unique of a taupou or one who performs a taualuga whether it be in her style of dance or the style of costume and/or both. I was not impressed at all.

good for you Miss Samoa. hope you will be an inspiration to the young Girls to learn how to dance and to do what ever is necessary. ia malo lava.

from the clip her dancing is ok but i can't say the same about the choice of song...

Ms Samoa video clip. Siva Samoa. too many repeated action and lacks expression. come on STA where are Samoa's siva tutors,there's so many top siva experts there.it seems the poor girl did her own siva routine without any assistance.I've seen Ms Samoa perform the siva and she's good,but she needs a lil guidance to improve more on her presence naturally as performer.it doesn't cost that much for advice ,if peso the issue.. se malo STA

AILOGA E KE ILOA SIVA AE ESE LOU FAIKIO.........OE GA AT DA TOP........... ........AUA LE TINA LOU FINAGALO SIZTRA.........

MAGAIA LE SIVA A LE MISS........

Well whatever people think is up to them. If they think its a hula than its a hula... But I thought it was beautiful and gracious.... Well done!

The thing is...o le hula e copy i le siva Samoa... If we think about it... Polynesians sa taunuu i Samoa muamua...taapeape atu ai lava i Hawaii, Tahiti, Cook Is, NZ......ma mapevapeva ai uma latou laulaufaiva...ma sui ai le gagana Samoa i latou gagana la ua faaoga nei....example, instead of the word Savaii they say Havaii..then later on called Hawaii......instead of fula vai....they say hula mai...HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

fula mai! fula mai!

koekiki a ou leiloa DORA DE EXPLORER ia sao lelei oe ICE hula copied from da samoan dance......

Beautiful dancing Miss Samoa, as for the song do you people not know who wrote this song hence the reason she dances to this song?? The song was written by the Tamasese family.......each person to their own regarding the siva but at the end of the day my hat off to you Sherry as you say it identifies you as a Samoan.....and for those of you pls realise that Sherry did not grow up in Samoa but is doing her best to learn her culture......so words of encouragement would be really good.

Beautiful performer ... until "hula dancer and Petelo" win Miss Samoa how about.... just shut up!

What a beautiful performance!
Constructive criticism is the way to go. So to all those that had no good to say, I think that you can... Shut up I guess And until your video has been posted up on YouTube for people to see and comment on then I suggest you stay quiet!
I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't be able to look half as beautiful or graceful as she did.
So Well Done to the Miss Samoa!

well done sherry
i dont really know mch about the 'siva samoa', the dos and donts and what nots. but i must say that the way the current Miss Samoa has expressed and intepreted what the 'siva' samoa is to her is impressive.
whether it has generated negative or positive attention, it has definatly made people, i included, alot more interested in samoan culture and how the 'siva samoa' is an integral part of that.
soifua ma ia manuia

Its funny reading all these comments and actually watching the video... are we all sure that our internet connections are BROADBAND and not DIAL-UP?! i've seen miss samoa perform live and its the most beautiful dance i've ever seen. You should make sure that you are a professional yourself with your public critism, just incase you make yourself look silly Miss Samoa made excellent use of the dance floor and the use of her long legs, especially if she's trying to liven the audience up with this song?!

Congrats on the dance Miss Samoa!! very beautiful, great use of dance floor, beautiful smile and love the graceful body movement!!! Kepp doing what you doing, because YOU'RE miss samoa and YOU'RE the ONLY person samoan people AND tourist want to watch!!

hehehe cheers

(and yes... i AM professional samoan dancer hehe)

loving the website

Firstly, Sherry Elekana is a BEAUTIFUL dancer. NOT AVERAGE!
But Beautiful!

I dont know much bout the dos and donts of the 'siva' as well but Ive always been amazed with its beauty and grace!
Im Cook Island/Tahitian. I've danced (ori and ura) my whole life, when we were younger it was practically drilled into our heads. DONT DO THAT! DONT DO THIS! (like a marine is trained to kill! Lols)
After a while, you become a robot ha! I know what its like to dance in front of your own people, all they do is criticise, they just have too much pride! Pretty Sad really!
So therefore we learn to dance from our HEAD and not our HEARTS!!
Know the difference?

Ive seen Miss Samoa 'siva' LIVE! And she sure knows how to captivate the audience with her SMILE her HANDS her GRACE ... ahhh just her PRESENCE!
I bet she was sooo proud to represent Samoa, and show tourists just how beautiful Samoan women can be! And who cares if her foot went left instead of right, who cares if she may be swaying her hips like a 'hula girl' who cares if shes moving around everywhere.. WHO CARES MAN!!
She looks proud and happy with her performance!

So how do you think she felt when she reads that her OWN PEOPLE the ones who are meant to SUPPORT her, have nothing but NEGATIVITY! When a beautiful girl like Sherry dances with so much passion and pride, who are we to judge??

You remind me of those people who see a BEAUTIFUL dancer, but will sit there in denial and TRY to pinpoint her mistakes, why?
Because she is BETTER THAN YOU thats why!! Just dont hate man, Appreciate!

One day when you travel to Europe and say, Im from Samoa. The locals would probably say, 'Oh I went there, I saw the beautiful Miss Samoa do the most beautiful 'Siva', you must be proud to be Samoan!'
Are you gonna say, 'Well actually she moved around too much and her footwork was a no-no!'

Can you dance for us so we can see how awesome you are? We might even stare at your feet and see how excellent it is! Hey, why dont you join Miss Samoa 2008?
When you crticise Miss Samoa, you criticise all those people who have worked hard and helped her get to where she is!!!

Anyway, she may not have been trained by your professionals, but I believe that is a Plus!
She dances with her HEART!! and not her HEAD! And that is why she is BEAUTIFUL and FLAWLESS!
And that is what makes a dancer BETTER THAN AVERAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well better can it now
Please leave your put downs to yourself!

Miss Samoa 2007-08
Sherry Elekana
We love you Babes!
XXO

Oh hula dancer? Dont ever compare that to a hula k?
I dont know what kind of hula youre doing!
ITS A GENUINE SIVA SAMOA!! Thanks.

I agree with May and Banani. Sherry made great use of the floor and the movement of her hands were so intricate and graceful.

I thought the performance was done to perfection. Absolutely beautiful.

I do have more to say but I wont coz it will turn out to be a one page essay. All in all great job.

nothing spectacular about her siva. Non of her moves jumped out at us with a WOW it's the same old moves we have all seen before. It's like drinking soda pop with no fizz/carbonation...bland/flat if you will. That's exactly what her performance looked like. Anyone who sees more in her siva is blind and is biased. Yes I will criticize because just like all of you I can.

I won't support anything that lacks talent. If it stinks it stinks! Stop being creatures of habit just because she is Miss Samoa...Miss Universe or Miss Galaxy if you suck you suck! MOVE ON and do better next time!

Love the comments!
Take the good with the bad other wise you won't get any where in this world and it would make life oh so boring!
I love watching the Siva, whether the actions are old/new, what counts is that it comes from the heart and felt Sherry expressed that beautifully.
Yeah, there are improvements that need to be made, in not so stronger words as aformentioned, but that's the beauty of being Samoa...we don't settle for anything less and we strive to attain what we feel is great in all aspects of life.
Thanks Sherry for standing up and representing us in who we are...you know what Sa peeps are like!
Ia Manuia xx