Satitoa Aleipata Congregational Christian Church Samoa (C.C.C.S.) youth proudly took home the winner's title of this year's Teuila Mauluulu competition on Tuesday night after only four days of practice.

The Teuila mauluulu (Samoan traditional dance) competition attracted seven church groups from across the country with the Methodist Church of Papaloa coming in second place and the C.C.C.S Letogo in third.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer on Tuesday, the Satitoa C.C.C.S youth leader and wife of its church minister, Vaiaaili Palale was full of praise for the team.

“The praise all goes back to the heavenly father for his guidance upon his children that we managed to achieve something significant to add to our list, we put our all into it as we had been longing to participate in this competition this year,” she said. “We are located far from town and we thought that this would be a great chance to bring our youth members’ attention and draw their interest to compete for something better and significant and for them to do good for the betterment of tomorrow.

“We only practised for four days because our youth is now used to such things as they are always involved with similar competitions and occasions within our church district and others so it’s nothing new for them.”

Mrs. Palale said as this year's winners, they now appeal to the officials to revive and strengthen Samoan culture and language through the promotion of mauluulu dancing as it is slowly beginning to lose its significance.

“Through this mauluulu performance, you can feel the strength of the Samoan culture and language through the use of deep Samoan words as well as the movements of the dances to the beat and everything,” she said. “It is important that everyone add more essence to these Samoan traditions and it keeps our culture alive and our nation unique to the eyes of the world and for the future of our next generation to come.”

It has been three years since the Teuila Mauluulu competition was halted due to restrictions connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mauluulu dancing is one of Samoa’s traditional dances where its moves go in tandem with the lyrics and is usually performed by men and women. The Mauluulu was judged through a mixture of mauluulu and slap dance and a bit of clap dance (sasa).

The audience at Friendship Park added a spark to the competition with the crowd comprising both locals as well as tourists. The two-day competition started Monday and ended on Tuesday.