Taualuga

This dance form has been adopted and adapted throughout western Polynesia, most notably in Samoa, The Kingdom of Tonga, Uvea, Futuna, and Tokelau.

The dance is frequently performed as the grand finale of an evening of entertainment or as the concluding number at Samoan wedding receptions, social functions, and other festivities.

"[4] However, Taupou in certain districts consist of important individual female names or titles under Samoa's traditional social hierarchy and form of governance, the Fa'amatai chiefly system.

This usually consisted of a traditional finely woven ‘ie toga mat, decorated with the prized feathers of the "sega" (collared lory or blue-crowned lorikeet), that was wrapped around the body.

[13] The earliest mention of "tuiga" refers to a headdress that was made with an intricately carved vertical "comb" called a "selu tuiga" (literally, "standing up comb"); this teeth of the "selu" were stuck into the hair at the base of the "foga," to which coconut midribs and long tropicbird ("tava'e") feathers were attached.

Today, the 'ie'ula is generally made of large colorful chicken feathers that are dyed any variety of hues besides the traditional red and white.

This contemporary version of the ancient tuiga also uses materials that were never used traditionally, such as glass mirrors, faux jewels and pearls, plastic mesh and chicken feathers.

While taupou and manaia did indeed dance and twirl war clubs ("anava") when leading processions or concluding performances this segment should not be misconstrued as a component of the taualuga.

The "anava" and "talavalu" were Samoan clubs that were carved with serrated or braced edges capable of dismembering or decapitating foes.

The dance was accompanied by choral music and simple percussion such as the slit gong or rolled mats that were beaten with sticks.

The Samoan taualuga is known for its graceful refinement, subtle hand and facial gestures, and the stately poise of the dancers movements and postures.

The "lafo" custom, however, does not share the fundraising origins of money dances, although it does reflect the former tradition of presenting fine mats and tapa cloth at festive occasions that were concluded with the taualuga.