Living Legends Comes to Apia

Photo from Mormon Newsroom

We had a very special treat in getting to attend a performance by the BYU dance troupe, "Living Legends" who are currently winding down their South Pacific tour.   First they went to New Zealand where they gave performances in several cities.  Then they went to Nuku'alofa, Tonga.  Now they are finishing up here in Apia.

They put on an AMAZING show that we enjoyed very much.  They did dances representative of Native American cultures as well as many different Polynesian dances.

The costumes were beautiful and the skill of the dancers was truly impressive.  The Eagle dancers and the Hoop dancers reminded me of the Pow Wow dancers I used to see in Flagstaff when I was growing up.  Then there were other parts that were reminiscent of the cultural program at Xel-Ha in Mexico.  There were distinctive Maori dances from New Zealand.  But of course, the most popular parts for the crowd here in Apia were the Samoan dances s- the crowd in the auditorium went wild for that.

There is a story about the group and their performances in Mormon Newsroom HERE   It says in part: "At both Friday night’s and last night’s performance over 1,100 people packed inside and outside the open doors of the gymnasium at the Pesega LDS Church College to enjoy the show.  Living Legends from Brigham Young University has 39 student performers who are of Polynesian, American Indian, and Central and South American descent who honour their respective heritages through lively song and dance."

We very much enjoyed the show.  I also was happy to see Sister Champlin, one of the Public Affairs missionaries we serve with in the Area Office back in New Zealand.  She and her husband were assigned to travel with the group for this part of the tour to take photos and write news stories about them.  She came over and gave be a big hug and a beautiful smile that reminded me all over again how precious our friendships with the other missionaries in New Zealand are to us.

This time in the islands has been very positive for us, but a month is a long time to be away.  I will be ever so ready to get back home to Takapuna.


Here is a video of the Living Legends show from YouTube.  This isn't from Samoa, but it is the same show with the same costumes that we saw.  They really were an incredible group.