Bluesky wants to empower youth

10 July 2017, 12:00AM

(Press Release) The Samoa Youth Alive dance competition has been running since 1999. 

For nearly 20 years the Youth Alive ministry mainly supported by the Worship Centre church, have been persistently and consistently running this programme to empower the youth of Samoa to express themselves through dance; and to cultivate rich, raw local talent Samoa-wide through their gospel network. 

The programme has grown each year and gone from strength to strength with an active following of over 5,000 participants and spectators. 

Last Friday, during the Worship Centre Christian worldwide conference week, the finale for Youth Alive Dance competition was held at Tuanaimato GYM 1 with an overwhelming attendance of over 5,000 people. 

As proud sponsors, Bluesky was privileged to present a contribution of $10,000 to the Youth Alive ministry in support of their efforts to help encourage youth and the younger generation through talent empowerment and skills development in dance. 

"We recognize the endless efforts of Youth Alive to connect with our young ones and empower them through dance. There are some serious issues our youth are faced with like depression, low self-esteem and even suicide that Youth Alive have a year-long programme to try and help our youth cope and overcome.”

“We support their contribution to the community and we want to acknowledge this through our sponsorship," said Bluesky Samoa, Country Manager, Alex Abraham.

"As a company we also want to better connect with our youth; after all they are the future of Samoa. We want to understand how to empower and help them through our products and services. We want to teach them about technology and give them the tools they need to succeed regardless of their ambitions. Could we help connect them better online to learn dance routines? 

Could we help connect them through a video call to talent overseas? 

Could we help connect them to their local youth and church community for support when the going gets tough? 

These are the kinds of things we want to understand and be better at." 

Youth Alive is held on a national level capturing talent from all segments of youth across both Upolu and Savai’i. 

The intention of this event is to help address real life issues in youth today such as drugs, alcohol addiction, suicide, crime, teen pregnancies, violence and abuse. 

This event gives youth a different focus and helps highlight their strengths in the performing arts industry across dance, music and drama skills as individuals and teams.

On an average basis this event hosts approximately 100 dance crews and over 4000 participants.

And although this event is held once a year, the Youth Alive Ministry run a year round programme that taps into local youth church groups and schools to encourage youth and help them address some of these issues.

Friday's finale was highlighted with singing, dancing and talent that showed the richness of skill and passion within our youth. There were schools that came together to create routines that talked about their challenges within school and there were routines that were based on real life experience. Spectators were touched by the sheer creativity and sincerity of the efforts and expressions of these youth groups. 

There were three categories in this year's Youth Alive dance competition: 

• The Crew Category

• The Mauluulu Category 

• The Synchronised Category 

The finale came down to 21 finalists across these 3 categories. 

The 21 finalists were Mary; Mother Jesus from Lufilufi; The Union Dance Crew from Lalovaea; Promise Crew from Lotopa; Nofoalii o le Atua from Nofoalii; 4 Thirteens from Soo se Alalafaga; Messenger from Lotopa; Samoa Na Galo from Laulii; God Reformers from WMTC; Unity Student Academy from Soo se Alalafaga; Kingdom Daughters from WMTC; Sons of God form Toamua; Blackie Yes from Vaiala; Christ for Family from Magiagi; Urban Dance Crew from Soo se Alalafaga; Prince of Peace from Leauvaa; LOS Texax from Magiagi; Jesus Christ the King from Lufilufi; Kingdom Light from Vaitele; Hemi Crew from St Joseph College; New Light from Laulii and NJY – Nofoalii Jr Youth from Nofoalii. 

The judging criteria encompassed factors such as the Gospel message delivered; creativity and routine; uniform and of course time. 

Congratulations to all the teams who participated and especially to Blackie Yes who was announced overall winner, taking home $10,000 cash.

10 July 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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