When Tasi Keener first moved to Keizer from Samoa, she noticed people staring at her and her husband. It was 2000, and she said some people were not used to seeing interracial couples. Keener wanted to share the message that it’s okay to look different from those around you. To do that, she and her husband Craig created Paradise of Samoa, a Polynesian dance troupe which has spent almost 20 years performing locally.  “I always reflect back to the first time that we came, and now, I feel comfortable,” Keener said. “I feel like my message is heard by the community.” Keener learned Samoan dance from her mother, who was a dancer and teacher, and grew up performing around Samoa with her family.  Since Paradise of Samoa accomplished her first goal of raising local awareness of Samoan and Pacific Islander culture, Keener is taking on a new project.   In August, the nonprofit dance troupe received a $15,000 grant from Oregon Community Foundation and Keener plans to start hosting a small summer festival with workshops on Polynesian culture. “I want to take it out to the community, to all the Pacific Islanders in this community,” Keener said. “All the artists here in Salem and Keizer, I want them to be able to show their art.” She said the workshops and mini festival will take place in August 2025.  The troupe’s beginning During her first year in Keizer, a friend told Keener to dance at Salem’s World Beat Festival, so she gathered a small group of family and friends and prepared several Samoan dance routines.  After the festival, Keener started to get calls requesting her group to perform at luaus and retirement homes. In 2006, she decided to make the group official and formed Paradise of Samoa.  This summer, Keener said, the troupe performed 62 shows, and sometimes had three shows per day. Although the troupe is best known locally, it gets performance requests from the Oregon and California border to Seattle.  “I am so overwhelmed,” Keener said. “I’m so happy that that message, that little seed that I planted way back when, it’s starting to flourish.” When Paradise of Samoa started, Keener hoped to raise awareness and educate the community about the Samoan and Pacific Islander culture in the area.  The troupe performs dances from different cultures, including Samoan, Maori, Hawaiian and Tahitian. Keener said the troupe used to be seasonal and mainly perform in the summer, but people have started requesting performances in the winter months. Keener said she’s booked several performances at multicultural performances in local schools next month.  The group of 27 dancers ranges from 7-year-olds to people in their fifties, with most being in middle and high school or college.   The dancers practice every Saturday for two to three hours. Keener said she teaches three classes throughout the day, one for boys and two for girls.  “One of these days, I hope one of these girls will pick it up and just run with it, because … they’re learning, and they’re doing a great job,” she said. For most of the troupe’s history, Keener has been the main dance instructor, but some older dancers have started to help teach.  When most of the dancers first join the troupe, they start off shy, Keener said. As they practice and perform more, they become confident and comfortable.  “I create a lot of divas,” she said. “They love the spotlight.” Keener hand makes each dancer’s costume from materials she brings back from Samoa when she visits. Many of the costumes include vibrant colors, like purple or green, and also include accessories including belts, feathers, leis and necklaces.  Dancers from the Paradise of Samoa dance troupe at Salem’s World Beat Festival in 2016. (Courtesy/Tasi Keener) Looking forward Both Craig and Tasi Keener are excited to start hosting the mini festival, which they said will have workshops on Samoan weaving, ink design and ukulele making led by local artists.  “It’s been very difficult for Indigenous communities … for island communities to be able to network with other artists to be able to show their stuff and to highlight their art,” Craig Keener said. “I see that as one of the ways that Tasi can be a leader.” The festival will also have cultural music and dance performances and traditional Samoan food, Tasi Keener said.  When she’s not teaching dance classes or making costumes, Keener works as a mental health therapist for the Oregon State Hospital. “I am getting ready to pass on the baton to someone, because I’m going to retire, and I can’t do this forever,” Keener said, reflecting on Paradise of Samoa’s future. Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected]. 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