KAILUA-KONA — Twenty-five students will debut their skills in the Samoan art of fire knife dancing today in Kailua-Kona.
They’ve honed their craft the past 10 weeks at the recently formed Le Afi O Motutele, a school that teaches fire knife dancing on the Big Island. They will perform 4-7 p.m. today on the Kona Inn Shopping Village lawn. Admission is $10 and supports a Kealakehe High School Polynesian Club scholarship.
Afa Tualaulelei and Jerome Slade opened the school after years of performing fire knife dancing themselves. Tualaulelei, 25, started fire dancing when he was 5 years old.
“I learned it from a young age,” he said. “It taught me how to be more disciplined.”
Slade said he was “born into this.” Fire knife dancing is something he practiced every day growing up before sharing the art with the world, performing for audiences who otherwise might not have any exposure to Samoa.
“I just love putting on a performance,” he said. “I love teaching my culture to people.”
Fire knife dancing has its roots in ailao, a Samoan war dance that means “the spinning of the stick,” said Tualaulelei.
Along with instructors Chiyo Brown and Pa‘a Damaso, Tualaulelei and Slade are bringing fire knife dancing to a new generation of performers through Le Afi O Motutele.
The inaugural class has 25 students, all but two of whom are younger than 18. The youngest student, said Tualaulelei, is 4 years old. Just two of the 25 had any experience with fire knife dancing.
“The rest had no idea what fire knife dancing was,” Tualaulelei said. “All of them can spin now.”
The class also exposes students to Samoan culture beyond dancing, he said.
And those cultural connections are especially important in a time when people are getting caught up in social media, Tualaulelei said.
“Culture keeps us centered,” he said. “We go back to culture to see who we are and where we’re from.”
Tualaulelei says fire knife dancing also instills respect, discipline and courage.
“Fire’s a dangerous thing,” he said. “Once a child conquers fire, it teaches them a lot of things.”
That courage, Tualaulelei said, is something kids can carry with them the rest of their lives.
“You’re gonna get burned in life,” he said. “There’s gonna come a time you have to fight and push through adversity.”
Email Cameron Miculka at cmiculka@westhawaiitoday.com.
