Amid circles of fire and the crescendo of pounding drums, Via Tiumalu Jr. of Orlando, Fla., twirled and danced his way to the senior division crown at the 22nd annual World Fireknife Championships late Saturday night at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie.
It was the third title for Tiumalu, 22, having won the championship in 2011 and 2008.
Falaniko Penesa, 23, of Samoa finished second, and Malo Matau Jr., 20, of Laie placed third out of the original field of 24 participants in the four-day event.
"It’s a tremendous honor to win this championship for my family and represent the Samoan culture," said Tiumalu, whose competition was held before a near-sellout crowd of 2,700 in the Pacific Theater during intermission of the evening show, "Ha: Breath of Life."
"This year’s competition was the toughest I’ve ever faced."
Fireknife dancing was created in 1946 as a form of entertainment by Chief Olo Letuli of American Samoa, but its roots go back centuries to when Samoan warriors performed before battle with the "nifo oti," or "tooth of death."
The Orlando-born Tiumalu has been doing fireknife dancing for 11 years after learning the traditional art from his father. He won the junior division of the World Fireknife Championships several times before moving up to the senior division.
Wearing the traditional lavalava, he twirled one flaming, sharpened fireknife in the first part of his performance and then two fireknives at blinding speed while standing up, lying down, spinning around and bounding about the 100-by-70-foot stage of the theater.
In earlier competition Hale Motuapuaka, 14, of Aiea won the 12- to 17-year-old junior division Thursday night out of a field of 16 participants, which included three girls. Wallen Teo, 17, of Waimanalo was second, and Hunter Nery, 13, of Waialua was third.
And in the 6- to 11-year-old junior division on Thursday, Dayton Solitamalii Daong, 11, of Waipahu was the winner out of a field of 15 competitors. Vincent Galeai, 11, of Laie was second, and Mose Lilo, 6, of Ewa Beach took third.
All the junior competitors received prize packages, with the top three being presented with special fireknife-themed trophies.
Three teams of fireknife dancers competed Thursday in a synchronized routine in the group competition, which included a team of women. Winning the group competition were the Vaimatina Boys, whose members are Alex Galeai, Quest Ava, Malik Ava and KJ Ahloy.
The senior competition began Wednesday night and was whittled down to a field of nine for Thursday night’s semifinal before Tiumalu, Penesa and Matau were selected to participate in the two-day finals held Friday and Saturday. The winner was selected by eight judges who added the combined scores of the two nights’ performances.
The conclusion of the World Fireknife Championships ended the PCC’s annual We Are Samoa Festival.
