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Video: Hawaii's North Shore Set Ablaze With 16th Annual Fireknife Dance Championships at the Polynesian Cultural Center
Video: Hawaii's North Shore Set Ablaze With 16th Annual Fireknife Dance Championships at the Polynesian Cultural Center
LAIE, Hawaii, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The Polynesian Cultural Center's 16th
Annual World Fireknife Championships kicks off in a blaze of glory this
Wed., May 14 through Sat., May 17, 2008. A record 73 fireknife competitors
ages 8 to 43 from as far asJapan,Samoa,French Polynesia and Florida are set
to battle head-to-head for the supreme title of World Fireknife Champion in
their respective categories. The event is the second cultural event of PCC's
45th anniversary year and is shaping up to be the most exciting with more than
10,000 visitors expected this week.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080513/LATU074)
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to:
http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/fireknife/33243/
The art of fireknife dancing is one of the most intense, skillful, but
beautiful Samoan traditions in which dancers twirl a sharp knife with both
ends on fire at high speeds and with acrobatic finesse. The fire is very real,
and dancers often make contact with different parts of their body with only a
short lavalava wrap around their waist. As any fireknife dancer will tell you,
they do get burned, as competitors use no other form of protection.
Andrew "Umi" Sexton, the 2007 World Fireknife Champion, is returning to
defend his title against 2005-2006 Champion Mikaele Oloa fromOrlando, Fla.
Newly expanded this year are the duet and women's categories with increased
interest after their inaugural year in 2007.
Sponsors of this year's event include Henry S. Mataalii Company, Hawaiian
Airlines, Turtle Bay Resort, Electric Pencil, Cirque du Soleil, Pepsi, Bank of
Hawaii, Galumalemana Lester W.B. Moore, Hawaii Tourism Authority and the City
and County ofHonolulu.
Admission to the events held Wednesday through Friday and the Samoan
Cultural High School Arts Festival on Saturday is $8 for adults, ages 12 and
up and $6 for children ages three to 11. To join in on the final night of
festivities on Saturday evening at the Polynesian Cultural Center's Pacific
Theater, visitors must purchase a reserved seating ticket to either of the two
Horizons night shows that evening, as the finals take place during the
intermissions of both. For more information or to make reservations, please
call the Polynesian Cultural Center ticket office at (800) 367-7060 or visit
http://www.polynesia.com.
SOURCE Polynesian Cultural Center
Copyright © 2008, PRNewswire
Copyright © 2008, NewsBlaze,
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