It's getting hot tonight in Laie. The Polynesian Cultural Center hosts the 16th Annual World Fireknife Championships and our Ramsay Wharton is live from the PCC with some of the competitors.

Wed., May 14 - 7:45 p.m. (Hale Aloha Theater)

• Teine Toa o Samoa (female fireknife competition)
• Warrior's Duet Fireknife Competition

Thurs., May 15 - 7:45 p.m. (Hale Aloha Theater)

• Preliminary Competition

Fri., May 16 - 7:45 p.m. (Hale Aloha Theater)

• Semi-Final Competition
• Pacific Junior Fireknife Competition
• Keiki Fireknife Competition

Saturday, May 17 (Pacific Theater)

• 9:00 a.m. – Samoa Festival High School Cultural Presentation
• 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. – Finals Competition and Awards

May returns in a blaze of glory at the Polynesian Cultural Center’s 16th Annual World Fireknife Championships beginning on Wed., May 14 to Sat., May 17. The event is the second cultural event of PCC’s 45th anniversary year.

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 dancers use no other form of protection.

Admission to the Hale Aloha Theater events and the Samoan Cultural High School Arts Festival is $8 for adults, ages 12 and up and $6 for keiki ages three to 11. To join in on the final night of festivities, 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 (808) 293-3333 or visit the PCC Web site at www.polynesia.com.

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