The Fire Knife Dance Is An Ancient Samoan Tradition
According to Wikipedia, the fire knife dance is an ancient Samoan tradition that began with ancient Toa warriors between the years of 900 and 1200 AD. Originally, it was a machete wrapped in towels on both ends with a portion of the blade exposed in the middle, and the two towels wrapped ends would be set on fire as the warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Nifo Oti, a serrated edged war club.
It gradually evolved into a cultural tradition with a fire knife dance where tribal performers would dance while twirling the knife and doing other acrobatic stunts, although the modern fire knife dance is rooted in the ancient Samoan exhibition of ailao – meant to be a flashy demonstration of a Samoan’s prowess as a warrior through throwing and catching, twirling, and dancing with a war club.
Now the fire dance is primarily a ceremonial type performance, and as you can see in Asuelu’s video, it is a two-ended apparatus similar to a baton which is set on fire on both ends as he twirls and dances with it. The Hawaiian culture has also embraced the spectacle, where there it is known as the Hawaiian Fire Dance, although they retain the more dangerous knife twirling. Asuelu uses a safer implement for his fire dancing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBw_lk3Bmoi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Asuelu Has Offered Cameo Performances For Quite A While
Asuelu has offered Cameo performances for quite a while, as one can see him perform the fire dance in full Samoan costume in the Cameo button at the top of his Instagram profile. He’s had it up approximately a year, and it links to the Cameo site at https://www.cameo.com/asuelupulaa. Cameo is a live service similar to Zoom, and many performers have used this service to connect with fans in a personal and meaningful way, such as making a special Cameo video to tell fans Happy Birthday (usually at a small charge) and some use Cameo for demos of musical or other performances as a publicity tool.
He’s really got a lot of energy, and is quite accomplished at twirling that fire knife! Fans will recall from recent episodes that he needed a better job than serving yogurt samples part-time, and he certainly has the skills and energy needed to be a good fire dancer – Hawaii may provide more job opportunities than Utah, but then, in Utah, he won’t have as much competition! Perhaps with his yogurt shop experience, which probably required a food service license, he should set up Hawaiian luau type parties – maybe with Hawaiian or possibly Samoan foods to go with his fire dancing – he might just have a good little business there!
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