Whangaparaoa Siva Afi

The World Fireknife Championships is held annually at the Polynesian Cultural Centre in O’ahu, Hawai’i. Competitors from around the world descend on the North Shore of O’ahu to showcase their talent over two weeks of competitions every May. This year the competition runs between 7th and 15th May. 

I am raising money to attend the World Fireknife Championships in Hawaii on the Island where my grandmother is from.

My name is Mālia and I’m a 16-year-old student in the He Kupenga Rua a Tāne, Wānanga Māori at Whangaparāoa College. I got to know about Siva Afi through my aunty and uncle who founded the first Siva Afi Festival in Aotearoa six years ago. I’ve helped them at previous Siva Afi competitions and was amazed at the skill level of the dancers. Last year my friend and I thought it would be fun to learn a few moves with a 'practice stick' and showcase it at our Wānanga camp. Little did I know that it would be the start of a journey for me. My uncle found out I had become really committed to practicing and encouraged me to compete in their Festival with him as my coach. Although I am very new to taking up Siva Afi, and I've had to borrow my uncle's fire knives AND had to put my Kapa Haka practices for ASB Polyfest this year on hold, I am really excited about where I can take this. 

I joined the Siva Afi workshops in Māngere every Saturday and the group practice on Friday evenings. The Siva Afi community is so supportive and welcoming to me. They have taught me new moves and helped me with soaking and putting out the knife after rehearsing my routine. There will be more competitors going from New Zealand to the World Championships, a few of them went last year. I am really thankful they will be there as well.

The NZ dollar is worth only half of the US dollar so the trip is twice as expensive for a Kiwi. I already have my airfare paid for and I will be using the raised funds to help cover:

• Accommodation costs
• Transport
• Registration fee
• Food while there
• Fireknife

My Uncle says now that I'm serious I need to invest in my own knives and stop borrowing his!

In 2023 and 2024 The Siva Afi Festival in Auckland brought over the team who run the World Fireknife Championships in Hawaii and they did cultural exchanges with schools and community groups. I was part of hosting two cultural exchanges with the Wānanga at my school. The World Champs has an Open Women’s division, which is quite new to the competition. The women that compete are very supportive of each other as this is a very male dominated art form. I’m really looking forward to being in that environment and meeting some of the amazing women who I watch on YouTube (and try to learn new moves off). 

This is a big step up for me since I haven't been doing Siva Afi very long, but I would really like to learn from this experience and having a goal keeps me focused on practice and continuous improvement.

I liken the impact this will have for me personally on the impact Polyfest had on me last year. The hours of dedicated practice, and commitment to keep going when it got hard and I was tired had its reward. We all finished something that we all started together and it was such an awesome feeling. This time as an individual it’s all on me when I am on stage for those few moments, but this is still a team effort. Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.  This whakatauki reminds me that there are many people behind me and any success I have is because of them too. Also, by setting the goal of participating in the World Championships I am hopeful more people my age will be encouraged to join community workshops and try something new. We never know what we may learn about ourselves, but it is cool to find out what we are made of. One of the best Samoan fireknife dancers lives on the North Shore, his students come from around Auckland and he told me to enjoy it, enjoy doing Siva Afi. I have put a lot of pressure on myself but I am wanting to do the best job of representing my school, my wānanga, my community and my family.