A Student Sharpens his Cultural Skills for the Fireknife Competition

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Byron ‘Pailogi’ Tenney, a hospitality and tourism management major at BYU-Hawaii, is one of the young students working with Kap in the Samoan village. He’s also going to compete for the first time in this year’s World Fire Knife Dance Competition.

Tenney is originally from Pesega, Upolu, where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which founded BYU-Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center, maintains the Samoan equivalent of a large 7-12 school and a temple. He came to Hawaii in 1994 to attend nearby Kahuku High School, and after graduating, enrolled at BYU-Hawaii for two years. Tenney then served for two years as a Latter-day Saint missionary in Fukuoka, Japan. Consequently, he speaks fluent Japanese as well as his native Samoan and English.

He says he’s been preparing for the past year-and-a-half for the upcoming knife dance competition. “I’ve been learning from a lot of people, including Kap, and just watching the power of their motions.

“Nowadays there are a lot of moves more like baton twirling. Some of these are very nice, I admit, but like Kap and the others, I’m going to try to keep it traditional, and keep that part of the dance going.”

Tenney also admits he’s nervous. “They’ve been trying to get me to dance for a while, but this is my first competition. I kept saying I’m not ready, but I figured we’ll try it this year and see what happens.”

Tenney adds he has learned other aspects of his native culture at PCC, even though he grew up in Samoa. “The chief’s language, for example: Because my grandmother raised me, I didn’t have the opportunity to go out and learn that part of our language or the ‘ava [kava] ceremony… until I came here. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to work in the Samoan village. I love the learning experience and sharing my culture with others.”

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