Celebrated Siva Afi Fire Dance festival in battle for survival

The annual Siva Afi Fire Dance Festival began in 2019. Photo / Alex Robertson

The annual Siva Afi Festival, an event celebrating traditional Samoan fire knife dancing, will light up the Māngere Arts Centre-Ngā Tohu o Uenuku for two nights this weekend, but festival director Amo Ieriko warns this could be the last time if new revenue streams aren’t found.

“We’ve proudly delivered this event since 2019,” Ieriko said, “[but] without confirmed funding for 2027, this year could sadly mark the final year.”

Ieriko said about $80,000 is needed to cover the venue, staging, safety crews, performers and competitors, but fundraising has fallen well short of that target a week out from the competition.

Siva Afi Fire Dance Festival director Amo Ieriko. Photo / Alex Robertson

“This year we have $54,000, and we’re waiting for some money from Foundation North that should pay for the stage,” he said. “But, falling short of the $80k we will have to make some cuts. We’re calling it the koha budget this year.”

Ieriko says the core team of organisers do it for love. But even if the base funding target is met, he still puts in every spare moment after working fulltime.

“It’s getting harder to manage as the event grows.”

From humble beginnings in 2019 with a series of workshops, the Siva Afi Festival developed into a competitive event in 2020 with a $10,000 grant from the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board, a troupe of enthusiastic volunteers and 12 competitors.

The festival has had to negotiate through Covid restrictions over the years, with the 2022 event held during lockdown in Auckland.

Ieriko and the team came up with the idea of putting it all online, making Siva Afi the only festival to go ahead in 2022.

“We started filming stallholders and food producers in January,” Ieriko said. “And we asked the competitors to video their performances, which we shared online with the judges.”

The event was broadcast “as live” and viewers could watch performances and order food online at the same time.

Since the borders reopened in 2023, Siva Afi has grown, with overseas competitors and judges coming to Auckland.

Fire knife dancing is a global discipline and this year’s event will bring competitors from Tahiti and Samoa, and judges from Australia and Orlando, in Florida, United States.

Ieriko said there will be at least 38 competitors this year, with Auckland the last chance to qualify for the World Championships in Hawai’i in May.

Competition is split into four categories with young (5-12) and intermediate (13-17) mixed competitions and 18-and-over open women’s and men’s divisions.

The funding target is the minimum needed to stage a professional event, Ieriko said, but even then it can’t afford the fulltime teams Pasifika and the Auckland Arts Festival enjoy.

And with the competition for grants and government funding growing, Siva Afi is looking to commercial sponsors that may be attracted by the festival’s online presence, which attracts thousands of viewers from across the world.

“The event is free to attend, and we think the more people that come, the better chance of getting sponsorship,” Ieriko said. “It’s a nighttime event, and we say come and enjoy the competition and enjoy the food.”

Siva Afi Festival 2026 is at the Māngere Arts Centre-Ngā Tohu o Uenuku on March 6-7, from 6pm. For more information, see www.sivaafiaotearoa.co.nz