Fire Knife Hula Dancer peforms in Hawaii during Luau at Smith Family Garden

A fire knife dancer performs during a commercial luau for tourists at Smith Family Garden on the Island of Kauai, in the Hawaiian Islands. Kauai has over a million visitors each year, and is called, the Garden Island. In 1819, King Kamehameha II performed a symbolic act by eating with the women, thus ending the Hawaiian religious taboos that women and men ate in separate locations. This is when the luau parties were first created. Letuli Olo Misilagi was the first man to add fire to the traditional Samoan ailao, or knife dance. The ailao, a fierce traditional dance that involves the twirling of the nifo oti (war knife), was a pre-war ritual in Samoa used to psyche up warriors. The Samoan knife dance has been incorporated into Hawaiian culture, and is often part of in Polynesian revues or luaus.