The stage will be on fire as the 22nd Siva Afi International Competition starts this Thursday and ends with the finale on Saturday at the Siva Afi Entertainment Centre.

The competition in its 22nd year has seen various champions, especially young street vendors being taught the art of 'fire-knife' dancing. Many performers have emerged from the local competitions and are performing on the international stage.

For the organiser and the man behind the competition, Leota Lene Leota, it is always good to see performers make a name for themselves.

He has helped so many children off the street to become performers, he now gets walk-ins from young street vendors wanting to have a better life through Siva Afi.

As usual, the best performers from the local scene and abroad will try and make a mark for themselves.

Leota said Siva Afi was just like the story of the 'malu' and 'tatau'.

"That is why we are so proud to take Siva Afi to other parts of the world, especially to countries where their people know how to perform fire knife dancing," Leota said.

Leota said Siva Afi was a traditional dance that needed to be exposed to the world.

"Just like the story with the 'malu' and 'tatau', wherever you go, malu will always be a malu and a tatau will always be a tatau, they belong to Samoa," Leota added.

"That's also the story with Siva Afi, wherever we take fire knife dancing, people will always know that this is a Samoan traditional dance."

Leota believes that Siva Afi needs to be conserved just like the 'malu' and 'tatau' because it's a special traditional dance that brings people of the world to Samoa.