He’s got quite a fire in his belly.

A wise man once said that bravery is not the absence of fear, but rather the ability to move forward in spite of fear. The difference between a fire dancer and a pyromaniac, then, is that one is very brave, while the other is just crazy. Fred Horal, being a fire dancer, is quite brave.

Credit: Radiant Illusions

Since his younger years, Fred has been spinning poi and torches. At first, it was just because it was a fun and active thing he was good at, but as an adult, it’s become his most marketable skill. Originally, his props only used LED lights, but once Fred added real fire to the mix, his dances became truly astounding. He would break out the poi at social events or large gatherings and start dancing, and before he knew it, people were paying him money. When one joyous partygoer told him “keep doing what you’re doing,” he knew he had found his calling in life.

Credit: Cirque Bishop via YouTube

Fred, as well as his entertainment booking company Fourleaf Entertainment, provide high-flying, slightly death-defying entertainment to whoever asks for it. It wasn’t easy for Fred to get his business going. After all, he was trying to turn something that started as an idle hobby into a genuine entrepreneurial venture. After a lot of hard work and trial and error, though, he has amassed a group of like-minded entertainers, and burns his face into the eyes of awed onlookers on a regular basis (metaphorically speaking).