Fire Stead

Fire is profoundly dyslexic and left school unable to read and write, his teachers predicting he would end up on the dole or in prison. They couldn’t have been more wrong: now nearly 50, Fire is running his own hugely successful dance education company, I Love Salsa. He was even chosen as one of five inspirational people to feature in a short promotional film for the 2012 Olympics.

Dance classes have long been a fitness trend for adults, but it took a figurehead as dynamic and charismatic as Fire Stead to introduce dance to schools. Some head teachers weren’t convinced that pupils, particularly boys, would be interested in learning dance steps. In fact, the classes have been universally popular. The energetic dances keep the pupils fit; memorising the steps improves their concentration; and dancing with partners has helped has helped pupils to integrate and develop their social skills.

Fire has also been responsible for developing the first ever internationally recognised qualification in teaching salsa dance, the the I Love Salsa Edexcel BTEC.

Fire thinks persistence is the most important quality if you want to bring an idea to life. “My biggest barrier initially was just getting people to listen,” he says. “I am a great believer in always knocking on doors until someone listens.”