By Kiki Williams
Ka La staff writer
When John Lim is not taking classes at HonCC, he is lighting up the night with fire.
During his senior year in high school, Lim noticed fire filling the sky in Kakaako Waterfront Park. Curiosity got the better of Lim, and he went to investigate.
“It looked like dancing without the glow sticks, but with fire,” said Lim, a student in the carpentry program at HonCC. “And it looked fun!”
After noticing that Lim, who is 20, had been faithfully coming to watch every 
Thursday night, one of the fire dancers befriended and even gave Lim his first fire staff to learn the art.
However, the fire dancing in the park had to stop because of building developments that were supposed to take place, but never did. Lim and a fellow performer from the older generation started seeking out new groups and were lucky enough to find one that welcomed them with open arms.
Soon after, a friend of Lim’s reached out to him through s ocial media and offered him an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. He was offered a position to teach children fire and knife dancing at Palama Settlement.
“My friend thought it would be awesome to teach the children the different moves from the fire staff verses the fire knife,” he said.
With that drive to help children, he is currently teaching a child who is blind how to fire dance using his strong sense of feeling.
With this being Lim’s last semester at HonCC, he is looking forward to using his new carpentry skills to build a career for himself.
“We are the light in the darkness, because I light up when it’s dark outside,” he said.
