Then Comes The Body

Sometimes it only takes one person to start something big. There was no ballet in Nigeria until Daniel Ajala watched an American movie. He was inspired to learn ballet, but without any teachers, he did it on his own by watching YouTube videos.

In America, successful ballet dancers start very young, have their choice of dance schools, and get opportunities to perform in front of audiences. In Nigeria, the public is rather unfamiliar with the art, and many think it's downright scandalous. But hard work, passion, and dedication wins out over lack of resources. Ajala opened his own ballet school in Lagos, Leap of Dance Academy, which charges no tuition. His students are going to places all over the world. Meet a few of them in the award-winning documentary Then Comes The Body by Jacob Krupnick. Besides the a students in this video, a student named Anthony Madu who went viral in 2020 is attending school in the UK and is the subject of a full-length documentary on Disney+. (via kottke)