Conch Africa catches up with the inspirational Daniel Ajala, founder of Lagos-based ballet school, Leap of Dance…
Most dance schools are indoors, with floor to ceiling mirrors, ballet barres and polished wooden floors. At Leap of Dance Academy in Lagos, Nigeria, founded by Daniel Ajala, a non-profit organization that, as its Twitter account says, ‘provides dance education to children that cannot afford the luxury of dance education’, students train outside, mostly without ballet shoes, on a smoothed concrete floor. But now, the world is following the progress of this incredible school, which turns six in September, after in 2020, its founder, Daniel Ajala, posted a simple yet beautiful video of a young boy, his student, dancing in the rain. And the world fell in love. Here, he tells us about his incredible journey…
Daniel, Leap of Dance is known now way beyond Lagos. How does that feel?
Sometimes I’m like, is this really happening?! This wider, global audience is seeing the work that we do, and it’s a very humbling experience. I’m very grateful.
How did it all begin?
I remember watching the movie, Save The Last Dance (2001), with Julia Stiles. That’s when I decided to learn ballet. I wanted to practise the moves I saw in the film. There were no ballet teachers where I was, ballet wasn’t big, but that’s something about me – I’ve always liked to be different. It’s one of the things I love about myself!
Julia Stiles’ famous audition scene from Save The Last Dance (2001)
So, you are completely self-taught in ballet? That’s incredible.
There is one thing people must know about us Nigerians – we are very resilient. And we want to try new things. So, for me, I watched ballet videos over and over, and learnt everything I could from them. I believe anyone can achieve what they want to do – if they give it their all. It’s not about your background, or how flexible you are. You just have to wake up in the morning and say, I’m going to push myself today, as far as I can go.
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You’ve said you started Leap of Dance so children wouldn’t miss their opportunity, like you did – is that right?
That’s exactly it. I wanted to be that bridge, to give kids an opportunity to get into ballet, which is not common here. Growing up, I didn’t have anybody. I didn’t want them to think, oh there’s nobody we can look up to. What I did was to be that person for them. And I made my programme free, so that no child would have an excuse – here’s the ballet teacher, but I can’t afford the lessons. That’s why I started the Leap of Dance Academy, on 9th September 2017 precisely, from my own home. Humble beginnings.
Tell us more about those humble beginnings…
So, we didn’t have a good floor. The ground was bad, children training in that situation were sometimes getting bruises, or splinters in their legs – my students are tough! We used to put curtains across the floor, to cushion it. Then we added a bit of vinyl on top. So, we trained in that situation, then we eventually graduated to a rug. Which was better, yes – but isn’t that terrible? Then a few weeks ago, we got this concrete floor smoothed out. My students have one pair of ballet shoes each. The deal is, they don’t use them for practise, only for performances.
Are your kids from disadvantaged backgrounds then?
Many, and our school gives them the attitude to be more serious in life, more disciplined. If they come from well-off families, there’s always another option. You know, if I don’t do ballet, maybe my father’s influence can offer me another opportunity. I also teach private classes, and pump that money back into the academy – that’s how we survive. As I tell my students, ‘Ballet costumes will not buy themselves!’ But yes, many are from challenging backgrounds, some from abject poverty, from the forgotten areas nobody wants to walk through. But today, I have former students at ballet boarding schools in the UK, Belgium and other parts of the world. And that inspires our other young dancers. It gives me hope that I’m doing the right thing.
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Tell us about the video that got the world talking …
Yes. I posted a video in June 2020 of one of my students, doing pirouettes on a concrete floor in the rain and… it went viral. That was such a pivotal moment. Every dance teacher’s dream is to see that their work is being seen, being appreciated. For me, in a really challenging situation but with such hard-working kids, I needed somebody to see what we were doing – to bring a little light to us. But honestly, I don’t post that video to gain attention. Also, you never know what will spark an interest in people. But it did, it captured hearts – even people like the actress Viola Davis were talking about us after that. Reposting that video, she wrote, ‘Reminds me of the beauty of my people. We create, soar, can imagine, have unleashed passion, and love….despite the brutal obstacles that have been put in front of us! Our people can fly!!!’
Have you ever thought no this is too hard, I’m out of here?
Running a non-profit, I always say, tomorrow is not promised. It’s what you have today that you must celebrate. If someone tells you they’ll give you 20 dollars tomorrow and you have 1 today, celebrate the 1 dollar. There are days when I think yeah, how do we get to tomorrow? Passion is passion, but bills must be paid. We’ve been surviving because people have also been very generous with us. But I’ll always rise above and keep going.
How are your children training right now?
We don’t have an inside studio. And I know the conditions they are training in aren’t good. But what I’ve done recently is smooth out the outside floor area where we train, which was very crooked before. My dream is to get them a proper dance studio. I want ballet here in Nigeria to be taken seriously. I want us to promote ballet, with an African flair. Leap of Dance is literally the only ballet school in the country that has been able to produce professional dancers, that then go off to study at international schools.
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If you could cherry-pick any star dancer to come and teach your pupils, who would it be?
Oh, Calvin Royal III, who is a dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. He’s amazing and he has been so supportive of us.
What do you want to instil in your students?
I always say, not all my students are going to become professional dancers, but I have the hope that for those that don’t, we are teaching the audience of tomorrow’s theatres. Maybe they’ll sponsor ballet shows, maybe they will be the ones keeping ballet alive. It’s also about the confidence and discipline that ballet gives. That resilience lasts a lifetime. I’ve had opportunities to teach abroad and earn money from it, but I’ve never taken them. Because I want the kids’ futures here to be bright.
Tell us one fun fact about Leap of Dance…
OK… the kids in my academy had their first ever ice-cream and pizza in our school. They’d never tasted it before. We drove two hours to buy them ice-cream. I was like, how do I bring ice-cream back in these Nigerian temperatures without it melting? So, I took a motorbike so I could get the food back as quick as possible. You can just imagine the excitement!
For more information and to support the academy, visit https://leapofdanceacademy.org.
instagram : https://www.instagram.com/leapofdanceacademy/
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