Vibrant Days – June 2025

Nigeria’s first ballet school brings tutus and joy to the streets of Lagos

‘First comes the heart, then comes the body.’

To understand why there’s a ballet academy in the unassuming community of Ajangbadi outside of Lagos in Nigeria, you must first know the story of its founder, Daniel Owoseni Ajala. After discovering a love of ballet via the movie Save the Last Dance (2001), Owoseni Ajala established the Lead of Dance Academy in 2017, beginning with just five students. And, as the inspiring short documentary Then Comes the Body captures, his unlikely labour of love has gone on to become a smashing success, with a clip of one of the academy’s students going viral in 2020, and, in the wake of the video’s success, other students receiving scholarships to pursue ballet careers abroad.

In his film, the US director Jacob Krupnick chronicles how the academy has thrived thanks to the dedication of Owoseni Ajala and his students, despite scepticism of the project around Lagos, and an international ballet scene that often overlooks Africa. Capturing dancers taking their moves out of the academy and into the city streets as they tell their stories, Krupnick channels his subjects’ passion for their art with verve, style and an effervescent joy. The film also puts forth the rarely told story of how the internet and social media can have positive impacts – both on individual lives and on whole cultures.