11-Year-Old Boy from Nigeria Receives A Scholarship From New York Dance School After His Barefoot Ballet Performance Goes Viral
While nowadays, many people like to point out all the bad things surrounding social media and the internet in general (which, of course, there are plenty of), this story is a reminder of how the World Wide Web can work as a means to achieve great things.
This boy that you can see in the video below is an 11-year-old ballet dancer from Nigeria. Recently, a video of him dancing in the rain barefoot went viral and even managed to earn him a scholarship to a prestigious US summer workshop.
More info: Instagram
Take a look at this viral sensation yourself
This video was shared by his dance school, which is called Leap of Dance Academy. Soon enough, the video went viral, gathering thousands of views, likes, and comments. People seem to be absolutely stunned by the boy’s dedication, grace, and talent.
The video caught the eye of Cynthia Harvey, who is the artistic director of New York’s ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Dance
“A friend who lives in the UK sent me the video,” Harvey told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Within a day I was trying to find him.”
Fortunately, Cynthia Harvey finally succeeded in tracking Anthony down. Moreover, she offered him a scholarship to a virtual three-week intensive summer workshop in the US.
Daniel Ajala Owoseni, who is Anthony’s teacher, founded this school in Lagos in 2017. Unfortunately, even after 3 years, the school still doesn’t have a dedicated space for its 12 students. Because of that, most of the time, they practice in Owoseni’s own basement as well as public spaces in the community.
“We are trying to change stereotypes around ballet dance. Boys can actually do ballet,” the teacher told the BBC. “Male ballet dancing is here to stay and it is not only supposed to be for females.”
“Anthony is currently in ABT virtual summer intensive”
“It made us just feel very overwhelmed and grateful. We can not believe our eyes, and the outpouring of support, sometimes we think we’re dreaming. God has been so gracious to us by providing all these things. Anthony is very excited and has always been a hard worker, so he is happy to continue working towards his dreams and have this opportunity. Anthony is currently in ABT virtual summer intensive. The main goal for our school is to have our students represent ballet in Nigeria well and bring it to the forefront while showing the elegance of ballet, but also letting our culture shine through,” business and PR representative at Leap of Dance Academy told Bored Panda.
“The main goal for our school is to have our students represent ballet in Nigeria”
Here’s what people are saying about this fascinating performance
!["Karen Complains To HR About My Body, I Uno-Reverse Her Complaint, [And Now] Everyone Hates Her"](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/coworker-complains-to-hr-about-womans-body-revenge-latest.jpg "\"Karen Complains To HR About My Body, I Uno-Reverse Her Complaint, [And Now] Everyone Hates Her\"")
Anyone else who was expecting a full scholarship situation based on the caption, rather than a 'virtual three-week summer workshop'?
I had the same initial impression. That said, I'm glad Anthony gets to attend a summer workshop -- it may lead to more opportunities. At the very least, it's a vindication of the hard work and dedication of both the student and his teacher.
I didn't even catch that when I read the article, I thought it was a real workshop. If he did get a scholarship to an in-person workshop, I'd gladly contribute to a GoFundMe to pay his travel expenses.
Happy news, I've just now read on the news that he will be travelling to NYC next year to join the school.
Very hard to do that at the moment with Covid 19 rife in the world
I remember him when this was posted to Reddit! So glad he got a chance to shine, look forward to following his progress and career in the future! Go Anthony!
There was one person on that thread who was like, "oh he's not that good at all, basically he only looks talented because of the juxtaposed environment." Which is a real downer, so it's good that was not the case.
Because of course it's sooooooo much easier to dance barefoot on an uneven, wet surface.
He is a child of 11, for heaven's sake! He is amazing, and obviously has enormous potential!
There is always that one person. But if you see how graceful yet powerful he already is, at age eleven! And how dedicated and focussed, it is clear that given the opportunity he will be an outstanding dancer. Performing also requires a certain...charisma and pizzazz. He has that already. Unless he really veers off during puberty, just imagine how he will shine as a well trained adult.
A great teacher doesn’t see the small flaws that are easily overcome, they see and more so hope for someone whose ceiling is without limit, and that is what this young kid shines with...
Clint Hanson good
Oh come on, you mean his environment and his nationality or ethnicity is NOT the criteria for which he was chosen or this becoming the news? Actually that all is the main reason he was chosen unless you are claiming there are no 11 year old who love dancing ballet or have talent and would love to have dance academy scholarship because they deserve it.
Watching and thinking "And what is your excuse".. He is talented! I hoped he would get a real scholarship to go to America and study dance, but maybe on the next video.
Or maybe attract more funding to his dance school, which clearly deserves it.
Pacifico Fernandez haha
Pacifico Fernandez like
Anyone else who was expecting a full scholarship situation based on the caption, rather than a 'virtual three-week summer workshop'?
I had the same initial impression. That said, I'm glad Anthony gets to attend a summer workshop -- it may lead to more opportunities. At the very least, it's a vindication of the hard work and dedication of both the student and his teacher.
I didn't even catch that when I read the article, I thought it was a real workshop. If he did get a scholarship to an in-person workshop, I'd gladly contribute to a GoFundMe to pay his travel expenses.
Happy news, I've just now read on the news that he will be travelling to NYC next year to join the school.
Very hard to do that at the moment with Covid 19 rife in the world
I remember him when this was posted to Reddit! So glad he got a chance to shine, look forward to following his progress and career in the future! Go Anthony!
There was one person on that thread who was like, "oh he's not that good at all, basically he only looks talented because of the juxtaposed environment." Which is a real downer, so it's good that was not the case.
Because of course it's sooooooo much easier to dance barefoot on an uneven, wet surface.
He is a child of 11, for heaven's sake! He is amazing, and obviously has enormous potential!
There is always that one person. But if you see how graceful yet powerful he already is, at age eleven! And how dedicated and focussed, it is clear that given the opportunity he will be an outstanding dancer. Performing also requires a certain...charisma and pizzazz. He has that already. Unless he really veers off during puberty, just imagine how he will shine as a well trained adult.
A great teacher doesn’t see the small flaws that are easily overcome, they see and more so hope for someone whose ceiling is without limit, and that is what this young kid shines with...
Clint Hanson good
Oh come on, you mean his environment and his nationality or ethnicity is NOT the criteria for which he was chosen or this becoming the news? Actually that all is the main reason he was chosen unless you are claiming there are no 11 year old who love dancing ballet or have talent and would love to have dance academy scholarship because they deserve it.
Watching and thinking "And what is your excuse".. He is talented! I hoped he would get a real scholarship to go to America and study dance, but maybe on the next video.
Or maybe attract more funding to his dance school, which clearly deserves it.
Pacifico Fernandez haha
Pacifico Fernandez like