It’s a few minutes to midday, moments before the Ghetto Classics dancers are set to begin rehearsals at the St. John Centre in Korogocho. By 12:30 pm, only three dancers have arrived and they immediately start cleaning what normally serves as their dance floor. (On Sundays, the grounds serve a church.) To help the cleaning process go faster, Joanna Priwieziencew, the ballet dance instructor at the Ghetto Classics Dance Program, also picks up a mop and helps the girls to get the space ready quicker because they only have about an hour for rehearsals.
By around 1pm, the cleaning is done, all the dancers have arrived and changed into leotards and pointe shoes. Joanna, who’s been teaching ballet for the past 15 years and divides her time between Nairobi and Los Angeles where she lives, turns on her Bluetooth speaker. She puts on classical music and rehearsals begin.
Ballet is an old form of dance that originated in the 15th and 16th centuries. It’s also one of the most renowned and prestigious forms of dance worldwide that features highly formalised steps and movements, and children from the Ghetto Classics Dance Programme in Korogocho are learning it.
“There was no point of reference for them,” Joanna says about the children’s introduction to ballet. “And this was what worried me because we had a lot of points of reference when I learned it in school, but they trusted it. And they learned to love it such that they kept coming back. Later on, we showed them videos and pictures for them to know that what they’re learning is exactly the same as what kids around the world are learning, and that they all dress the same, and go through the exact challenges. I think they’ve responded quite well to it.”
Established in 2019, the Ghetto Classics Dance Program is structured to inform and enable the young dancers to appreciate and participate in various aspects of dancing like choreography and performing.
They are taught to become creative artistes through ballet, Kenyan traditional dance, hip hop and modern dance.
“Joanna reached out to me through email,” Elizabeth Njoroge, the Founder and Executive Director of the Art of Music Foundation which runs the Ghetto Classics Program, recalls how the programme started.
At the time, Joanna’s request was for the Ghetto Classics choir to sing in The Nutcracker ballet, that was being performed by Dance Centre Kenya – a dance school in Kenya – happening at the time. The children performed exceptionally well and Joanna again reached out to Elizabeth, this time asking if she could teach the children dance.
“So, throughout 2020, when the kids were out of school, she grew an amazing dance program which has structure and discipline, and which by global standards we can share with the world,” says Elizabeth.
In another room at the St John Centre, Jackson Atulo, a contemporary and African dance teacher, is teaching contemporary dance to the younger children. He keeps counting the music to help them keep track of their dance steps and tempo and stay on beat.
Its tedious work: his is a class of mixed abilities and he often has to stop and demonstrate the steps and show them how to keep the rhythm and learn the technique. But he also has to make sure they are having fun, they are engaged and learning at the same time.
Atulo’s profession spans over 15 years, so he knows exactly what dance means to the handful of children he teaches.
“Dance is a way of life. It’s a connection with the culture and self so it means a lot to the kids. Through dance and movement, they express themselves by talking about themselves and their lives,” says Atulo who began teaching at the programme in this year in January.
Atulo says the children in Korogocho are talented, have expressed interest and passion in the various forms of dance. The only hindrance is that they have limited opportunities to showcase their creativity. Even though opportunities are not enough, it has not dampened their spirit or dimmed the love of this particular art form.
“The future is great and bright for them, and they have big expectations of themselves. And contrary to what the older generation believes, they can have dance as a profession which is a means of earning,” he says.
Apart from dance, the programme has taught the kids a lot of life lessons, including discipline, teamwork, time-keeping and responsibility. Joanna does not only concern herself with teaching them how to plié (to bend), or arabesque (a position in ballet). She has taken an all-round approach to caring about their general wellbeing. She cares about what they eat to ensure they are healthy and fit so that they can push their physical abilities and enhance their performance. And perhaps to get a glimpse of life outside of Korogocho, she takes on them on trips to the National Park to see wildlife.
The opportunities may be limited, but the ones the dancers have gotten have been lifechanging.
“Last Summer, one of our students went to Los Angeles on a scholarship for three weeks. We work with the Los Angeles Dance Project which is a professional dance programme. We are looking forward to establishing more partnerships internationally, not just with the US or with Europe, but within Africa,” says Joanna.
Joanna says the children have had several performances in Nairobi, but the most important performances are the ones they showcase for their families and community. Once a year, the Ghetto Classics Dance Programme hosts a one-hour community performance.
Now in its fourth year, the Ghetto Classic Dance Programme has big ambitions for its dance students. Elizabeth says they hope to grow into a dance school so that they can take in more kids and hopefully expand it to other places in the country.
However, for now, their immediate need is a proper dance studio.
“Technically, the kids dance on a bad floor,” says Elizabeth. “I would really love if we could have a dance studio where we have a proper floor, mirrors and bars to use so that their technique and their bodies are looked after properly.”
