To uncover your true potential you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to blow past them.
The initiative will be kickstarted through a Dance & Art Exhibition fundraising occasion scheduled to hold on the 24th of July, 2022. This event is focused on celebrating the gifts of Nigerian children and youth in ballet. It will consist of a dance exhibition event – a series of dance performances from child and youth ballet dancers, followed immediately by an art exhibition which will be home to a variety of beautiful collections – carefully selected images and artworks of performers doing what they love most – dancing. These prints will be on sale at the exhibition. Thirty percent (30%) of all proceeds from the exhibition will be dedicated to developing child and youth ballet dancing in Nigeria, through the measures stated above.
Support for dance, especially ballet in Africa is modest. There is a glaring insufficiency of proper structures or support systems for kids who want to dance, but simply cannot afford to. The dance funding ecosystem compared to that of other performing arts is undersized. And the impact of the pandemic added to decades of declining support for this ecosystem was brutal.
Prompted by the glaring needs of the ballet system in Nigeria, the ‘Slum to Stage’ initiative was birthed. Spearheaded by Emmanuel Osahor, this initiative aims to give twenty (20) children & young adults gifted in dance opportunities to hone their talents. This support system includes:
- Dance training and professional tutelage.
- Financial and mental guidance
- Provision of dance costumes, equipment, etc.
