Independent Premium
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
With perfect pirouettes and plies, dozens of young ballet dancers gracefully moved between the makeshift iron houses of one of Africa’s largest urban slums, spreading Christmas spirit.
Hundreds of residents in Kenya’s Nairobi cheered as the nimble ballerinas, wearing Santa hats and sparkling colorful outfits, turned the dusty narrow roads of the neighborhood of Kibera into a dance-worthy stage on Saturday.
The annual show was a hit.
Organized by the Kibera Ballet School, one of the east African country’s smaller institutions that provides free lessons to children who otherwise wouldn’t have had access to this kind of training, the production was the result of rigorous practice.
For months, the children rehearsed in modest community halls while juggling their household chores, which included fetching water in plastic jerricans in the neighborhood with no clean running water.
Like the rest of Africa, Kenya boasts of a youthful population — with a median age of 19 — and the ballet school, funded by a local non-government organization, aims to give some of them a creative outlet.
For Kibera residents, the early Christmas ballet show is a celebration of community resilience and creativity.
“We don’t have grand stages here, but we have talent,” one observer said and he watched the dancers.