Ballet is no longer confined to elite studios in Nairobi. Through Dance Centre Kenya, children from Kibera, Kuinda, Karen, Muthaiga and other areas are now being trained in a form of dance that has been part of Kenya’s cultural life since the 1950s.
The centre began in 2013 after American prima ballerina Cooper Rust worked with three pairs of interested parents and opened the school at a temporary site at Karen Surgery. Since then, it has expanded steadily under her direction as artistic director.
What started as one site has become a wider network. DCK later moved to a larger space in Hardy, opened another branch at Lavington Mall and added a third at Rosslyn Riviera mall. It also teaches dance in more than a dozen Nairobi schools and has extended its work to Sure 24 Orphanage in Nakuru.
At its scholarship sites, the programme goes beyond ballet. Caroline Slot Wamaya, the assistant director, says children at Karen C in Kuinda and at the orphanage can choose African dance, contemporary dance or ballet. They may also study visual art or theatre.
Those classes are offered free of charge through Artists for Africa, the NGO founded by Rust more than seven years ago to support talented young people who face social and financial hardship.
The centre’s annual staging of Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker remains a major part of its calendar. In 2018, the production was set to open on December 1 at Kenya National Theatre before moving to GEMS Cambridge Auditorium on December 8 and then to ISK the following day.
A scholarship performance was also scheduled for Sunday at 3pm at Karen C School in Kuinda, with DCK ballet students joining in Act 2 of The Nutcracker.
One of the students benefiting from the programme is Lawrence Ogira, 22, who first joined on scholarship. Having already worked as a professional dancer before arriving at the centre, he now helps with teaching and is preparing, with support from Artists for Africa, to study engineering and dance at the University of South Carolina.
This year’s opening night was expected to carry a few firsts. Rust was to perform only once, appearing as the Snow Queen, before Stella Essing took over the role with Ogira as her partner. For the first time, the ballet would also be performed with a live orchestra rather than recorded music.
The Nairobi Philharmonic Orchestra, an offshoot of the Nairobi Orchestra, was to provide the music under guest conductor Jonathan Rush. Rush was also due to lead the Ghetto Classics Children’s Choir from Korogocho.
Another guest performer named for the production was Baris Erhan of the Turkish State Orchestra and Ballet.
This was the fourth year DCK had staged The Nutcracker, and the production continued to serve as both a showcase and a training ground. Rust re-choreographs the ballet each year, while Caroline and other Kenyan teachers help prepare new dancers alongside more experienced performers.
Among the younger cast members was 12-year-old Lavinder Orisa Thuku, who was cast as Clara, the girl whose nutcracker doll comes alive in a dream and leads her into the ballet’s fantasy world.
Rust has also mentored and home-schooled several children since founding the centre. One of the best-known examples is Joel Kioko, who came from Kuinda and later went on to study at the National Ballet School of the UK in London.
