A home-grown ballet academy leaps into the spotlight

甘肅天水市第三中學 侯志遠

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難詞探意

1. prestigious /pre'st?d??s/ adj. 聲譽高的；有威望的

2. vinyl /'va?nl/ n. 乙烯基塑料

In June 2020, a minute-long video featuring a young ballet student dancing in the rain began circulating on the Internet.

The wide reach of the video has turned a spotlight on the unlikely story of a ballet school in a poor suburb of Lagos, Nigeria: the Leap of Dance Academy. Founded in 2017, the academy has transformed the lives of its students, affording them a place to dance and to dream. And in the last few months, it has inspired influential people in ballet to lend a hand. Seemingly overnight, a world of opportunity has opened up: for the students, scholarships and invitations to attendprestigiousschools and companies overseas; and for the school, sizable donations,which will allow for building a proper space, outfitted with a real dance floor.

For now, the Leap of Dance Academy is housed at the home of its founder, Daniel Owoseni Ajala, in Ajangbadi, Ojo, on the western outskirts of Lagos. Every day after school, Mr Ajala's 12 students walk to his apartment, where he pushes aside his furniture and spreads a thin vinyl sheet over the concrete floor for class, throwing open the doors and windows to let in the light.

When Mr Ajala, 29, founded Leap of Dance three years ago, he was a self-taught recreational dancer with a dream: to open a ballet school for students who were serious about learning the art form and possibly pursuing it professionally one day. As a child, Mr Ajala became obsessed with ballet after watching Save the Last Dance. The 2001 movie tells about a lapsed ballet dancer (Julia Stiles) who moves to the South Side of Chicago after her mother dies, and then she falls in love with a classmate(Sean Patrick Thomas) who shares her passion for dance and helps nurse her dream of becoming a ballerina back to life.

Mr Ajala taught himself by watching lessons and professional companies on YouTube; he also signed up for a few crash courses in ballet at a local dance center. And so the Leap of Dance Academy was born. Turning again to online platforms, he joined an international dance teacher network on Facebook. He posted a note explaining that he was starting a ballet school in Nigeria that would provide free instruction and asked if anyone had used or unwanted dance kits they could send him, since many families in Ajangbadi wouldn't be able to afford the clothes for performance. Soon, he was put in touch with someone from Traveling Tutus, a nonprofit organization in Florida that donates gently used dance wear to students around the world.

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1. What can we know about the Leap of Dance Academy?

A. It was founded in 2020.

B. It has a great influence on its students.

C. It was set up by influential people in ballet.

D. It had real dance floors when established.

2. Why did Mr Ajala open a ballet school?

A. To draw people's attention.

B. To make money for his dream.

C. To help students who love ballet.

D. To make films about dancing.

3. What is Save the Last Dance?

A. It is a movie. B. It is a popular song.

C. It is a TV series. D. It is a best-seller.

4. What does the underlined word “kits” mean in the last paragraph?

A. Curtains. B. Mirrors.

C. Radios. D. Costumes.