I have been training at the Leap of Dance Academy for three years now, and it has been an amazing journey of beautiful experiences for these past few years.

I describe my dance style as passionate, because right from a young age, I had always wanted to be a dancer. But not just a dancer—a professional ballet dancer.

The first reason for my decision to be a dancer is that I have always had an interest in dance. I remember vividly how I would draw pictures of people dancing and equally watch a lot of cartoons where they dance too. At first, I thought it was only the fun of dancing in different places, but then I realized it was more than that, and that I really wanted to be a dancer. Then it was more than the dance itself, because dance has taught me a whole lot of things, it taught me how to be committed, grateful, strong, courageous, coordinated, consistent, disciplined, dedicated. It has taught me to be composed and most especially, to be creative.

I believe that dancers are becoming very well respected now in our society, and community, and this present generation. In my community, ballet dance is not very popular here like other dances, but I want to be able to show people that it is not just any other dance. It is more than dance. It is quite a difficult task to control the stage when dancing. Dancing requires a whole lot of skill , hard work, knowledge and experience.

I love dancing. Whenever I dance I feel so much joy, happiness, letting out my emotions, my pains that no one can see, it is an unexplainable feeling for inside of me. Additionally dance has brought my life many opportunities, one of them being  given the opportunity to travel far and wide. Visiting, learning and discovering new places is often interesting.

I  believe in dance more than any other profession. My dreams and aspirations for dance is to be the first principal ballerina here in Lagos, Nigeria. I want to educate the youth and children in Nigeria who are interested in learning, provide the opportunity to dance and encourage them and their families, like my teacher did with us, and also impact dance knowledge to them.

I know that achieving this thing is not a child's play. I am therefore willing to work very hard. And I know with the help of God, as well as my hard work, my teacher and my mum, I know that someday I will become a famous dancer. I am Olamide Olawale, and I dance ballet.

Photo credit: Wilson Onwuka