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AFRICA

DANCING QUEENS

In the slums of Kenya, weekly ballet class is helping groups of young girls to dream big

On Wednesday afternoons, after the final bell of the day, a cement-walled classroom in the impoverished Nairobi neighbourhood of Kibera is transformed into a ballet studio. The room is cleared of its benches and desks and the dirt on the floor is swept away. A group of about 20 girls wearing blue, pink and purple ballet clothes wait for Mike Wamaya, their instructor, to arrive with his stereo. Then, with classical music in the air, the girls begin to dance.

The class is organised by the charities Anno’s Africa and One Fine Day and repeated in slums across Kenya. Swedish photographer Fredrik Lerneryd, who is based in Nairobi, has joined Wamaya and the girls for about two dozen of their