Debut: ‘Then Comes The Body’

A young girl, Precious, dances on top of cars in a marketplace. As she moves atop one stationary vehicle, her purple leotard and white tutu contrast the dirty yellow cars around her and the muted greys of the overpass framing the faded umbrellas of merchants. This is a traditional art form in a non-traditional place, a juxtaposition that speaks to the themes of hope and opportunity found in Jacob Krupnick’s documentary, Then Comes The Body.

Then Comes The Body follows a ballet teacher, Daniel Ajala, who learned ballet over the internet and after facing rejection and discrimination in traditional ballet schools, decided to start his own ballet school outside Lagos, Nigeria. Daniel’s school, the Leap of Dance Academy, provides free dance lessons for children of all ages and genders. After a video Daniel uploaded of his students dancing in the rain went viral and was featured on various news outlets, his students began receiving offers and scholarships to ballet companies and schools worldwide.

Ballet as an art form is not without its criticisms, specifically as it relates to diversity. This issue is touched on slightly in the documentary with Daniel mentioning the discrimination he faced at a ballet school when a teacher told him to go back to Africa because he wasn’t “right” for ballet. Daniel’s story speaks to a key theme of Then Comes The Body, opportunity. As Daniel then argues after sharing his story if a person is passionate about dance, why shouldn’t they have the opportunity to dance? 

“First comes the heart, then comes the body,” Daniel says.

Krupnick’s direction, while striking during moments of movement amongst the dancers, is even more striking in the moments in between. One scene shows children setting up the ballet barres along the courtyard serving as their studio before they begin their class. Krupnick shows this scene from behind a fence, with the children’s movements partially obscured by the bars. 

The appearance of bars on camera, whether from a fence or gate, traditionally conveys the idea of being trapped. The subject set behind or in front of the bars is stuck where they are either metaphorically or literally. When the children set up the barres, they are obscured, when their class begins, however, the camera slowly pans to the left, away from the fence, and shows them unblocked by any subject in the foreground. In doing this, Krupnick demonstrates the freedom provided to these children through Daniel’s ballet school. An art form that has no place in their town has broken down barriers for them and allowed them to express themselves in a way not traditionally provided to them.

For the moments of dance, Krupnick’s direction is still visually striking. This is an unsurprising factor as Krupnick has prior experience shooting dancers. His 2012 debut Girl Walk//All Day depicted several performers dancing through New York City and this ability to blend storytelling and movement is also seen in Then Comes The Body.

One of Daniel’s students receiving a scholarship, Olamide, is introduced in a slow camera pan-up from her reflection in muddy, rippling water. Krupnick then slowly pulls back from her, centering her in the shot while framing her with crudely constructed storefronts and a dusty sky. Before Olamide even shares her story, Krupnick’s direction has made it clear that her story is one of an opportunity taken to get out, Olamide’s passion for dance has set her apart from her environment and as she later says, will take her far away from Nigeria.

Then Comes The Body is not simply a walkthrough of how a ballet school was established in an unlikely area, but Krupnick instead focuses on the people impacted by opportunity, and how beautifully freeing that opportunity can be.