Joel Kioko leaps onto stage and begins to dance. As he tiptoes, turns, and kicks, people in the audience hold their breath. He jumps into the air and twirls. His gracefulness makes it seem almost as if gravity doesn’t exist!

Joel has become one of Kenya’s most promising young dancers. He is only 16 years old. Joel grew up in a slum in Nairobi, Kenya. His mother raised him in a one-room shack. He took his first dance class five years ago in a public school classroom. Ballet students usually practice in a room with a big mirror on one wall so they can see themselves work. The room usually has a wooden railing called a barre along the opposite wall. Dancers use the barre for balance. Joel’s dance class met in a public school classroom. It had no barre, no mirror, and desks were pushed aside to make space.

But Joel didn’t need a fancy room to learn to love ballet—or to become very, very good at it. Soon people started to notice Joel’s skill, including Dance Centre Kenya's artistic director, Cooper Rust. “He's the real deal,” says Ms. Rust. “I’m pushing him to go for the stars.”

Right now, Joel is training in the United States. He came home to Kenya for Christmas. But he didn’t take much of a break. He danced in a production of The Nutcracker in Nairobi. Dance has become his career. When he visits home, he teaches classes to dancers in Kenya’s biggest slum. At the beginning of the school year, children try out for the dance classes, which are paid for by charities. These kids want to use the beautiful art form to escape their poverty—just like Joel has done.