Your parents may have sacrificed lots of time for your love of dance: they drove you to lessons and attended performances. And you may also owe them for several years’ worth of tights, tutus, leotards, pointe shoes, and lessons.

But 11-year old Dominic Handford now owes his parents a house for their undying support of his dance career.

For over a decade, dancers, choreographers, and teachers Álvaro Restrepo and Marie-France Delieuvin have brought life and possibility to young Colombians through the art of contemporary dance.

“The Body College” (“El Colegio del Cuerpo”) is the result of Restrepo’s and Delieuvin’s efforts. The school, a contemporary dance academy, serves the poverty-stricken north Caribbean coast of Colombia and, in particular, the city of Cartagena. The Body College’s mission: to teach Colombians a new “ethics of the body” that may help them gain self-respect and overcome violence.

Click on the title of this post to read more about “The Body College” and contemporary dance in Colombia.