Kamal Singh has become one of the first Indian students to be admitted into the English National Ballet School in the United Kingdom. Coming from a background where learning ballet would be last in the mind, this rickshaw walah’s son has now earned himself a spot in the world’s most prestigious ballet school.
Kamal, who is known as Noddy amongst his peers, had been attracted by ballet dancers after watching Bollywood movies and wanted to learn the art.
“I cannot explain how it feels, it is all my dreams come true,” said Singh, 21. “It’s amazing, I’m enjoying every day. “My family do not know much about ballet but they are very happy and very proud that I am at the English National Ballet. I am the first in my family to come to London.”
The school fees and London living expenses totaling about £20,000 were far beyond the reach of Singh’s family, but a crowdfunding campaign, backed by some of Bollywood’s biggest names, managed to raise all the funds needed in less than two weeks. Having only started training at 17, Singh’s capabilities as classically trained ballet dancer developed relatively late. After just four years’ training in India and some fast crowd-funding, Kamal Singh is now joining English National Ballet School.