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Touching story behind the Ikorodu dancers Rihanna made famous

History has been kind to young Nigerian kids who broke the internet with a dance video. A few young Nigerian dancers have found their way into the heart of international musician, Rihanna. The dancers from Ikorodu first broke the internet with a dance video of them dancing to “Nowo” by DJ Spinall and Wizkid. Rihanna…

Rihanna. Photo: Glamour

History has been kind to young Nigerian kids who broke the internet with a dance video. A few young Nigerian dancers have found their way into the heart of international musician, Rihanna.

The dancers from Ikorodu first broke the internet with a dance video of them dancing to “Nowo” by DJ Spinall and Wizkid.

Rihanna shared the dance video in admiration of the young talents as she celebrated a new milestone in her career, being the first female artist to cross 2 billion worldwide streams on Apple Music.

The post, which Rihanna said represented her mood, has generated 2.6 million likes — and interest in who the kids were. Turns out they are part of a troupe out of Lagos, called Dreamcatchers. which is made up of 10 children — seven girls and three boys. They have been dancing together since November 2014.

According to their social media bio, they are street kids from Ikorodu.

“Dance puts us in school and off the streets,” it says. The kids and their 26-year-old instructor, Seyi Oluyole, were recently nominated for the Best Creative Social Enterprise Award via African Creative Exhibition and Awards.

In one of the group’s Instagram posts, the caption reads, “This time last week, we didn’t have lunch, but here we are this week getting so much love with 12,000 followers!” (That number has since climbed to 42,000.) “Our hope has been renewed.”

A post on the Dreamcatchers Instagram page shows the gratitude the kids have for Oluyole, the force behind the group: “You see all our smiles and dance videos, there is someone behind it all. There is a special person who took us off the street and takes care of us. She feeds us, sends us to school, buys us clothes and takes care of us even when we are sick. She is Aunty Seyi.”

And fame they have found. After Rihanna shared the video, which has also been posted by Naomi Campbell (Diddy shared a second one), the kids made her a thank you video, in which they held up a sign and told her that they love her.

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