What you're hearing is a video taken at a cultural center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city.

There's about two dozen people in a pretty small room with all their eyes locked on about five dancers.

The women dancing are in long dresses, and the men are in striped polo shirts. The dancers are all swinging their arms and bobbing their heads.

There's a band laying down a beat at the back of the room while the dancers are up front doing their thing.

It doesn't look overly choreographed. It's really a lot of folks just jamming and having fun.

At one point, a man in a gray blazer and jeans

joins up front and center. This is Melakubalay, and dancing is very, very important to him.

But not just to him personally. He says it's core to his community, too.

You know, in Ethiopia, music and dance is a way of life.

I'm Baudelaire, and this is Atlas Obscira,

a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today, we're going to the Fendika Cultural Center in Addisababa, Ethiopia,

to hear the story of Melaku Ballet and his journey from homelessness

to being a community leader with international acclaim.

More after this.

My name is Malaku Balai.

I'm a founder of Fendika Cultural Center.

When I spoke with Malaku, he was at Fendika in his office.

And Malaku has a pretty big fro that he kind of just lets flow. And it makes sense because he kind of has like

a laid-back kind of vibe, despite growing up in some really tough circumstances.

Malaku was born in 1976 in Addis Ababa, which was during the Dirk period where Ethiopia

was ruled by military government. He was homeless as a child and dropped out of school in elementary.

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