Shall we dance?

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  Shall we dance? Cultivating Health and Inclusion through the joy of Dance

Inspiration

Personally, I have been dancing since I was 4 years old. Dance has kept me focused and positive all along my life. I have moved country several times and I have experienced the challenges of being an immigrant. Dance always holds me. In 2014, I launched the dance group AMDIE – Anahuac Mexican Dance Ireland. This is a group based in Cork that works for the integration the newcomers that enjoy dance and find in our group friends and a place to rely on. We join festivals and cultural activities all across the country. I’ve seen how positive the impact that dance has in our community is, it promotes social inclusion, mental and physical health. To be an immigrant can lead to depression or antisocial behaviour due cultural misunderstandings or language barriers. AMDIE has given me the gift to impact positively on the lives of many men and women. Additionally, we have been well recognised, having been awarded as best dance group in festivals several times, the most recent one the Saint Patrick Parade in Cork 2022. AMDIE has inspired me to share the gift of dance with our younger generations targeting one of the most challenging ages, and invite them to express themselves and boost their self-esteem.

We are a team form by people coming from different countries and disciplines that believes in the huge impact that dance has in our lives. We all want to show you a project that will encourage teenagers to find more creative ways to express their-selves through dance.

What it does

This project will run from January to June. We will provide two workshops a week, in Cork and Zagreb simultaneously. The first one will last 1.5 hours and young people will learn a variety of dances, such as Folk, hip hop and modern dance, ballroom, Latin-American dances, etc. Through the workshop, they will feel part of a community and will be able to create their personal expression through dance. The project will provide physical education and drama teachers to teach techniques of stage management and body control. The second workshop will be a dance evening to promote improvisation and socially inclusive dancing. It will provide an opportunity for them to apply their knowledge on the dance floor. We will close the course with a performance day or open class to be held on the international dance day on the 29th of April. The workshops will be held at UCC venues that have state of the art facilities for dance, such as the Granary theatre, or other dance organisations. In Zagreb, they will be held with our partner Amazonas, in their facilities.

The impact would be considerable because we will recruit children and teenagers to participate through a number of partners that have already identified a need for social inclusion and health promotion in the populations they serve, and we can increase this impact through the UNIC network. For instance, Educate Together schools in Ireland, known as "equality-based, co-educational, child centred, and democratically run" schools; NASC or the Lantern Project will be approached. In Zagreb, this will be the Amazonas Tribe, registered in 2004 for encouraging positive change and social activation through dance, promoting solidarity, non-violence and peace building

How we built it

I learned about the challenge through the community engagement office at UCC. I then contacted possible partners in the university and city government in Cork, and later in Zagreb, and all of us worked together to brainstorm the main areas of the project, and to find solution to the problems we faced. The project draws from a wealth of experience as dancers, teachers, health officers, researchers and others contributed their views and ideas.

Challenges we ran into

We have faced many challenges, for instance the short deadline, the time differences between Croatia and Ireland. Technical difficulties, low internet connection, lack of microphones, cultural differences between partners. Art is not always considered as primary physical activity.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

However, we are proud that in such as short notice we put together our project. We collaborated and created a sound, innovative and original proposal, with plenty of potential. The individual accomplishments of the team members (prizes won at festivals, supervised theses, workshops taught and so on) were brought to bear on this, our common project, which is now the sum of all those parts.

What we learned

We learned that no matter where you are or where are you coming from dance always bring people together.

What's next for Shall we dance?

We very much hope that what’s next is implementation: we would be delighted to see the project get the go ahead. Our team is energetic and enthusiastic, and ready to hit the ground!

Built With

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