Breakdance teaches Life Skills, Happiness, Ambition & Confidence

For youths who have always fought for themselves, grown up without parents and family, and without a place to call home, working together and feeling a sense of togetherness is far from normal. Teaching Breakdance, or any type of dance, teaches people to work together and be united. By bringing breakdance to those who would have never experienced a family unit, we can change much more than their dance moves and rhythm. We can change their outlook on life.

Many ask how teaching dance can help these youths in the long term. Can learning to dance with the Galaxy Dance Project really make a huge difference? Yes. 

Happiness

Firstly, happiness is a beautiful thing. Being happy can change your outlook and ambitions, can change how you feel about life and can change how you act towards those around you. Happiness brings hope for the future. 

"The kids smile. They are happy when they dance. You can see it in their faces when they accomplish a move or make a new friend. The happiness brought to them through dance is something many have not ever experienced in their life. This can only be a good thing. Everyone needs to feel happy and the Galaxy Dance Project is making that possible".

Confidence

Youths often come to the Galaxy Dance Project with a lack of confidence to learn, to do well and to be around other people. Some of the kids have been brought up in gangs and confidence away from the gang culture is something they have never experienced. The youths come and spend time studying how to perform, they watch their teachers and recognise that confidence is key to learning and developing themselves. Slowly, they learn to perform in front of small audiences until they are confident to attend events, dance in battles and have confidence to perform in front of many people, sometimes hundreds.

Confidence can be a positive in many aspects of life, and the GDP wants to help the youths of Uganda, Rwanda and across Africa to develop this confidence for their future.

Profession & Ambition

Many youths who grow up in slums, orphanages, in gangs or on the streets have no ambition other than to survive. Galaxy Dance Project believes that everyone needs ambition, as ambition is the key to success. Without ambition, people have no drive to change their lives for the better, and without being taught to aim higher from a young age, many youths cannot see how they can, or why they need to change. 

By giving youths a project, something to work towards for themselves, they develop a sense of achievement and a sense of passion. The Galaxy Dance Project aims to provide that passion, whether for dance, music, educating or learning. With ambition and a passion, we can help youths want to do more with their lives, work towards a goal and whether they go on to make a profession from dancing, or just get a career on the back of what they have learnt, the GDP has achieved its goal.

Life Skills

Not everyone begins at the Galaxy Dance Project at the same stage in their life. Children from all ages attend, some who have been dancing for years, some who have only just started, young adults who have spent most their lives on the streets, some who just share a passion for dance and want to take part. However, there are far more skills that are learnt than just how to dance. 

The GDP helps youths become united. It helps them feel part of a family. They are given a chance to learn a skill and learn from one another, many of whom have never had that chance before. However simple some of the life lessons are, they are invaluable - learning how to listen to a trainer and have respect for their elders, having to pay attention to others, having to meet deadlines and fit into a training routine, teaching timescales and organisation - all things that are necessary to improve your way of life, to get a job and earn a living.

As you can see, just teaching kids to dance is not what the Galaxy Dance Project is about. It is about all of the above and more. It is about aspiring to be someone, to be a good person, to provide for your family of the future, to achieve in life and to make a difference in society. This is the Galaxy Dance Project. 

Galaxy Dance Project Rwanda, 1 Month Old!

Galaxy Dance Project founder, Bboy Heskey has taken a few months away from the project in Uganda and has dedicated his time to setting up and running the Galaxy Dance Project Rwanda. Want to find out more? Read on...

The Galaxy Dance Project has always aimed to provide free dance lessons to the youth, to give them a drive to achieve and learn, to help the kids in slums, ghettos and orphanages realise their passion for breakdancing and spread the positive elements of hip hop culture. The Galaxy Dance Project Uganda has grown immensely over the past few years, now teaching over 100 kids who have become part of a wonderful dance family, run by a small group of individuals wanting to make a change for their community. Alex Heskey, founder of the Galaxy Dance Project has decided that although the GDP Uganda has a huge way to go, the youth of Rwanda really needed some support and thought that by spreading his wings for a few months, could get a Galaxy Dance Project set up, get dancers involved with teaching and enable many orphaned kids and disadvantaged youths to learn dance to. And now the project is really taking shape.

 The new Galaxy Dance Project has launched in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, the most densely populated country in Africa, with approximately 10 million people, of which Kigali is home to  approximately 1 million.

The home of the GDP Rwanda is at the Kimisagara Youth Centre, which houses a large range of sport, leisure, education & employment orientated activities designed to motivate and build capacity in the youth who may otherwise "fall through the cracks" in society, as are the aims for the Galaxy Dance Project - where could be better to run the project from than here?! The GDP Rwanda is also the only dance project set up and available in Kigali.

The effect of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide can still be seen here, with many orphaned youths still living in poorer parts of the city and the result of the event has had a huge effect on the slums, poor areas and orphaned population in Kigali. 

However, the aim of the Galaxy Dance Project beginning in Rwanda is to support and give hope to the youth so that they can see a better future for themselves and their families, learn new skills, learn to speak English, learn to work together and build respect for teachers and the community around them.

In the past month, GDP Rwanda has grown greatly and now Alex is training 30 kids with the help of two other trainers, Lalabati Okia and Sean Allan, from Rwanda, who will be taking over Alex's place when he returns to Uganda in 2 months time. We hope, by then, the passion and love for dance will be embedded into the Youth Centre and the Galaxy Dance Project Rwanda will grow, with the extra help of the worldwide GDP community & family!

Alex, Lalabati & Sean are offering free training sessions on Tuesdays & Thursdays, 3pm - 5:30pm and Sundays 8:30am - 10:00am where youths with any dance skills and of any age can turn up and learn to dance. The GDP, just as it does in Uganda, will also be running events and dance shows to show the community what its all about - more information on the blog when available!

We are also trying to set up a way of being able to donate to the project- although lessons are free and our teachers do everything for free, many of the kids need help and support to get clothes and shoes, spaces to dance need to be managed, equipment for music & events needs to be maintained and reading/writing materials need to be available. This will hopefully be set up in the next few months so watch this space!

We would love to hear your comments if you are in Rwanda or have taken part in a training session or other event at the Kimisagara Centre, or anyone else around the world who would like to send their words of support for the project!

What it means to be a Bboy

Bboy Heskey believes, "Being a Bboy is not a job or a choice... it’s a lifestyle, freely expressing yourself through dance - it’s always important to know and understand why Bboying is a more than performing art or gigs and battles; it’s a path of life that teaches uscself expression, confidence, unity, inner peace ,self realization and love.

I believe that success is only for those who hope and work hard to live their dreams as realities. I believe everyone has a role to play towards building and transforming our communities into better places."

Let us know what you think. Are you part of the Galaxy Dance Project? Are you a worldwide Bboy or Bgirl? Do you share the love of dance, and live to express yourself through moves, dance & music?

The Beginning of my life with the GDP: Alban Ssonko

Alban is part of the Galaxy Dance Project, teaching popping and rocking to the youth of Kampala and Uganda to help change lives for the better. Alban has spoken about his thoughts around the Galaxy Dance Project and how he got involved.

"I started dancing way back when I was a young boy. I just loved dancing so much and it became something I thought I could really do well at in life. I was first inspired to really pursue my dream and learn to dance when watching Michael Jackson dancing to Thriller on TV when I was about 10 - I just wanted to give it a try, but without the Galaxy Dance Project, I could only learn from copying people on TV like Michael Jackson and Usher. This was the beginning of my journey.

My first performance was at school - I danced in a way no one had seen live before, but everyone loved it! Standing in front of people and performing for them made me feel so proud and strong and brave, and made me love dancing even more. I just wanted to dance and get better and better.

Breakdancing was recognised on the streets. I just wanted to dance so started dancing on the streets too, but started to recognise the negative culture that surrounded the dancing - drugs, illegal activity and more - and was labelled as the "dance for gangsters and life-failures" which I just knew full well that it wasn't. I knew what I was doing could bring a positive change to the community, I knew the idleness of the youth on the streets and the kids growing up without a positive path in life could really benefit, but this was all just a pipedream. I wanted to make a change, but I didn't know how, all I knew was I'd need some help if I was to get anywhere with what at this moment in time, was just a dream.

I decided to join the church in 2005. This is where I met Alex Heskey, Poppin' Brian and Poppin' Sticky. Alex had a huge heart and a lot of love for the youths from the street and orphanages - Alex had lived in an orphanage and knew that he wanted to make a change too. So we decided to bring some of the street kids to the church and started to dance. But this wasn't welcomed by some of the Church members, who thought it brought a bad name to the Church, so although we fought, we decided it would be better to stand on our own two feet and give these kids something more than we had grown up with - This is when Alex came up with the idea of the Galaxy Dance Project, Uganda.

After meeting with two more Bboy's, Bboy Fic and Bboy Tudde, we became 5, a strong group who had a common goal - to bring dancing to the youth of Uganda and share our positive energy across Kampala, giving the street kids and orphans a place to meet, learn, teach and grow. A place they could get support and join a family of Bboy's and Bgirls, poppers and other hiphop dancers.

Since then, the Galaxy Dance project has moved from strength to strength and we just keep growing, with support from around Uganda and the world, running free dance training and performance events, and really supporting those with a passion for dance. We hope the GDP will continue to grow and really spread a positive change in our community and throughout the hiphop world."

The Galaxy Dance Project: What a family!

 

One Love, One Unit, One Family. We are the GDPU Family.

But what is a family?

Family is,
heaven sent from our father above,
bonded by the power of love.
No matter what family has each others back,
when push comes to shove.

Family is,
understanding, never demanding,
all for one and one for all,
I will never leave you alone standing.

Family is,
one in itself, my love is your love,
your pain is my pain, my wealth is your wealth,
I promise to never leave you by yourself.

Family is,
the strongest team, the strongest unit;
if love could be visualized,
family would be the blue print.

Family is,
forgiveness and patience,
it's sweeter than the sweetest fragrance,
the power of family is a reflection of Gods compassion and magnificence.

Family is,
never turning our back, and never shames,
lend my helping hand and not a finger pointing the blame.

No matter what a family bond can never be broken,
even through a nuclear explosion,
if one of us lives we all live.
Forever to eternity, we are family.

~Poem about Family written by Antony Smith~

Robbo Da Yobbo shows his GDPU support

Massive love from the GDPU to our friend Robbo Da Yobbo in Queensland, Australia, for his awesome art piece showing his support of the Galaxy Dance Project.