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.