GDPU 3rd Anniversary

On the 25^th January 2014, The Galaxy Dance Project held it’s third anniversary at the Aya Grounds, the GDPU training centre, to celebrate the power of hip hop, friendship and dance, and its role for positive change in the community.

With over 200 people attending from around Kampala and further afield, and guests even attending from mbale (eastern region of Uganda) and Kenya, the anniversary aimed to share the projects missions and goals whilst educating and entertaining, and providing workshops & performances to really show how far the project has come.

The day began with the team excitedly working to bring the grounds up to scratch and ensure the project really shone when all the guests arrived.  Starting at 7am, mopping, cleaning and planning the sound and stage area, we came across some minor issues; not enough chairs, rain and no electric!

Thankfully, help was on hand: Shafic solved the connection issue and the local church lent us some chairs. But for the downpour – well we just had to pray that it would stop. And our prayers were soon answered so we could continue to put on the show.

Kicking off at 1pm, the event was hosted by two MC’s, Eris and Bgirl Pretty, nominated by the GDP members themselves. Eris opened up the event delivering a mind blowing speech by giving a testimony of his life as a Bboy and all the benefits he has gained from it – meeting new friends, participating in battles & competitions, building his personality and learning skills, and especially gaining his parents trust and support.

Continuing with the show with ultimate breaking battles, beatboxing and poetry, we paired up top Bboys with other top Bboys from competing crews, with Ray Smeago from the East Hood Dance Project Uganda, and Novic, from the Breakdance Project Uganda emerging as champions from the 2 vs 2 breaking battle performances, and Nelly Sade, Taye, Leaky Stone and Spyda MC blowing the audience away in the Rap Movement performance.

A massive performance from Mozey, showed why he is still the undisputed Beat Boxer in Uganda, with skills that took our guests breathe away (and hopefully showed them that beat boxing is a skill that really does takes time, effort and lots of practise). Then, taking to the stage, our renowned Slum Mad Dog MC’s blessed the event with strong poetry and lyrics, with the lyrical vibe continued by guest MC’s Jora MC from D.T.M and Scooter MC from Original Skills Crew/Mouth Incredible. 

And we couldn’t even think about running an event without bringing top class local DJ’s to the scene – DJ Jephass and Oki blazed it high with their magnifying breakbeats and hard instrumentals, demonstrating the power of music and hip hop for all to hear. 

But the event wasn’t just performances, dance, MC’s and poetry – the Galaxy Dance Project aims to change the community for the better, and with our community plagued by dilemmas such as illiteracy, unemployment, crime and poverty, primarily effecting the youth who struggle to support themselves, it can sometimes seem like there is no hope for them.

Rique Baazanyanengo, teacher at the Galaxy Dance Project Uganda co organised the anniversary with Alex Heskey, Esther and the team. Along with co-hosting battles, and preselecting Bboys for the event, Rique also schedule meetings with organisations and parents, and held a discussion on the Rusty Roofs programme he introduced to the Galaxy Dance Project. ”I introduced a programme to offer English language classes, life skills and health knowledge. The problem with stagnant and angry youth is that there is a lack of drive to change. They cannot see peace so peace will not be realised.  This increases crime rates, early pregnancies, drug abuse, prostitution and is a continual downward cycle. Eventually societies get so weak and the social fabric is so bleached that society becomes fully dependant, chaotic and run down. This is no good for anyone. This is why we decide to bring people together and illustrate to them the role of hip hop for positive change.”

To do this, months of hard work has gone into bringing together both governmental and local groups, and organisations that could run workshops, demonstrations, talks and explain their missions and goals also, so we can build a better community together. On the day, we welcomed “Days for Girls Intenational” and “Diva and Diana” who helped educate on women’s health, and how men and boys can support and help girls and women progress in society, regardless of their differences.

We also welcomed Straight Foundation Uganda, and the Ugandan Police, who enlightened us about serving and protecting citizens, and the aims and objectives of the Police Force in the area, in addition to Bent Lines chairman, Kawessi Mark, a hip hop practitioner who delivered a heartwarming and respectable speech on hip hop being an eloquent youth urban culture seeking peace, love and unity.”

Many parents and members of the community disregard breakdance and hip hop as a social and uplifting tool, often terming it a “waste of time”. The Galaxy Dance Project hopes that these workshops, alongside the performances, and meetings scheduled for parents and community leaders to help them get involved with the project, will change this opinion and help us grow. “We know the hip hop culture may have a bad name, but we also know that it can be a completely positive change, helping drive our community forwards and teaching skills, attitude, kindness, leadership, determination and friendship to our youths.”

Finally, the long awaited perfomance of the evening, provided by the Galaxy Dance Project themselves, “come together”, showed how months and years of training, and weeks of intense rehearsals for an event really pays off. “It gave me a reason to smile and appreciate all that hip hop has done – I could see the kids talents and gifts and I really think the event showed our guest why hip hop is more than just a type of music, and more than just an art form.”