On the 25th 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.”
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