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!
