Artist
Breakdance Procject Uganda
Uganda
Common language of the world
Since 2006, the Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU) has been working to tear down social, cultural, ecomonic and political barriers through hiphop. Realising that the whole subculture of Bboys and Bgirls – hiphop and breakdancing culture – excited and engaged people from all walks of life, founders Abramz Tekya (Project Manager, Hiphop artist and Breakdancer), Emile Dineen (Irish Breakdancer) and Antonio (Ugandan Breakdancer) established a community-based organisation that offers free classes in breakdancing to anyone who wants to join in. In just three years, BPU has taught over 300 students across Uganda, where it holds its classes twice a week at the Sharing Youth Center in Kampala, a local community center. Because the organisation opens its doors to everyone, regardless of ethnicity, class, religion and race, it is not uncommon to see professionals, university students, foreigners and street kids all learning the breakdance moves for toprock, downrock, drops and freezes together in the same room.
Despite this range of students, most of the people who show up for classes are vulnerable or disadvantaged children – from helpless families, orphaned by AIDS, or, in some cases, children who were abducted and forced to become child soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a brutal rebel movement currently active in Uganda. An important aspect of BPU’s organisation is its sustainability. Every student who participates not only learns how to breakdance, but is also trained in how to teach hiphop. By not only providing a place for these children to go, a place where they can have fun, get involved, and learn skills that may inspire them to continue dancing, give them opportunties they might not have had otherwise, and empower them to pass on their skills and take leadership roles in their communities, BPU’s mission – “breakdancing for social change” – has led to collaboration with various aid organisations and community centers around Uganda, including the Foundation for Development of Needy Communities (FDNC) in Mbali, the Naguru Remand Home, a Ugandan juvenile prison, the Kinship Orphanage in Gganda, “Hiphop Therapy” project with H.E.A.L.S. in northern Uganda, and Uganda Children’s Centre in Makindye, an orphanage for teenagers.
In bridging the gap between people of different regions, religions, class, and race, the Breakdance Project Uganda creates an amazing opportunity for interaction, for new friendships, the open exchange of skills, and new possibilities for people in what may be otherwise extremely difficult and trying situations. As Tekya explains, “This is a platform where we’re all equal, we all try to understand each other, try to focus on the similarities we have but not on the differences. Hiphop is the magnet that attracts all of us and brings us together”.
Programme:
Title: Meeting with Abramz Tekya – founder of the “Breakdance Uganda” Movement
Place: Festival Club Mleczarnia
date/hour: 06.07.2009 / 15:00
Price: wstęp wolny
Title: BRAVE KIDS. Breakdance Uganda. One Language of Dance
Place: Market Square
date/hour: 06.07.2009 / 17:00
Price: wstęp wolny
Uganda
)
Common language of the worldSince 2006, the Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU) has been working to tear down social, cultural, ecomonic and political barriers through hiphop. Realising that the whole subculture of Bboys and Bgirls – hiphop and breakdancing culture – excited and engaged people from all walks of life, founders Abramz Tekya (Project Manager, Hiphop artist and Breakdancer), Emile Dineen (Irish Breakdancer) and Antonio (Ugandan Breakdancer) established a community-based organisation that offers free classes in breakdancing to anyone who wants to join in. In just three years, BPU has taught over 300 students across Uganda, where it holds its classes twice a week at the Sharing Youth Center in Kampala, a local community center. Because the organisation opens its doors to everyone, regardless of ethnicity, class, religion and race, it is not uncommon to see professionals, university students, foreigners and street kids all learning the breakdance moves for toprock, downrock, drops and freezes together in the same room.
Despite this range of students, most of the people who show up for classes are vulnerable or disadvantaged children – from helpless families, orphaned by AIDS, or, in some cases, children who were abducted and forced to become child soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a brutal rebel movement currently active in Uganda. An important aspect of BPU’s organisation is its sustainability. Every student who participates not only learns how to breakdance, but is also trained in how to teach hiphop. By not only providing a place for these children to go, a place where they can have fun, get involved, and learn skills that may inspire them to continue dancing, give them opportunties they might not have had otherwise, and empower them to pass on their skills and take leadership roles in their communities, BPU’s mission – “breakdancing for social change” – has led to collaboration with various aid organisations and community centers around Uganda, including the Foundation for Development of Needy Communities (FDNC) in Mbali, the Naguru Remand Home, a Ugandan juvenile prison, the Kinship Orphanage in Gganda, “Hiphop Therapy” project with H.E.A.L.S. in northern Uganda, and Uganda Children’s Centre in Makindye, an orphanage for teenagers.
In bridging the gap between people of different regions, religions, class, and race, the Breakdance Project Uganda creates an amazing opportunity for interaction, for new friendships, the open exchange of skills, and new possibilities for people in what may be otherwise extremely difficult and trying situations. As Tekya explains, “This is a platform where we’re all equal, we all try to understand each other, try to focus on the similarities we have but not on the differences. Hiphop is the magnet that attracts all of us and brings us together”.
Programme:
Title: Meeting with Abramz Tekya – founder of the “Breakdance Uganda” Movement
Place: Festival Club Mleczarnia
date/hour: 06.07.2009 / 15:00
Price: wstęp wolny
Title: BRAVE KIDS. Breakdance Uganda. One Language of Dance
Place: Market Square
date/hour: 06.07.2009 / 17:00
Price: wstęp wolny
