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Rhythm is Life

2019-1-BE05-KA105-0026392019Youth mobilityfinalizedGood practice
Countries: BE|EE|FR · Grant: €36,439.6
Inclusion - equitySocial dialogueCreativity and culture

Objectives

The project titled: "Rhtym is Life", is a youth project where young people are the actors and associations the spokespersons. Movement, dance and rhythm are only the means of expression of his young people to dialogue around a central theme: Social inclusion. Young people have diagnosed in one sentence the society in which they live: Society divides people and those who are excluded have few means to express themselves, for us young people, the bodymovement is the only way to make ourselves heard, so ... instead of dividing, we want to gather through the art and culture. The aim is to create a scene for vulnerable young people in Belgium (Brussels), Estonia and France. We want to use the body and universal expression through the movement to bring together the participants and exchange their experience of dancer, young European, exclusion, ... We wish at the same time to create a scene for their experiences and create an opportunity where they can show what they want to share with the world on a public stage in Brussels. This will enable all those young people whose common tool is the urban arts to be able to value themselves as a young artist but also to be able to appropriate the public space as an area of ​​communication and social inclusion. All participants in this youth exchange will come from disadvantaged backgrounds, they will be more than 60 participants with 6 adult accompaniers Our organization through the Erasmus + project, will offer the opportunity to these young people to discover new possibilities and where they can express themselves through dance, music, radio media and art. Each organization has its own context and experience, we want to bring together young people to talk about their experiences. Who are they? How do they identify? Young people all have difficulty answering these questions. They grow up between many cultures and try to forge their own identity. For this reason, the exchange will take place in Brussels. This multicultural city is a melting pot of cultures and invites visitors to reflect on their identity and culture. Through new movements, participants will challenge the city and the common ideas that live there. They will use their experience of exclusion to march through the city through their bodies in a universal language. Through this experience, participants will have the opportunity to express their experiences of exclusion, but also opportunities for inclusion offered by all its cultural and artistic activities. They will have a platform for artistic expression but also a platform for dialogue every evening during the exchange. At the same time, we want to empower and motivate participants to take a leadership role in their own community once they return home. Participants will be responsible for organizing various activities, games and dance workshops during the annual "Splash" event in the municipality of Saint-Gilles in Brussels. This event organizes various sports activities during the summer holidays for children and teenagers. Exchange participants will be able to share their experience and knowledge of dance and youthexchange at this event. We hope participants will use this experience to launch similar projects in their home community. The participants will be invited to show their show and share their experiences during the 8 th edition of "Urban Street Dance" also organized by Matissa Belgium on Friday, August 30th. At this event, everyone from professional dancers, acrobats to passers-by, is invited to come on stage and express themselves. Exchange participants will have the opportunity to share what they learned last week in front of over a thousand visitors. There will also be an exhibition of photos taken by participants the previous days during the youth exchange (after a workshop led by a professional photographer). This gives participants the opportunity to experiment with new modes of expression. Participants will also take part in promoting the event and decide how they want to promote the event.  We hope that participants will have a better self-esteem, an awareness of their skills and the opportunity to express themselves. Participants will communicate in English or another shared language, which will improve their language skills. For the organizing organizations, the exchange will be an opportunity to share the experiences and methods used in their youth work. They will also learn that the power of non-formal education is learning by doing. Participants will have their own responsibilities during this youth exchange. They will be responsible for organizing a "cultural evening" during which each country presents itself, prepares a dessert and presents a typical dance. Participants will be responsible for daily warm-ups and will have the opportunity to share their skills during the workshops. All of these activities will empower participants and encourage them to take responsibility for their own lives upon their return.

Project partners (4)