ABB Reportages and its partners have developed this project in crossing glances with Greece and Sirtaki and have taken the gamble that Greece could be a land of choice for Tango, and that Sirtaki could find its place in France; the aim was to lay the foundations for the universality of Music and Dance and to be able to assert them as essential vectors for delaying the ageing process. Simple observation and the images gathered during the project demonstrated that Greek dances are just as effective as tango. And the research proves it. The quality of life of the participants improved by adding Dance to their lives, independently of the disease stage and their cultural background, proving once more that Music and Dancing are a Universal Language The positive conclusions of the implementation of the project are inviting to achieve in 4 dimensions . So ABB reportages and GAADRD want now to : 1/ extend the project to other audiences and other countries, 2/ use the findings as a basis for developing the approach with other dances, 3/ come up with other means, notably digital, to help spread the action more quickly. 4/ And in this way, make it clear that aging is an opportunity to which we need to give new tools!
The main aim of this project is to revolutionise the way in which the elderly are looked after; the purpose is to incorporate true and new care, by Music and Dance. After all, there's no point in getting older if we can't find ways of aging better. After 16 years working to demonstrate that Tango is a non-medicinal therapy, ABB reportages wanted to know if the very positive results obtained in France from Tango could also exist in another country; and whether the results obtained were linked to Tango, or whether another dance could obtain the same results. To conduct this cross cultural dance and research project between 2 countries, France and Greece, and with two dances, Tango and Sirtaki, ABB reportages invited and convinced GAADRD Thessaloniki to be the partner of this project. Highly motivated dancers and musicians were found to take part in this approach which led them to question the meaning of their knowledge, and to realise the need to transmit it to an unexpected audience. Similarly, it was easy to find elderly people looking for cultural and social activities that they want to continue to enjoy for a very long time. The needs matched the objectives; it was time to make the first notes and take the first steps!