Our mothers us learned years ago never to talk to strangers. As a result, we were afraid of who is different, which is weird and that is not part of the flow of our society. We ended up with a strong bias against the "other".
The Capoeira and hip-hop workshop in Townhouse is not asking you to talk with strangers; It asks you to dance with them.The idea behind the workshop is to bring together people of all cultures, nationalities and backgrounds and mix them with a number of refugees who live and work in Egypt. The workshop hopes that the social experience of working together on a dance performance can tear down the walls between cultures.
The workshop is organized by SAWA, reason and Rhythms Center for refugees and began on Saturday, 6th of November and will run for two months before any actual performance takes place. The workshop is under the command of three experts: hip-hop dancer Naghem Othman, Capoeira instructor Mohamed Tiger and starring Susan Radwan trainer.
Othman, a funky Sudanese hip-hop dancer, led the way when al-Masry Al-Youm Al-Rawabet theatre.More than 30 participants were follows her as she ordered the DJ to play the correct number.They break of several hip-hop movements and asks the people to follow on the floor. Two funky African teenagers followed the beat, and their own style to add to her movements.Othman joked around with them then and watched as they exchanged a funny secret hand shake. at the same time, fifteen Egyptians and twelve refugee stood around talking to each other and preparation of the next segment of the dance.
"This is the first time SAWA a dance workshop for refugees throws," says Othman. "They asked me to join as a hip hop instructor and I agreed to help them in their program. "
"We learn to anyone who wants to learn here every Saturday until the day of the show," Othman is added. "But in SAWA headquarters, we are teaching the people of SAWA hip-hop dancing every Tuesday as well."
Tiger added to the rationale for the workshop.
"We wanted to have a language for these young people to understand regardless of their nationality," says Tiger."So we with the idea of a hip-hop dance came workshop and we added that the training of the Capoeira to the arts as these two go together in harmony."
Capoeira, explains Tiger, is an Afro-Brazilian dance style that is created by African slaves back in the 18th century.The slaves were banned from learning a martial arts or owning weapons so they created this dance technique that martial arts with music and dance mixes. this way mislead their masters in a way to defend themselves.
"We found out about capoeira in Egypt only lately," says Tiger."It's really hard to create a new style of dance or sports in Egyptian society, but we are taking steps in the direction that at the moment, and I teach Capoeira in multiple locations at this time.
"They asked for my help to prepare the participants in the workshop by adding a layer of actor training to their experience," says Sausan Radwan."The idea is that we are training them to perform, and they must be able to stand on the stage and be prepared for their first encounter with audience."
The workshop is based on the voluntary efforts of the trainers, that complement their work place welcome. Monyatallah Salah, for example, is a Sudanese voice coach and opera singer, who helps to teach the participants the right ways to breathe during their performance."My work is mostly on them to help breathe right while dancing," says Salah.
Tiger says he sees refugees come to Egypt that cannot connect to the society, if they are in language and traditions difficulties. "Some of them speak only English or French, some of them even just to speak their own language, "Tiger points out."[Participants] made a connection between each other and became one band. they started to understand the value of teamwork and mix their efforts together for success. "
"The idea behind actor training is not to switch from the participants of movie stars; these are refugees that foreigners to the culture and the identity of the new country they moved into his," adds Radwan. "I believe that my role is to give them Mix between their own identity and that they are introduced to help. "
"I believe that when Egyptians and refugees in a project work, that would allow them to understand more than when they see them in the streets," said Othman. "The best technique to bring people together, and share moments and memories that no other experience can dance. "
Othman hesitated before you add, "people need to understand each other and believe that when they deal with a fugitive they deal with a man like them."She takes a moment and remain. "The biggest problem here in Egypt is that we have a different skin color, some of the Egyptians would call us black and verbally attack us just because we look different. I don't know how to fix this, but hopefully this is a step forward. "
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