My first ever Lesotho dance lesson brought tears to my eyes! About 50 girls attended the class, ranging from ages 6-16, or higher. I knew right away that the next session was going to have to be divided by age groups. One day a week for the older girls, and one day for the younger ones.
Dance in Lesotho is much different than the dancing I know how to teach, clearly. In order to give the girls a vague idea of what we were going to learn I showed them the "Halo" dance from Glee. So, there we were, 50 girls crammed into a teeny-tiny, sweltering hot church. I busted out my tiny little computer and told them to, "just watch". They were undoubtedly curious and confused as to what they were about to see. However, as soon as the song started and those girls on the screen, all dressed in their yellow dresses, started dancing the b0-ausi gathered as close to the computer as they could get. The amazement in their eyes brought tears to mine!
After the clip we started with some VERY simple technique. We started with plie's (plee-ays) in first and second position. I thought they'd hate it, but they really tried, and seemed to love it! We did some other simple warm-ups, stretching, across the floor routines, and then finished with each different grade level standing up to perform "step touches" that we'd learned during the warm up. The moves were about as simple as I could make them, and they will continue to be. Dancing here in Lesotho is vastly different than your typical American dance class, as you can imagine. The simple idea of standing on, or pointing their toes blows them away. However, the excitement, pride, and happiness I was able to see in their faces made me feel better than I have in a long time.
I don't believe for a second that this is a "sustainable" project, which is what we strive for as Peace Corps volunteers. However, I don't really care either. I know these girls are comfortable and having fun, and that's all that matters to me. If I can build up self confidence in even a few of them I will feel accomplished! Of course I've got lofty dreams of what this could turn into, but I'll be happy with spending a few hours a week making these young ladies feel valued! I'll do my best to keep the blog posted on our progress.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This brought tears to my eyes. I'm so happy you have found something you will enjoy teaching them. Not only that, but it is something for JUST these young girls/women. Even the little ones will forever remember what you teach them! I can't wait to see video (if you are able to take it...and of course when you come back to the states)!
ReplyDeleteHaley,
ReplyDeleteA dance club sounds like a lot of fun for everyone involved!
Envisioning your girls watching the cast of Glee perform Halo gave me goosebumps. It must have been very inspiring.
I hope you are able to capture some of your lessons on video and post them here. If part of your dreams include a performance, go for it!
Hope all else is well.
All my best.
xo Meredith
I would LOVE to have a performance. Especially one that could generate income for these young ladies....but we'll see. I can't post videos, as my camera took a spill in Cape Town. But if I manage to get it up and running again I'll be posting all sorts of documentation :) Thanks for all the support!
ReplyDelete~Haley
Um, I'm pretty sure that if you can teach them jazz run, there is quite a bit of sustainability there.
ReplyDeleteI would guess that you are with healthy schools over there, but the big news here is that the Ag and Muni(municipality) programs are being scrapped. Cool that I know all this and am not even a PCV.
Anyhow wrote you a message or two on here, and not sure if it went through. shoot me an email so we can get our friendship back on track.
mero mero,
Chris