{"id":1258,"date":"2013-10-12T13:51:34","date_gmt":"2013-10-12T13:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rebeccadavisdance.com\/?p=1258"},"modified":"2015-09-24T21:59:34","modified_gmt":"2015-09-25T01:59:34","slug":"rwanda-darfur-ukrainein-bosnia-herzegovina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/2013\/10\/12\/rwanda-darfur-ukrainein-bosnia-herzegovina\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda \u2013 DARFUR \u2013 Ukraine\u2026in Bosnia-Herzegovina"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

October 12, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rebecca Davis<\/strong><\/p>\n

This month, I am in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, training future RDDC teachers in our curriculum.\u00a0 These teachers are preparing to go into the field to work with our students in Africa and the Balkans.\u00a0 Part of their training includes a daily English class since our participants come from around the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s English class, however, was a slight deviation from \u201cdance vocabulary\u201d and \u201cconversation practice\u201d.\u00a0 We had film screenings of \u201cDance Up From the Street\u201d followed by my Rwandan staging of DARFUR<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Little did I know that this would be such an emotional, special night for all of us \u2013 especially our three dancers from Ukraine.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I started with a brief introduction to the country of Rwanda.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you know about Rwanda?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u00a0 What else?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere might be lots of black people there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n

And silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cCan you name some other countries in Africa?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa.\u201d (Of course)<\/p>\n

\u201cUganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

And silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hmmm\u2026I realized we had a ways to go here.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sanja Elezovic, a RDDC trainer from Bosnia who has traveled with the company to Rwanda, and I gave a brief discussion about the geography and 1994 genocide.\u00a0 Then, we watched the 30-minute CCTV-produced documentary about RDDC\u2019s Rwanda program, \u201cDance Up From the Street\u201d (http:\/\/youtu.be\/8QlFivl9dcQ<\/a>). \u00a0The documentary depicts how we use dance as a way to develop cognitive abilities in children and pave a way towards formal education for the most talented street kids in the program.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Ukrainians sat attentively throughout the film.\u00a0 I was very curious what their reaction would be \u2013 and it was not what I expected: complete shock.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, what did you think about it?\u00a0 Was it interesting?\u00a0 Boring?\u00a0 What do you think about how we use dance as a tool?\u201d<\/p>\n

And silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay \u2013 you can speak in Russian; you don\u2019t have to speak in English.\u201d<\/p>\n

And silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, from Yulia, \u201cRebecca, this is so much.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t something we can immediately comment on.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Seeing that their faces were still in absolute shock, I decided that this wasn\u2019t going to go much further for the moment.\u00a0 In fact, it wasn\u2019t going to go anywhere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next, I dug up the video of the 2012 performance of RDDC\u2019s DARFUR <\/em>in Rwanda as part of the East African Nights of Tolerance Festival.\u00a0 In this 30-minute modern ballet, I assembled three Rwandans and three Americans to interpret the story of one family caught in the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I started playing the first 30 seconds and then asked the Ukrainians if they actually wanted to watch it because the film recording of it was so bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cDa!\u201d<\/p>\n

Okay then.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everyone sat in absolute silence until about the last 90 seconds of the ballet, and then I could hear some sniffles start\u2026and then more\u2026and then more.\u00a0 The video ended, and I turned on the lights.\u00a0 Before me were three crying Ukrainian girls dabbing their eyes with tissue.\u00a0 They looked at me between their sniffles, just nodding their heads.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you understood the story?\u201d I asked rhetorically.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery moment of it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there any commentary you want to give me on it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u00a0 What we just saw\u2026that is why we want to be dancers.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You know, I spent an hour describing the history of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide to these girls, and it had marginal impact \u2013 at the most.\u00a0 Now, after seeing a 30-minute ballet, they get it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And that is the power of dance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rebecca Davis is the founder and Executive Director of Rebecca Davis Dance Company (RDDC).\u00a0 She travels to post-conflict and developing countries to implement dance and educational programs for street children and underserved youth on behalf of her organization.\u00a0 Rebecca holds an Honors Bachelors of Business Administration from Temple University (2004) and a Masters in International Relations and Peacekeeping from American Military University (2011).\u00a0 She is a two-time Fulbright scholar to Russia (2004-05) and Ukraine (2012).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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