Just dance!

I am almost on the finish line of my volunteering service, but it does not matter, that the most interesting is already other.  Kreisau Initiative (the name of NGO where I am working)  gave me one more present – possibility to support the project of a dream, the project which is giving more than just good memories and emotions, the project, created for everybody in the whole meaning of this word – International Inclusive Dance Festival. Do you believe, that you can be part of something bigger and that it could give you the wings to fly? Because after that, I am!

Already for 3 years on the beginning of August International inclusive dance festival takes place in a small village in Poland called Krzyzowa. In one of my previous articles I have already told you about the history of this place, the resistance movement Kreisauer Kreis which met here and the long transformation process of the formal estate of family von Moltke into the youth meeting center. I suppose, that the energy of this place at some point has a very big influence on each person, who is coming here as a participant of the project, trainer or even just a visitor. From the first second this place gives you a freedom, here you can feel yourself totally separated from the real world and all its problems, but being a part of this open positive atmosphere, which this place creates for you. In this reality all big world is coming to you, this time in face of 100 participants from 10 different countries.

Have you ever tried to speak 10 different languages? And to translate? Well, we tried. At least every morning as organizational team we presented the parts of the program for participants in German, Greek, Romanian, Estonian, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Czech, Polish, Spanish and English languages. Maybe it was a bit challengeable, but personally I did not notice it, because after another language started play a dominant role – the language of dance. Dance has no limits and borders, and if we are talking about dance in terms of inclusive dance festival, that means that literally everybody can try to dance, does not really matter who you are and which kind of skills do you have. That calls you to break stereotypes and prejudices about the people with special needs and create a common safe space, where everybody will feel themselves free to be a full part of the process. 6 different dance workshops like hip-hop, traditional dances, african beat, brasilian dances, anti-gravity and modern dances helped participants to open and develop themselves.

I am not trying to do an advertising and to say typical phrases like “look, how good this project was”. Of course, it was, but at the same time it makes us to think about serious problems like exclusion and all kinds of phobias and prejudices which exist in our societies. And exactly that is important to understand. I was asking myself hundred times: why in the real life it is not like here, on this festival, in this small village? Where love and friendship are everywhere, mutual help and cooperation, freedom and tolerance are just self-understandable parts of life. We have to realize, that inclusion is not an utopia, that all together we can build inclusive society, but only with our openness, empathy and readiness to accept diversity. At least, we have to try. Because otherwise, who else?