Iconic 40 year old, non-profit dance company, Moving into Dance (MID), is once again hosting ‘Enable through Dance 4 on 3 and 4 October 2019, in partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Arts & Culture.
The opening night on the 03 October starts at 18:00 and shows on 04 October are at 10:00 and 12:00 respectively.
In keeping with changing lives and assisting the people living with disabilities, entrance can be bought with 20 or more recyclable plastic bottle caps, which will go towards procuring wheelchairs – through the recycling of 150kg of plastic bottle caps = 1 wheelchair or a single ticket will cost R20.
This is the fourth-year running that MID is showing ‘Enable through Dance’. The company successfully introduced this life-changing programme in 2016, taking dance a few steps further and into the reach of the disabled.
“With Enable through Dance, we wanted to take accessibility to dance a step further and invest in the lives of youth living with disabilities. Dance is a universal language for anyone to enjoy and participate in. For far too long has the preconceptions of body type and range of movement stereotypes have been part of the dance mindset. We saw the need for disabled youth to express themselves through dance and started laying a path to properly connect youth living with disabilities through the art of dance,” says MID Chief Executive, Nadia Virasamy.
MID trains its second and third-year students to teach integrated dance classes under the leadership of Lesego Dihemo, who is the coordinator of the Enable through Dance project. Sussera Olyn and Otsile Masemola, who are part of the MID professional dance company, are part of the choreography team for this project. Specialised training in integrated dance facilitation was provided by MID graduate and former director of Unmute Dance Company in Cape Town, Themba Mbuli.
“We believe and are confident that our Enable through Dance programme restores confidence and self-esteem to youth living with disabilities, as a social phenomenon, which is aided by dance as well as various creative and artistic means,” Virasamy explains.
Currently MID provides facilitators to work twice a week, on a Wednesday and Friday morning, at seven schools in Gauteng. These include Philile Foundation Pre-School, Johannesburg Hospital School: Autism Unit, Winnie Mandela School, Don Mattera School, Adelaide Tambo School, PQ Vundla FET College and Hope School.
MID would love to expand the Enable through Dance programme to reach further into the other provinces and to grow the programme nationally.
“We are however restricted in what we are able to achieve without the generous support of sponsors and funders who believe in the work we do and have seen the evident healing powers Enable through Dance has brought to youth living with disabilities from impoverished backgrounds. It is therefore with great humility that we reach out to good-hearted organisations and individuals to assist us in taking a few steps closer to realising our goals with Enable through Dance,” says Dihemo.
Additionally, MID runs integrated dance classes at its studio in Newtown Johannesburg on Saturday mornings and has partnered with the University of Johannesburg Arts and Culture as well as with the Centre for Psychological Services and Career Development (PSYCAD) – the disability unit at UJ to bring Enable through Dance 4.
Only one Enable season is held each year, but MID, on its 41st anniversary, would like to make 2019 another year of change and stretch out its limbs and escalate the Enable through Dance programme to reach new heights.
“Help MID, help youth living with disabilities. See the results of our efforts live and in-action by coming to watch the Enable through Dance 4 show and tell friends and family and all potential sponsors, donors and funders about our cause and Enable through Dance. Together we can change lives!,” Virasamy concludes.
Moving into Dance is grateful for the partnership with the UJ Arts & Culture as well as the funding and support of others who have seen the impact of this project.