THE DANCE TO LIVE METHOD, THE ORIGINS
TOUR IN EGYPT
Traveling and dancing have been a dream in these long, horrible years.
Compagnia DanzArte Association that I founded in 1997 does not have many prospects in Italy anymore, even if it has never stopped.
It also remained active in the tragic Italian period of the management of Covid 19, accompanying people to the processing of traumas, depressive states, worsening of latent pathologies, convalescence from the virus.
At the beginning of 2020 I met Ashraf Tawfik, Web Designer, Visual Artist, Graphic Designer and Digital Marketing again for work.
When Italy and a large part of the world went into lockdown we were casually together, I still remember the evening of March 9, 2020, when decades of study and work in too many sectors, including Culture and Tourism, were destroyed in a press release , razed to the ground.
Ashraf and I decided to invest that shocking time by renovating my and DanzArte's website, giving life to a “virtual” space born in reality, full of Art, Visual Expressions, History and Hope.
Ashraf's experience as a travel agent and intercultural operator with more than 20 years of international work, gave rise to the idea of creating opportunities for encounter between the Italian and Egyptian people, through dance and art.
At the end of 2021 we decided to leave Italy, despite the restrictions, by going to Egypt.
My desire to bring Dance as Therapy out of Europe became very strong: “Egypt is the homeland of all humanity, it is a right place to be reborn”, I thought.
The idea of conveying an innovative approach to education and well-being in Egypt is what Ashraf wanted to do for his country and his culture.
This is how DANCE TO LIVE came to life, which is not only an extraordinary way of integrating Art, Creativity, Spirituality into our life, but was born as an emergency program, to elaborate art in life.
The strength of this approach was demonstrated in May / June 2022, when for the first time the Project was presented in Cairo, where many Egyptians actively participated in the activities of DANCE TO LIVE and became students of this. great international "Tribe".
They were three weeks of meetings, dances, discoveries: the DANCE TO LIVE Method, tested in Italy and in Europe for many years, becomes an opportunity for meeting between us Founders, our Scientific Committee, Egyptian students of all ages.
As soon as we arrive it is very hot and I discover that Cairo is a multifaceted creature that requires time and energy to be explored and discovered.
The first workshop takes place in New Cairo, a set of new compounds born in the desert area surrounding the city; there the students of the FIRST STEP of the Program await us.
These are highly educated young people who speak very fluent American English; they are kind, curious, helpful, critical. Unlike our young people, who are shipwrecked in a Europe that is more closed and decadent every day, they still invest in the future, and they want to know what is still not widespread there.
We spend more than a week introducing the participants to the vast world of DanceMovementTherapy, in the highly practical approach suitable for the Education and Wellness sector that characterizes this Method.
The "gender mixed" group in Egypt can be very complex to manage; a unique moment was dancing their folk dance, the “Raqs Sharqi” with women only! We talked about traditions, innovation, discrimination and integration.
In this first step we alternate moments of Vocal Body Work with moments of theory, with the vision of a film industry, with moments of emotional sharing and life together.
students attend assiduously and complete the course.
The second workshop takes place in Down Town, an elegant and historic neighborhood, in collaboration with an important reality that uses artistic languages as support in the socio-cultural field.
The group we work with is large, young, intercultural, with various professionals working in social centers and communities including refugees, abused women and children.
A truly valuable exchange takes place, in which we are asked to continue to collaborate.
Another training event took place in the following days in New Maadi, an important and modern district of the megalopolis.
We are in a delightful dance school, sensitive to the Contemporary, which brings together several professional or semi-professional girls who also move in the field of Oriental Dance. These are busy days, in which I propose classes that start with a strong accent from Modern and Contemporary Dance.
After twenty-two days of almost uninterrupted work, unfortunately we can no longer accept the new requests for collaboration that come to us from various parts and we are preparing to return: our students know that we will be back soon, in the meantime they have to study our manual and our job sources and do a lot of training!
these days we are preparing the new tour: we will return to Cairo again from September 18th to October 15th! In those days we will go on with the Method Program and meet new people interested in Dance Therapy.
We are looking forward to it!