Tidbit Thursday

Ok, admittedly not as catchy as "Wordless Wednesday", but I’m tired of writing about this wait (I bet some of you are tired of reading about it too!) so today I will be talking about something far more interesting – a group of inspiring people from the country that is giving us our children.

I am hungry to know more about Ethiopia, and sometimes I wish that there was less talk about the hardships and more talk about the good things that are going on. I want to be able to paint a realistic but positive picture of this beautiful country for our children some day. Recently I came across this tidbit on another blog, and although it does tie back to the many hardships, it also speaks of hope and empowerment and transformation.

Behold the Adugna Community Dance Company!

Pretty cool, huh? This dance company is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and began with an initial dance theatre performance involving over 100 street children (No one knows how many thousands of street children roam Ethiopia’s capital city. Their numbers are so vast and their situations so varied that it is impossible to know how to begin to find them all). The intention of the performance was to give these children voice and presence, and to highlight both the plight of street children and their potential as agents of their own change.

Eighteen children from the initial performance were selected to undertake intensive five-year training in contemporary and traditional dance. These children have since emerged as performers, teachers and social outreach facilitators with accreditation from Middlesex University in England.

After graduating, the dancers decided to continue working together and formed the Adugna Community Dance Company. Their aim was to help transform other people's lives as their own have been transformed. Adugna now has a strong reputation in Ethiopia, and there is growing demand for their repertoire of workshops, training programs and performances.

This is a 27 minute video, which is admittedly more time than most of us have for blog stalking, but it's worth watching even if you can only catch the first few minutes.


Adugna from simon fildes on Vimeo.