Anno’s Africa
Over the last few months Dancewear Central have discovered some truly inspirational people and organisations who are using dance to help make the world a better place. From the Anjali’s work with people who have learning disabilities, to Pierre Dulaine trying to create social cohesiveness through ballroom dancing, it has become apparent that a pair of ballet shoes can be extremely powerful! Anno’s Africa is our latest discovery; a fantastic charity that offers creative arts education to orphans and children from Africa’s city slums.
Set up after the tragic death of musician and poet Alexander ‘Anno’ Birkin in 2001, Anno’s Africa seeks to provide less privileged children the creative opportunities Alexander had himself. Since 2006 therefore, the charity has been offering three months supplementary arts education every summer with workshops in art, drama, traditional dance, ballet, music, and circus skills. They have also joined forces with the German organisation One Fine Day to provide year round weekend arts clubs.
This summer was the last year of the three year programme that has run at Spurgeons Academy in Kibera, but the first year Anno’s Africa have run workshops at the Kenyan Assemblies of God non-state school. At both schools it proved a huge success with ballet being a particular favourite of both boys and girls. On June 1st, all the dancers from Spurgeons and Valley View passed their Level One ballet exams and on June 24th they performed at the final show case day alongside musicians, artists and acrobats. The American ballerina Cooper Rust, also joined head of dance and trustee Anna Nygh this year, to not only teach the children, but coach local ballet dancers as trainers so they too can get involved in and help expand Anno’s Africa.
Many of the children who have participated in Anno’s Africa will not be able to sit the Grade 8 school certificate they need in order to get a professional job so Anno’s Africa tries to help them acquire the skills for jobs in the media. Primarily, however, they try to give these children self-confidence, a bit of fun, and a childhood that is often denied those who grow up in the slums. As ballet instructor Mike Wamaya said ‘in ballet they find hope’, and the same can be said for all the workshops.