A little while back a friend of mine returned from a trip to Cambodia telling me about this hip hop dance crew called Tiny Toones that she'd come across. They were all just kids themselves but they were teaching other younger kids how to dance in an effort to protect at-risk youth from drug abuse and HIV while getting them to channel their energy into something creative.
As well as teaching kids how to break dance they teach kids Khmer, English, computer studies and basic life skills like HIV and sex education. It all started in the living room of a break dancer who was born in a Thai refugee camp and was deported from America after getting involved with drugs. Even without an education he started to see how he could make a difference in the lives of the other kids in the slums, simply by teaching them how to dance. It gave him a chance to talk to them about drug abuse and once an NGO got involved he was able to move the classes into a centre. Pretty inspirational stuff. The centre now reaches hundreds of kids in Cambodia and from what my friend told me they're actually making a difference.
A dance crew made up of dancers who've been through the centre are touring right now to raise funds for the centre and will be performing at Auckland Girls Grammar on Friday night, April 27th.
But you can also catch a free preview of their show at the Auckland Art Gallery on Sunday at a toddler friendly 12pm. See you there!
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