Amber Weissman

Thrilled to announce that for the next few months I will be Volunteering, Teaching, and Curating Memel Primary School’s first ever dance program. Memel is a small, rural town in Freestate, South Africa. Memel is still recovering from Apartheid. Due to its past, Memel has been left struggling with poverty and is still very much segregated. The Unemployment rate is high, with families living in uninsulated shacks, nutrition is poor and until recently there weren’t many extracurricular activities for the children especially the young girls.

SheWinS, a nonprofit organization, dedicated to providing after school activities and empowering the young girls of Memel has provided me this amazing opportunity. Our goal for this dance program at Memel Primary School is to create a fun and safe learning environment for the children to express themselves through dance. The children of Memel aren’t exposed to all of the different styles we have in the US. They have their traditional Zulu dancing and now we are able to introduce them to techniques like Jazz, Ballet, and Hiphop.

In the past SheWinS has provided soccer, track, and field. But this is the first time a real dance program is being offered to the students. Depending on how this program turns out SheWinS is considering continuing dance classes in the future. Right now I am laying the groundwork for dance technique with the kids and developing a curriculum that makes sense for an introductory dance program. At the end of the semester we will be holding a showcase for all of the students providing them a chance to perform and show the community all that they’ve learned throughout these few months.