Around twenty young people from the Departmental Children's Home, aged 8 to 17, took part in a week of initiation to breakdancing. An action made possible thanks to a partnership between the Departmental Council and the MJC Calonne, as part of the Artistic and Cultural Education (EAC) system, supported by the CD08.
Marie and Chloé are educators at the Departmental Children's Home. For a week, during the fall school holidays, they accompanied a group of 6 young people to the Departmental Sports Center as part of an introduction to breakdancing. “It’s an activity that really interests them, they are very involved in this action,” notes Chloé. There are young people and teenagers who are not in the same group at the Foyer, but that creates cohesion. » “And it's a great activity for the school holidays, especially since they're well spent! », Estimates for her part her colleague Marie.
“Chain a backspin and freeze!” »
At the helm, Alexandre Da Costa, breakdance specialist, who regularly performs at MJC Calonne in Sedan. Dynamic and communicative, he connects the movements and dissects his gestures so that the young people can reproduce them, while encouraging them and giving them advice: “Stretch your arms out, the more exaggerated the movement, the more beautiful it is. Yes, that's right! Try to follow up with a backspin* and stop in freeze**. »
For Alexandre Da Costa, this initiation week was a success: “It was a very pleasant group and I myself came out of it grown. They are young people with different situations but they all stuck together despite the difficulties. What I wanted to convey to them above all, beyond a few figures, is self-confidence: this will serve them all their lives, in their schooling or for a job interview. » Same impressions, on the young side, as Gabriel, 11 years old, explains: “It was so good, it was my favorite activity of the week! And Alex is super nice! »
An Artistic and Cultural Education action
Many artistic workshops offered to young people from the Foyer de l'Enfance are set up thanks to the Artistic and Cultural Education system, managed by CD08. Aude Pilard, the Project Manager for this system, talks about the implementation of this activity: “The Foyer team came to see me to take stock of the actions carried out in past years and to imagine new ones. After having used the puppet medium extensively, they wanted to introduce young people to urban arts, starting with breakdancing. So I contacted MJC Calonne and we organized this initiation week at the Maison des Sports. »
Next step: all participants (around twenty) will attend a breakdance show on November 13, offered by MJC Calonne at the Charleville-Mézières theater. The opportunity to take in the sights and recognize some figures transmitted by “Alex”…
*backspin : figure which consists of turning on the back
**freeze : static position on one or more parts of the body (shoulder, head, hand, etc.)
