So I know I havent blogged in a while. Sorry about that. It has been a busy summer. Had a surprise visit to America for 2 weeks, which was epic. The new training group of volunteers were swore in about a week ago, welcome to Armenia A-19's. Said goodbye to a lot of friends that were finishing their 2 years in Armenia, good luck A-17's. And helped out with 2 camps. One in Vanadzor which is about 6 hours north, and the other was in Goris, about 45 min south of Sisian. This post I will talk about the Vanadzor camp, and expect a post about the Goris camp within the week.
From August 8th to August 11th, Peace Corps volunteers, in collaboration with the Vanadzor YMCA, ran a hip-hop dance camps for all interested youth. 20 community members, ranging in age from 12 to18, participated. The camp was designed to promote healthylifestyles, individual self-expression, and confidence among the future leaders of Armenia, as well as increase the understanding of hip-hop culture, a widely misunderstood global phenomenon whose roots lie in America. Volunteers Maggie Woznicki (A-18, Sevan) and AlexLord (A-18, Sisian) choreographed and taught a hip-hop dance, and volunteer Matthew Crowley-Miano (A-18, Ijevan) ran sessions on b-boying, more commonly known as breakdancing. Micahel Zier (A-18,Vanadzor) provided rhythm demonstrations, and Kath Lestina (A-18,Vanadzor) facilitated. The camp originated from an expression of interest by the members of the Vanadzor YMCA during this summer’s Border2Border project, and culminated in a final presentation by the participants on the new skills they had developed during the camp.The community response was highly positive, and it is hoped that these camps will continue to run, both in Vanadzor and in other interested sites.
I had alot of fun teaching the YMCA children about dancing. The great part was that not only did we teach them a dance, which they rocked at, we also taught them the culture of Hip-Hop and the evolution of dance. Where it came from, the major influences, and where it is right now. The kids we so excited and interested, I hope we get to do this camp again. There is a video on FB of the kids doing there dance, hope you check it out! It was a long week, and our legs were tired, but the entire group enjoyed every minute of it, as well as all the PCV's. Hope to do it again soon!
