The project
Dance as a cultural vector is the challenge that The What Dance Can Do Project has chosen to take up for PE2A-NSA pupils (Allophones newly arrived-not or poorly educated before), aged 11 to 16, in the reception class at Romain Rolland secondary school in Clichy-sous-Bois. Weakened by their often difficult migratory experiences, these young people receive teaching based on a foundation of basic academic subjects and artistic projects providing keys to cultural understanding.
As part of this, weekly dance classes are given on a thematic basis by choreographer Rodolphe Fouillot, assisted by the dance teacher Emmanuelle Huybrechts, and guest dancers with very different aesthetic backgrounds.
The Francis Kurkdjian Endowment Fund is renewing its support for the association The What Dance Can Do Project, to enrich the choreographic project by enabling them to expand their audience through the creation of an artistic residency in a school environment with 45 pupils from the Romain Rolland secondary school in Clichy-sous-Bois over the 2023/24 school year.
With its emphasis on interdisciplinarity, this on-site artistic residency will build on the achievements of the 2022/23 pilot programme and provide a stimulating choreographic environment that will encourage the development and emancipation of these young people. These 45 pupils from the UPE2A NSA and UPE2A classes at the collège will be able to discover and to set in motion with each other without the language barrier.
Aurélia Sellier is the founder of What Dance Can Do, an organization born from the conviction that dance changes lives. Her team of volunteers organizes workshops and performances for children and young adults who are vulnerable due to illness, poverty, exile or whose socio-economic context makes access to the arts difficult. Thanks to its partners - internationally renowned artists, including several stars of the Paris Opera - the projects are carried out in Europe, Africa and as far away as New Zealand.
