BRAZIL-BALLET Ballet provides an escape from one of Sao Paulo's most violent neighbourhoods

Record ID: 143349

  • Title: BRAZIL-BALLET Ballet provides an escape from one of Sao Paulo's most violent neighbourhoods
  • Date: 17th August 2015
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF BALLET CLASS GIRLS CROWDING ROUND AND HUGGING THE TEACHER (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) BALLET TEACHER AND PROJECT LEADER, JOANA DE ASSIS, SAYING: "These are daughters of drug-users, prostitutes, and people who live in this region, some of the children are drug-users themselves. We take them off the streets, sometimes from their houses in the slums and we bring them
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6Y2S74783FSQRNNY61T9Q2AB5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Stuck on the mirror in a ballet studio set within Sao Paulo's violent Cracolandia district is a sign with French dance vocabulary reading "devant," translated for the girls meaning "forwards." For the young girls learning to jump and plie, the New Dreams dance studio provides a way forward and out of the difficult environment they have grown up in.
    Brazil is one of the world´s highest consuming countries of crack cocaine, and Cracolandia, or "Crack Land", located in the outskirts of Sao Paulo, is one of the most intense and brutal hubs.
    Some one million people in a national population of 200 million are users, and many children are affected through both indirect and direct experience.
    "These are daughters of drug-users, prostitutes, and people who live in this region, some of the children are drug-users themselves. We take them off the streets, sometimes from their houses in the slums and we bring them here where they can bathe, eat, put on their ballet clothes and do a dance class. We give them a dance class, we give them love and affection," dance teacher and project leader, Joana de Assis told Reuters.
    Around 20 girls between the ages of five and 12 take part in the classes twice a week. They are picked up from their houses in a Volkswagen van which drives them some ten minutes away to a commercial, more developed area of Sao Paulo.
    The New Dreams project is supported by the Missao Batista Cristolandia, a national Baptist project that works with drug users and people who live on the streets. A local church helps provide food for the girls, whilst donations from a local dancewear shop help them to step fully into the role.
    For many, such as the oldest in the group, 12-year-old Tais Tainara, the project helps to nurture aspirations.
    "My biggest dream is to become a ballet dancer. I have been dancing for five years and ever since I started I knew I wanted to be a ballet teacher and a ballerina," Tainara said, as she practised and practised at home.
    The project even received a visit from Bolshoi Ballet dancer Priscilla Yokoi who gave some of the young dancers the chance to audition for the renowned Russian company.
    Even if they do not make it this far, however, parents such as Priscila dos Santos are grateful for the focus it provides away from crime, drugs and early pregnancies which are common in the area.
    "It is very important because it is something they are inspired to do. They see so much in the area, we all know what goes on but we never judge anyone or speak badly of them. On the contrary, we try to help them. And for me, ballet inspires these girls," Santos said.
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