Ballerinas spread their wings

A dream is about to come true for a group of 17 young ballet students from the Dance Factory Swakopmund, who will travel to Europe to immerse themselves in the richness of the performing arts in some of the major cities.

The Swakopmund Dance Factory is in the final stages of planning an educational dance excursion to Europe from 26 April to 8 May. The dancers, who will be traveling to Belgium, France, Germany, and The Netherlands, were recently introduced to sponsors and the public.

The aim of the tour is to inspire and expose the students to different forms of dance and the cultural background of the craft, its history, and its current form. They will take classes, participate in workshops, and visit various European dance schools.

Besides visiting schools, the students will see performances at Nederlands Dans Theater and the Paris Opera and visit various museums, such as the Rubens House, the Louvre, and the Van Gogh Museum. They will also visit arts academies like the Fontys Dance Academy in the Netherlands.

“I am super excited to be going to Europe to find a more expressive side myself and also to see the Eiffel Tower,” commented Mikayla Porsche Hansen, a student at the Dance Factory Swakopmund.

Carmen Waldeck, the owner and instructor of the Dance Factory, will be leading the tour. She explained that each student needed N$32 000 for the entire trip and paid tribute to the sponsors that came on board. “Due to the fact that there are many students and the trip is pricey, we sold snacks at Tiger Reef events and night markets, hosted movie nights, fun days, and many fundraising activities. To our delight, we raised approximately N$100 000. This and donations from sponsors will go towards covering some of the traveling expenses. We are still open to sponsorships as it will help a great deal in making this tour a success for the students.”