The Dancing Queens of Breadwinners - celebrating International Dance Day

With such a rich, culturally diverse community at Breadwinners, there is rarely a social event that doesn’t involve music and dance. In fact, there is never a social event that doesn’t include both. 

So today, on International Dance Day, we want to celebrate some of the traditional dances of those in our community. We asked programme participants Yordanos and Lucky to share their dances and why dance means so much to them.

Yordanos

In Eritrea we have nine different traditional dances that come from the nine ethnic groups which are Tigrinya,Tigre, Saho, Afar, Blein, Kunama, Bidawet, Rashyda and Hidarib.

They all have their own dance and play a vital role in an Eritrean traditional dance. I’m part of the ethnic group Tigrinya and our dance name is called Quda. Quda is a powerful Eritrean traditional dance where a group of people (men/women) move around slowly in a circle to the rhythm of the music by moving their feet and shoulders. 

Then they start dancing faster in pairs towards the end of the music. I love Tigrigna dance. My love of dance stems from the love of my traditional music. I have a very broad taste in music and I enjoy dancing with a partner. That's why my favourite style of dance is Quda. 

When I dance Quda, I completely get relieved from preoccupations and stress of my daily life. The movements throughout the dance makes me feel strong and energetic. I love the extra freedom of movement that me and my friends do when we are dancing together face to face. That is where I found true love and faith. Happy International Dance Day to all people around the world.

Lucky

Dancing is a step to a healthy lifestyle. It has health benefits from increasing stamina, relieving stress and body sculpting to name a few. But it's also great for mental and emotional health. I feel that dance brings people together and provides them with a sense of community with people that have the same interests and passion.

I feel very fortunate having the classes that I do in salsa, hip hop and Bollywood dance. They inspire me and are the reason why I continue to teach. I enjoy seeing people gain confidence in things that they thought they could never do, like perform for an audience. Dance allows people to exceed their own expectations and helps them to discover new things about themselves.