We Are You

“We are You” was a dance project for women that I initiated and led with my colleague Antonia Servas. Once a month on Saturday we held a party just for women and once a week we invited them to a 90-minute dance training session. The dance training was divided into two units: In the first unit, one of us led a warm-up and a training session and in the second unit, the participants were allowed to connect their music to the speaker and teach their dance styles. The aim of the project was to give the refugee women a safe place where they could have fun and shake off the stress of their escape and the situation in the initial reception center. Since there were countless offers for children, but none for women and women were rarely seen outside the house, we wanted to give them an opportunity with our offer to take time for themselves and get to know each other. Although there were sometimes conflicts due to different socializations, we were always able to find a way to and with each other and to meet across language barriers using a common language: body language.