Self confidence

„You can all do it. You must just want!“

Maldoom is convinced of it, although he has just entered the rehearsal room and sees the children for the first time; he knows it, because that´s how it has been in each of the round 300 projects he has realized around the globe in the past 30 years.

For many of the youngsters, his introductory remark is like a blow in the face; one more, but this time, a blow of a new kind: Could it be that somebody believes in me?

And sure enough, when expression and communication meet, self confidence is only a matter of time, who knows, may be just the time of the project?

Didn´t Maldoom assert in one of his projects that  

          „you can change your life in a dance class?"

Indeed, chances are that sustained effort  followed by several successful performances will have a lasting impact on a number of kids.

Mind you, we should  not expect a spectacular change right after curtain-fall. It won´t be  as palpable, as solid and concrete as the house newly erected  by your nextdoor neighbour; but an experience of such intensity is bound to leave its mark on each child.

After all, the house next door wasn´t built in one day either; what such a project gives to the youngsters is a pile of solid bricks for the  most fascinating construction: 

the shaping of an individual with character, open to new experiences and strong enough to resist to the current or better still, to swim against it.

 SIBIU 2007

The theatre group "Sfintul Ignatiu" composed of 15 children, aged 4-18 is invited for the second year in a row to present a performance rehearsed under the benevolent lead of producer Liana Ceterchi

Community Dance = Expression + Communication

In the last decades, family and social relations have changed dramatically. Back then, village life was punctuated by public festivities where the inhabitants met to sing or dance. More recently,

Royston Maldoom and Josef Eder have set out to give community dance its past glance back.

Music is a universal language and so is dance. Gather  a hundred youngsters in a hall, dress them alike to conceal their background and elaborate a choreography  to a given piece of music with them. If you have the right approach and know-how they will soon  feel more free to express themselves.

Differences in background and skills will gradually fade away and give way to more acceptance, tolerance and communication between them. And once they get the feeling that they are ONE group  with the same goal and that the only way to get there is to work together, you have reached a win-win situation.

Ex-pression

               "Youth without aging and life without death" 

                  International Theater Festival Sibiu 2007

Communication implies, or even requires the participation of one or more persons  to com-municate with; expression is the sine qua non condition and the first step towards communication; but inversely expression, being primarily a personal search, can make do with just oneself.

Whether you draw, dance, doodle, sing, swing or write sonets, you respond to a deeply felt need: that of expressing your body or soul´s feelings of the moment, be it joy, anger, pain, sadness or love. Whatever you do, it is art, at least for yourself and this is what counts.

                 „Children are artists“

For Maldoom all children  have hidden talents. His job is to help them „ex-press“ their abilities, their feelings.

No wonder then, that he chose to act in war and crisis regions, in prisons, to work with street youngsters and children with special needs; indeed, the stronger the pressure, the deeper the need to "get it out".

Communication

Bucharest-Christmas 2005

Mariuca, an amazing 80 year young Romanian lady "acting" in a Christmas play as the grandmother these children never had

Man´s best asset is communication; after food and drink his most vital need is to share with others his thoughts, his feelings, his activities.

But isn´t it sad and paradoxical, that precisely the century of communication should generate isolation? Maldoom and his team are fighting against it: Community dance is their answer.

Mobile phones, internet, television and advertizing are all means of communication. They use communication; but they abuse it, and above all their users, by depriving them of their most precious ability: genuine communication and exchange. 

A familiar scene: a bunch of youngsters is sitting at a coffee shop, each of them involved in a lively telephone conversation with an absent buddy, when he could have a „real“ exchange with a friend he has at hand; or a mother pushes a pram -mind you, with a child in it- a mobile phone plugged in her ear, when she could be discovering the world anew with her child´s eyes.

You feel like telling them all: hey, you are here, not there! 

Royston Maldoom and Josef Eder will bring them with both feet back on the floor: Focus!

"Firebird" heading for Bucharest

I am now back from a hard work´s fortnight in Bucharest, but happy to say that the results achieved have exceeded our expectations.

Thanks to our very devoted team composed of Margareta Vlad, Oana Davidescu and Cristina Serafim (all three working at the German Embassy), Elena and Aurel Vlad (both sculptors) and last but not least Alexandra Arnautu, the newly hired and enthusiastic local coordinator of our project, we can now say that the project WILL take place.

And here are the latest news:

Josef Eder, one of the project´s two leading choreographers, travelled to Bucharest to spot locations and get to know some children, educators and the project team. He was very enthusiastic but I shall ask him to post his first impressions on this blog himself very soon.

Together we selected two Romanian dance teachers to assist him and Royston Maldoom during the rehearsals.

The participation of Romanian professionals in this project is essential for its sustainability. Indeed, one of our aims is to trigger further similar projects for underprivileged youths in Romania in the next years.

By the way, this aspect is also one of the main conditions for Maldoom and Eder´s participation in any new project, since they wish to act as catalysts for the spreading of community dance.

In order to be well prepared  for the oncoming project,  Catalina Gubandru and Irina Roncea, our new assistants, will be sent  by Caritas Vienna and our association "Jungen Rumänen eine Chance!"  to a one-week community dance workshop to be held  by several choreographers in Vienna next week. One of them will be Royston Maldoom. We are looking forward to reading their report on this blog as soon as they return.

First Romanian company steps in

DC Communication, a young and dynamic Bucharest Architecture Studio and Communications company is eager to promote community spirit and to have an impact on Romanian society. The company´s director, Mr Frolu, spontaneously agreed to support us for the promotion of our project. This gave us a big boost and we are looking forward to collaborating with him and his team.

100 kids to dance on National Theatre stage

We now have a firm date and location for the Firebird première: Mr Ion Caramitru, director of the Teatrul National Caragiale, is giving us the opportunity to perform in  his theatre on September 5th 2009. If the budget allows it, this first performance will be followed by a tour in the province the following week.

For her part, Mrs Gabriela Bancila, Headmistress of the Liceul I.L.Caragiale,   has offered her high school´s sport premises and cantine for the one-month rehearsals in August 2009.

German companies enthusiastic about the project

The precious advice of the  German-Romanian Chamber of industry and Commerce´s President and Executive Director, Mr. Merica and Mr. Walde, of Mr. Stein from Stein & Partners and of Mr. Simon from ABB Romania enabled us to contact a number of companies operating in Romania.

Several German companies have already promised  their financial support. As soon as their sponsoring has been confirmed, they will appear on our sponsors´ list on this blog.

Other companies and hotels would like to make contributions in kind such as food, catering, costumes, accomodation or transportation.

Hunting for sponsors in Bucharest

I am leaving for Bucharest to move the project forward and try to convince German and Romanian companies to sponsor our project. Not an easy task in these rather somber days, considering the dooming international financial situation.

But as Romanians say "nu ne dam batuti" (we do not give up). And if they don´t, how could we let them down?

In the starting blocks

                   Franky Das and Claudia Czurda´s original 100 € origami donation

First private donations are starting to flow into the association´s account.
We cannot stress enough the importance of the moral or financial support and the trust given to our association by private persons and friends at a time when the association disposes of a bank account but not yet of donations from companies.

Without the many friends and supporters "de la première heure", the first steps of the project could not have been carried out. Their donations contributed to finance the choreographer´s trip to Bucharest, the participation of the Romanian assistants at the Vienna workshop and are covering other already running expenses for the first stage of the project. 

We deeply appreciate all the generous contributions we have already received. A regular look at this blog will convince the donors that we are making the best use of their money.

Überlingen VR 870

We finally made it!

After six months of paper work, several comings and goings between the tax office and the local tribunal, two minor changes in the association statute´s text and three board meetings, the association "Jungen Rumänen eine Chance!" has been reccognized as "charitable" association and has now found its place  in the register of German associations. 

How long would it have taken without the precious help of Gisbert Reel, a  lawyer and  cousin who redacted the statute, kept contact with the local authorities and did not let loose until the final OK was given!

As a matter of coincidence, our project documentation could also be completed today thanks to the competence and efficiency of  Ingrid Huber, an enthusiastic  young free lance graphic designer here in Überlingen.

This documentation is intended for  companies and private persons interested in this project and  wishing  to  support it. Should you like to have it sent to you  by mail, you just need to post a comment to this blog with your mail address and briefly explain the reasons of your interest for the project. 

Who knows? Besides helping to shape the destiny of a hundred underprivileged kids, you might  be interested in cutting down your company´s taxes or your own income taxes as well? Give it a think and contact us!

Who dances wins!

"....Dance is a creative play as well as an ethos, a personal gain for the whole self; it is important for the emotional, psychological, spiritual, cognitive and social development. Children learn to work at their thoughts and feelings, to communicate with others...
...They need challenges matching their increasing skills and skills to match the increasing challenges they face,
Dance is a basic survival tool which will help them stand strong and enable them to make choices and decisions, will help them in their search for the sense of life...
...It is a means to be heard; it promotes fairness, acceptance of difference, both basic for a healthy society..."

Children are potential artists

After dinner at the guesthouse, we meet again for the more theoretic part: Maldoom´s conception of his work, DVD samples of his projects, questions and answers about the essence of his philosophy and pedagogy:

"....Since my projects mostly include children from different backgrounds, there is a tendency to think that what I am doing is social work. It isn´t. There are some social side effects to dance. But the only thing that counts for me is: ART...

...Whenever I enter a room for a new project, I immediately consider the children as potential artists.I have an unshakable belief in their extraordinary potential.There is no such thing as "I cannot dance". In my whole career I have NEVER met anybody who could NOT dance......I like working with "unperfect bodies"......

...There is a tendency to put people into categories. The aim of my project is to abolish those categories. In dance, you do not know who is who. Everybody speaks the same language: dance is a language in touch with yourself, with others and with the environment...

The children´s problem is the view they have of themselves (being failures). Their value of themselves, of art and culture is limited by the attitude of adults towards them. Children need respect...

...The moment you enter the room they will know if they can trust you..."

Focus !

Heute Morgen erkundete ich meine bisher nur vom Hörensagen bekannte Partnerstadt (die französische Porzellanstadt Sèvres) und entdeckte ein wahres Schmuckstück: ehemalige Welfenresidenz, Wolfenbüttel besteht heute noch aus etwa 600 liebevoll restaurierten Fachwerkhäusern, die um das representative Schloss und die weltberühmte Herzog August Bibliothek versammelt sind.

Kurz vor 16.00 Uhr füllt sich die prächtig umgebaute alte Mühle, die jetzt als Gästehaus der Bundesakademie dient.
Nach kurzer Erläuterung des Verlaufs und Ziels des Seminars durch Royston Maldoom marschiert unsere aus 32 meist jungen Teilnehmern bestehende Gruppe los in Richtung Turnhalle neben dem Schloss, wo der praktische Teil des Seminars sich in den nächsten zwei Tagen abspielen wird.

Maldooms Ziel lautet: den Teilnehmern, die aus den verschiedensten Bereichen kommen und zum grossen Teil mit Kindergruppen arbeiten, seine Theorie zu vermitteln und ihnen anhand von Praktischen Übungen seine Arbeitsweise zu zeigen.

Rasches Umziehen und schon fällt Roystons Zauberwort, ein Leitmotiv, das uns in den Proben immer wieder zur Sache zurückrufen wird, und das den Anfang des "warm up" - übrigens stets in englischer Sprache-ankündigt:

"FOCUS" !

And since the kids are most likely not to understand what is meant with it at the very first rehearsal, Royston has more than one trick at hand to help them do so, and WE, the kids of today´s class, are soon given to understand it quite clearly:

"...stop moving...
   ... don´t touch your hair...
              ... head up...
...look at me...
      ... don´t talk...
    ...stand straight"....

He then gives us some tricks how to ensure discipline and concentration:

"keep chums apart, assign them to a place which will remain theirs throughout the project. Go to the last row, where the restless ones tend to hide, then ask everybody to turn around so that the back row becomes the front one and start rehearsing from there."

"Rhythm to dance" Seminar mit Royston Maldoom

Maldoom-begeistertes Fossil


Ankunft bei der Bundesakademie Wolfenbüttel, wo "Rhythm to dance", ein zweitägiges Seminar unter der Leitung des britischen Choreographen Royston Maldoom, ab Morgen Nachmittag stattfinden soll.

Ich bin gespannt, was mich erwartet: Vielleicht werde ich mir wie ein Fossil vorkommen und mich fragen, was ich unter all diesen jungen Leuten tue, die am Anfang ihrer Karriere stehen und ihr ganzes Leben noch vor sich haben? Wie auch immer...mein Ziel ist klar: Das Rumänien Projekt mit Royston im Rahmen des Enescu Festivals 2009 soll langsam Gestalt annehmen und dieses Seminar wird mir helfen, Maldooms Philosophie und Pädagogik näher kennenzulernen.

Kids, the floor is yours!

2009 will bring about the fourteenth edition of the George Enescu Festival, an international music festival which takes place in Bucharest every second year and has acquired an excellent reputation beyond the country´s borders.This time, the program will include a performance of a new kind: romanian youngsters will stand in the stage lights and reveal some unsuspected talents.

ROYSTON MALDOOM AND JOSEF EDER, two renowned choreographers from England and Germany, are coming to Bucharest to realize a dance project with some hundred Romanian teenagers from different backgrounds, schools and institutions.

After five weeks of intensive rehearsals, five days a week, five hours a day, some one hundred youngsters, aged between 11 and 22 years, who for the most part have not danced before and have no experience whatsoever with classical music, will be ready to stand on the stage and perform Strawinsky´s Firebird  professionally. Shouldn´t it be so, it would be the first time in 30 years that Maldoom does not get out of "his" kids what he expects from them -and what  he knows they CAN, if they want to!

 And whoever has seen him working with young people knows that it DOES work and WHY it does.

On the night of the performance, the kids will doubtless feel rewarded for their efforts by their audience. But far from meaning the end of the project, that night will, so we hope, mean a new start for many of them: the experience acquired in the process of elaborating the piece will hopefully have given them a new vision of themselves and help them stand firmer on their feet in the future; the  self confidence they will have gained will encourage them to look for new challenges and enable them to face these challenges. 

Sfintul Ignatiu

The  charitable association "Jungen Rumänen eine Chance!" (Give young Romanians a chance!) goes back to that first visit at Concordia shortly before Christmas 2003 and  will (once it is definitely registered as such, that is, hopefully next week!) owe  its creation to every single child belonging to the "Sfintul Ignatiu family", one of Concordia homes. The warm atmosphere created by the educators impressed me each  time I visited Sfintul Ignatiu and all these smiling little faces  regularly attracted me like a magnet all along  my three year stay in Romania. 

Our common activities reached from drawing classes, visits to museums, theater, concerts or the opera, treasure hunts through Bucharest, jogging or picknicks in the park, swimming or cooking together. 

The enthusiasm of these children, of Romanians in general and in particular of a few Romanians  who became close friends,  were the motors of our activities. Indeed, not only some foreign friends, but also quite a number of Romanians  joined me spontaneously  and offered their skills and  free time to this cause -a particularly precious gift  considering how hard life  in Bucharest is:  some of them offered free psychological support, homework tutoring, story reading, theater playing or choir singing, or even their vacation time to join us for a summer camp! 

 

Pre-history of the project

It all started on Dec. 22nd 2003.

In the early evening we -my husband and I- arrive at Sfintul Lazar, the first and main house of Concordia, where Ruth Zenkert, Director of Concordia and Pater Georg Sporschill,  founder of this humanitarian organisation in the nineties have invited us to join their community for their evening prayer.

 It is about 6.30 pm. The time when all the kids have to be back  (provided they want to get a meal and spend the night here) from wherever they spent their day: at work, school, or for the majority here in the main house, simply on the street, which for many of them still means more of a home than even Sfintul Lazar, where they get food, lodging, warmth and protection,  basic elements of any "normal childlife".

In a long, overfilled hall we are welcomed by about a hundred kids, clustered around some thick candles arranged on firtree branches  on the floor and  waiting in twilight and  silence for prayers to begin. Their age ranges from four to adult age. The smaller ones are sitting on the laps of the older ones. 

All through the prayers - bible reading and songs followed by a personal prayer by each child, there is a stunning atmosphere of recollection, peace, love and unity floating in the air. We are soon to hear that this is the only moment of the day which gives Ruth strength and courage to go on doing what she has been doing for the last 15 years: fighting day and night,  seven days a week to cope with the problems of their some 500 children scattered over two dozens of homes in and around Bucharest, trying to give them back their stolen childhood.

After prayers, we are brought into another room where the children  from Sfintul Ignatiu´s house -a dozen altogether- sing for us with Mihaela, their 24 years young "mother", the most beautiful Christmas songs (in Romanian: Colinde ) we have ever heard. Within minutes they conquer our heart and I know already: I will have to see them again...

About the founder of the association

Monique Gruber has dedicated her life to working with underprivileged and handicapped children in Central and Southeastern Europe. Confronted by social problems in post-Communist countries while serving alongside her husband, a former German ambassador to Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania, she initiated social and educational projects with the aim of giving these children a better chance in life. Her background is in philology, which she read at the Sorbonne. She has worked as a translator and taught French and English at high school through university levels in France, the U.K. and U.S.

Social and Educational Projects

2004-2008 Concordia Organization for Children in Need Bucharest, Romania
Worked intensively with a group of 15 of Concordia´s 400 former street children, including founding and organizing a choir, „Sursum Corda", which performed at various public and social functions; a theatre group which participated in Sibiu’s International Theatre Festival in 2006 and 2007; a summer camp and cultural and sports activities (inter alia: drawing, swimming, cooking, museum and concert outings).

2005 Choir at the Tirgsor Women´s Penitentiary Bucharest, Romania
Established a choir at the penitentiary with the aim of fostering detainees´ reintegration into society. Performances include a joint concert with the Diplomatic choir in Biserica Luterana, Bucharest.
In the meantime, the choir regularly performs in churchs and institutions of the region under the conduct of Mihai Nae, an amazing pedagogue and devoted conductor. In May 2011, the association "Jungen Rumänen eine Chance!" acquired a set of chimes for the choir which was handed over to them by Monique Gruber who also attended the first repetition. A very moving experience....The girls are now learning to read music and are presently giving Christmas concerts in near by communities with the chimes.

2000-2003 Hungarian Institute for the Blind Budapest, Hungary
Organized music events with blind youth in cooperation with an amateur chamber orchestra.

1997-1999 Centre for Autistic Children Belgrade, Serbia
Worked one-on-one with autistic children using the Montessori method, developing specific skills, fostering concentration and favouring interactive communication.

Aug. 1990 Summer camp for children from Tchernobyl Bonn, Germany

1988-1992 Scouts de France Bonn, Germany
Led scout groups (age 11 to 18), organized theme-oriented summer camps, including a year-long Circus project with 70 children and public performances.

Conferences and Symposia

May 2006 "Current Developments in the Care and Education of Persons with Autistic Spectrum Disorder" Conference
Bucharest, Romania
Initiated and organized an international conference together U.K. charity, „Children in distress”, to raise public awareness, establish networks among professionals for exchange and support via workshops, training and lectures (follow-up conferences held in 2007 and 2008) for 300 participants including doctors, public health officials, therapists and families.

Mar. 1999 "Women and Violence in War" Belgrade, Serbia
Organized a symposium on the occasion of Women´s Day with 250 women from the Serbian civil society and speakers from all republics of former Yugoslavia.

Dec. 1998 "Human Rights Charter 1948-1998: The Relevance of Human Rights Today"
Belgrade, Serbia
Initiated series of events (i.a. exhibiton by refugee art students, publication of brochures with children´s paintings) to highlight the importance of human rights for war-torn Yugoslavia.


Fundraising Experience

2003-2006 Deutscher KulturKreis Bukarest Bucharest, Romania
Founded the German Cultural Circle (DKKB) and initiated a Franco-German Advent Bazaar to raise funds for social projects in Romania (yearly up to 30.000 €) to benefit social organizations supporting children and elderly persons in need and finance Tirgsor choir.

June 1998 International cuisine event and lottery Belgrade, Serbia
Raised 15.000 DM to purchase a bus for providing daily transportation from villages around Belgrade to day care centre for children with autism.