Vicenza – Italy
HOW DID IT START AND BY WHOM
It was born in 2008 from an idea by Fabio Gnesotto, doctor and emergency paramedic for the hospital Romano Medica , in partnership with Samuel Peron, a well known Italian professional dancer and with the collaboration of the Lions Clubs International “Jacopo da Ponte”, an organization founded in 1917 which has 1.35 million members worldwide. They deal with a host of subjects and problems related to humanatarian issues through volunteer work.
“We are useful” this is their motto. Everything starts from Bassano del Grappa, a town in the Veneto region in the northeast of Italy, but in a short time this project made its way becoming well known throughout Italy.
GOALS
“Sballando Ballando” is a project dedicated to young people, to offer them dance classes, to get together and have some sober fun rather than with drugs, showing them there is an alternative to getting high. Fun doesn’ t mean getting high. Using drugs and alcohol isn’t a good means to confront ones own problems. Instead dance is simple, fun, engaging, accessible to all and repeatable anywhere, it’s a way to help the youth of today discover a world rich in emotions and lasting sensations.
PARTNERSHIPS
“Sballando Ballando”, involved 200 high schools, has touched more than 500 thousand children with dance classes of salsa, tango, hip-hop and country and has taken part in numerous collaborations: with Police and Health Authorities, Italian Association of Road Victims Family, San Patrignano through prevention “Wefree project”, with which it has addressed issues on the prevention and abuse of drugs with testimonies and meetings for learning, sharing and discussions, all on Italian soil.
TESTIMONIALS
You can touch the bottom for various reasons – says Loredana, joined the project and soon became a mainstay – for a disappointment, for a disease, for some bad choices and then, it’s all black. And if you were given another chance? Could it change your life, make you smile or give you the desire to keep on living. I knew “Sballando Ballando” and after ten long years I was able to find and cultivate my dream that I had since I was a child. Now take I with me and share it, my joy for life, my cheerfulness, my passion. And all this by simply dancing.
For many, this project can be a wonderful experience with which to relax after school, make a few new friends, learn to dance, but for me, as it is for many others, “Sballando Ballando” represents rebirth, a new starting point, emotions and feelings never felt before.
An advice … come and be apart of.