Dance-spiration in Gulu

I got to sit down with my dancer friend, Eric, to ask him some questions about his hip-hop project and his own dance experience. Eric organizes a dance competition twice a year for youth in Gulu. He helps crews with their choreography and runs an after-school program at TAKS (Through Art Keep Smiling) Centre, where students can learn hip-hop and breakdancing (refer to my earlier blog for my late discovery of this program). He also choreographs and dances for R&B singer O.J. Maxwell and teaches yoga at the Mandala House. You can follow his competition and crew, Da Solid Team, on Facebook or at dasolidteam.blogspot.com.

How did you start dancing?

I can’t trace back how I began dancing. With dancing, I don’t remember the age, but I remember we used to dance at home, me and the neighbors. We used to dance when we had parties. When they put music on, they want the children to compete and they put up sweets for the winner. I was around 7 to 10. 

We used to go to a place around there, called Diana Gardens. They used to put up a competition around Independence Day and Christmas day. That was just for fun. [I started] serious dancing in 2009 when I first joined a crew, Tosha Dancers. By the end of 2010, I left Tosha. When I left, the crew collapsed and they all had to follow me to TAKS center. In 2011, we had already left, but we were still using the name Tosha. We had qualified for a competition in Kampala, Uganda’s Best Dance Crew. We were an entertainment crew. We had singers, producers, and dancers. We wanted to change our name, but because of the competition we had to keep the name. 

It took almost a year and half to get a place. The other places wanted to charge us a lot of money. But with TAKS, it was easy. The guy was really great, maybe because of his passion for dance. Everyone was discouraged and we almost had to cancel the competition because we didn’t have a place to practice. I went to TAKS, and I was so hungry, like really hungry. I had been traveling all day. But the guy was so excited. He wanted to see what we could do. I wasn’t even hungry anymore! I called all the guys to come show him. The way everyone danced, we were so excited! 

By the end of 2011, that’s when I had issues with the group. We were moving along well, but our former manager was trying to get them away from me. Young people can be easily manipulated money. He would take them away to perform without telling me. Our last show was on the 31^st at night. I was having issues with one of the guys who wanted to lead. He was too much for me and I couldn’t bear it, so I left the group. By the end of 2012, the crew collapsed. In 2012, around February, I started looking for guys to train and that’s when I started thinking about Da Solid Team. I wanted something fresh and new. I started teaching them some choreography. By April, they were really strong. We did our first performance at the Back to School show. Everyone was so excited. They were saying, “That is Eric’s crew! It’s Eric’s crew!” After the performance, people from Tosha started coming back, one by one. 

Even the guy that I had trouble with wanted to come back. The other guys didn’t want to let him in; but in life, you have to keep your enemies closer. If you don’t like him, keep him closer because he has skills that we need. Then the same thing happened. The manager started taking the guys away. I eventually wanted to quit. Then I realized that I would be better with not just one crew, but leading multiple crews. That’s when I got the idea for the competition. It was around April when I got the deal for choreographing for OJ Maxwell. In 2012, that’s when I designed the competition. We had it in May.

Teaching yoga at the Mandala House, where I met him

How has dance helped you?

One of the biggest things that dance has done with my life is to help me realize that I could do more, other than just being a dancer. I could use dance to do a lot of things: using dance to bring the youth together. That’s one way of fighting idleness, promoting talent, and exercising talent. It’s a platform for promoting peace and sensitizing the youth on some of the social issues (sometimes we do some drama in between our choreography). Dance has also helped me to come up with the idea of the dance competition, and that’s one my biggest achievements. Before the competition, we used to do battles every Friday. Then we started doing a once a month event where people would come and pay to watch. Dance has helped expose me to a lot of other things, opening my mind to think broadly.

What is your favorite style?

It’s tricky because I don’t like just a particular part of dance. I want to learn every type of dance. And whatever type of learn, I really love it because I enjoy it when I’m doing it. I like freestyle, but I like choreography more. With freestyle, you teach yourself. With choreography, you have to teach and learn from other people. With freestyle, it doesn’t bring a lot of people together. There’s no accountability. I want to create groups, to make everyone believe they can dance.

What are your goals for the future of Da Solid Team?

I just need to keep it simple. My focus is basically on the disadvantaged youth of the society. My main goal is to help them excel in confidence, academically, socially, and economically. Dance is really special. It can give you the confidence to do a lot of things. You get to come together with a lot of people. That alone gives you confidence. Even when you go back to school, you are still that strong person. Even employment through entertainment. The competition alone has employed some of the youth. The prize money is one of the biggest prizes that has been put up for a competition in Gulu (2M UGS, or $800 USD). When we first started advertising, people didn’t believe that we would really give out 2M. They were so excited!

How do you get money for your competition?

I also dance and choreograph for O.J. Maxwell, an R&B singer based in Gulu. His manager is from here but lives in the Netherlands and has a very big vision of helping people from home, people with talents in music and dance. When I drew the concept of the competition, I showed it to him, and he was very impressed. He said he could help with the money. It’s all about promoting talent. He’s promised to keep sponsoring the competition as long as it’s good.

What are your objectives for Da Solid Team?

·        Dance as a talent: People have not focused on developing it in this region. I want to nurture the talent, especially for those from disadvantaged families.
·        Employment through entertainment
·        Dance as a tool to fight idleness and crime
·        Source of information: dance as a platform for sensitizing the youth about HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and all social issues
·        Help the youth to learn to face challenges, inspire and motivate them to face challenges in life. Just imagine the battles and competition. It breeds a lot of tension, but at the end they realize that it takes some struggling to face challenges. At first, people weren’t so serious when they were practicing. But then during the competition, they realized that they could’ve worked harder. Now I hear them saying, “Next competition, we’re going to kill it!”

Eric wants to “let the world see what’s happening in Gulu.” He wants to gain exposure for his dancers and make connections with other teams, in Uganda and abroad. Most of the dance scene in Uganda is in Kampala, so it’s very difficult for them to get support and encouragement.

Once his team grows large enough, he wants to begin programs within local schools. They will visit schools, teach dance classes, encourage students to form groups, and host a dance competition within the school. However, for Da Solid Team to grow and expand to more of Gulu’s youth, they are in need of dance attire/costumes, mirrors, and a sound system. In the long term, they will also need their own space to practice. Eric is personally praying for a laptop, so he can promote his project on YouTube and connect with other teams.

We discussed some ways to help them out, including a Kickstarter or other type of fundraiser and getting connected with teams from the US. If you would like to stay updated on our progress or have any ideas to accomplish these goals, enter your email address here.