Ode to dance4life
Veerle Corstens | December 2011 Issue
Dancing is a universal language. That’s why dance4life uses it in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Each year, the organization celebrates its successes with a dance event. Dance4life was founded by Dennis Karpes and Ilco van der Linde, Dutch marketing professionals who were alarmed by the rate of HIV transmission around the world even while taboos around the illness remained.
Globally, 5 million young people live with HIV, and the figure increases by 3,000 a day. Dance4life seeks to halt the disease’s spread by conveying knowledge about sex, HIV and AIDS to young people in countries from the ­Netherlands to South Africa. Linking information to dancing gets young people involved in the fight against the disease in a positive way. It seems to be a successful strategy; 29 countries so far have dance4life movements.
The organization focuses on school-age kids and its leaders believe it’s important to get kids at home thinking about sex and relationship choices. In the program, students tackle AIDS- and HIV-related dilemmas in lessons, but they’re also encouraged to take real-world action. Through events like street-wide breakfasts and block parties, the kids raise money for dance4life’s work abroad and contribute to the cause around the world.
Photo: somewhereto via Flickr