LIMA

The "Dance of Hope" is a community dance project, set up by the British Council and the San Marcos Ballet (University of San Marcos, Peru) in 2003.

Choreographer, Royston Maldoom, was the first artist to come out and work with the San Marcos Ballet outreach team and 100 youngsters from one of the depressed areas of northern Lima.  After a month of intensive work, Royston put on "The Rite of Spring", in one of the principle theatres of central Lima.  Work was carried on from there throughout the next two years expanding to more districts under the auspicies of the British Council in Peru, this included the collaboration of two British artists brought out to Peru specially by the Council.  Choreographer Tamara McLorgh of Middlesex University and musician Barry Ganberg, musical director at the Rambert School of Ballet.  

From 2006-07 the project was lucky enough to receive sponsorship from IPAT, the International Performers Aid Trust.  This generous sponsorship enabled the project to go on expanding throughout 2006 and 2007.  The San Marcos team took over from the British guest artists, both teaching and choreographing, while the organisation of the project has been in the hands of Vera Stastny, Director of the San Marcos Ballet, since the beginning in 2003.  In 2006, first year in which IPAT sponsored the "Dance of Hope", the end of the year show was extremely successful, based on a selection of songs by the Beatles.  In 2007, the central piece of the show was a version of Stawinsky's "Firebird" with choreography by the San Marcos teacher and choreographer Luis Valdivia, as seen in the attached photograph.

Sponsorship such as given by organisations like IPAT, are extremely necessary in the developing world, where the sponsorship for Community Dance  like the "Dance of Hope" is very difficult to come by.