Every dance has its own story- how participation in dance empowered youth living in a rural community to buffer an intergenerational cycle of poverty

Abstract

Abstract

Background: Rural environments characterized by inter-generational cycles of poverty and historical disadvantage, contain numerous barriers to the development of human potential.  This study explored how participation in dancing classes offered by a rural outreach program in a rural community in the Western Cape buffered these barriers and empowered youth  to create new lifestyles.

Method: An ethnographic research design was used to explore the experiences of youth participating in formal dance classes. Participants were student dancers and community members selected with the use of saturation sampling. Rich data was collected through interviews, focus group and by walking though and observing the daily life of the rural community. 

Results: Three themes arose from the thematic analysis: trapped within a predestined future, empowerment through dance and building a new community. Participation in a new form of dance occupation was found to stimulate the unlocking of youths’ potential and empowered them to develop a new lifestyle that differed from the one inherited from their predecessors. 

Keywords

Dance, youth, rurality, inherited lifestyle, occupational development