Respect for diversity and overcoming one’s insecurities meet growth, self-revaluation and the discovery of the beauty of a shared experience.
The protagonists? Young people!
Gen Verde returned to Germany with the artistic and musical project ‘Start Now’ from 10 to 13 February. The initiative was born from a collaboration, which has been ongoing since 2017, with the Kommende Dortmund Foundation and its ‘Bene Volens’ initiative, with the aim of welcoming young people from socially disadvantaged families and offering them a new perspective on life and the future. It is in this context that Gen Verde’s workshops found a home, involving about 100 students aged 14 to 17 from the Heinrich-Heine-Realschule in Hagen.
The young people got involved and took up the challenge: for three days they tried their hand at street percussion, dance, singing, body percussion and theatre, bringing all their artistic and social experience to the stage for the concert on 12 February, which was attended by more than 400 spectators.
The voices of young people
«It was a great discovery for me that everything could be transformed into music, even my body! I was scared of the stage, of performing in front of so many people, but knowing that I wouldn’t be alone, that there were so many of my friends on stage with me, helped me overcome this fear!» confessed one of the participants at the end of the Start Now project.
«I found it difficult to memorise the sequence of steps in the choreography and keep in time with the others. This made me realise the importance of commitment and hard work in achieving a goal», said another student.
One hundred young people were able to bring to the stage what the Kommende and Gen Verde’s Start Now project aim to convey during this experience: learning to take charge of your own life, having confidence in yourself, and the winning formula is to do it together with others.
