Dance with Erasmus

ESN Košice decided to organise different kind of SocialErasmus activity  called Dance with Erasmus which is part of the „Erasmus at Schools“ project. The main aim was to integrate international students into Slovak society while giving an opportunity to high school students to practise foreign languages – mainly English, but also Spanish, Italian etc. The purpose was also to inform high school students about Erasmus in general (as they will graduate high school soon and will continue their studies at universities) – i.e. we introduced to them how Erasmus works, what they can expect and how students who came to Košice are satisfied with this international exchange programme. All this by means of dancing activites which in the end shall lead to performance of professional flashmob in one of the shopping centres in Košice. The ESN Košice coordinator of this project was Zuzana Gimerová.

The first challenge (which we accepted:) was to find Erasmus students who would be willing to participate in this unusual project. It was not so easy at all but we did it and the result was awesome – we found the best students! But I have to say that not only Erasmus students participated, but also EVS volunteer and regular international student. 

After our first informational meeting, we had our basic Erasmus dancing group – awesome ladies from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Spain, Portugal and perfect guys from Israel, Italy and Turkey. We started our trainings at University Dance center in Košice with the best choreographer Bea Albertova, who was (with great patience) training with us the professional choreography since the middle of November 2013. During trainings we enjoyed so much fun. We also had rehearsal directly at one of the Košice´s disco club and forced our poor guys to dance to „Single ladies“ with us (sorry guys once again :)

Next step was to find local students from high school. We managed it easily and the result was that Erasmus students were teaching the choreography and spending time with students from high school Gymnázium Park Mládeže. Students were very curious about all issues connected with Erasmus, so the main aim of the project was successfully reached.

The final point of our meetings was to perform the choreography which we learned all together in the shopping center for the public. Shopping center Optima was so generous, that it provided us not only with the premises where we performed the flashmob but also music and skilled technicians who were helping us to make it perfect. And it really was – 15.1.2014 was the day! The first international flashmob in Košice surprised people so much that they liked it and we finally performed it once again. Atmosphere was awesome. The result is the video, which you can see below. And of course we had also afterparty all together in a place where it all started – Little Havana.

 

We really hope that this wasn´t the only Dance with Erasmus in Košice and that it has started the chain of more successful flashmobs with ESN in Košice. Hopefully coming soon again with new Erasmus in Košice in summer semester! :-) So guys - let´s dance!

Optima dance video :)

Author: Zuzana Gimerová, ESN Košice Dance with Erasmus coordinator

Photos: Zuzana Gimerová and Flash mob dance Slovakia (cover)