MARA IN MOTION AFRICA 2007 - Dancing for the Children
Mara has been politically committed for a long time (Mara in Motion, her first ever Italian gala, helped research on child leukaemia), and she is now creating a new charity foundation in London, Dancing for the Children, whose name is also the title for the production in Africa: Mara in Motion Africa 2007 – Dancing for the Children.
“I really believe in this initiative”, Mara says, “I am proud of being able to help children who live a life less wealthy than we all live. Ballet can speak a universal language and it can deal wonderfully with our humanitarian aim.”
Mara in Motion Africa 2007 is in Pretoria and Cape Town from July 18th to 28th. Besides the evening Galas, there will be many workshops arranged for local children. “It is going to be a very intense fifteen day experience, with at least two ballet evenings in each city and many workshops. We are going to work in a very different environment, in a difficult climate - it is summer -. Everything is going to be different from what we are used to at the Royal Opera House, but my colleagues and I are very enthusiastic.” The entire income will be given to research against HIV and to help cure the children.
A few dancers from the South African Ballet Theatre are joining the stars of the Royal Ballet in Pretoria, while a couple from the Cape Town City Ballet are scheduled in Cape Town. The programme is very varied. Mara Galeazzi says: “The Royal Ballet itself is well known for its wide repertoire and for its variety of styles: these different performers from the local companies are helping us to increase the international range of this initiative, not just regarding the schedule, but also concerning the aim itself. I am very fond of dancing abroad with my colleagues, as we do in my own show, Mara in Motion, in Italy. By the way, the Dancing for the Children project in Africa is even more important to me because it links to a wider humanitarian aim. It makes me proud and fills me with emotion.”
