Ireland

2006

Dance4Life Ireland has started! The pilot project introduced the concept to the country in 2006 by working with schools and youth groups in Dublin and Cork, with 500 youth participating.

Each of the eight participating schools was visited by the Irish Dance4Life Tour Team for a two hour session filled with dance and exchange of information. The emphasis of the workshops was on talking to the fifteen and sixteen year olds about HIV and AIDS, sex education and teaching the Drill. The reaction of the students was really uplifting for the tour team. Join them by going to to their Bebo site and becoming a Friend!

“… i thought friday was unreal, the vibe was cool man!!!! I'm here with Lydia who was there aswell and she thought it was the best thing ever! We've literally been singing the song since! It was such a laugh!… we organised a no uniform day to raise money for Dance4life Ireland. It'll be on the 6th of December.”

“Hey Dance4Life came 2 my school 2day it was amazing thank u soo much we all had fun and we're gonna tell people about HIV and AIDS thank u xxxxx” Cath

Emma, emailed the tour team later and wrote: “Friday's class was just hilarious!!! It was good fun and really different. I think we could have spent more time at it though because there were a few parts of the dance that people were still uncomfortable with! A live band at the event would be sooooooooooooo cool!!!!!!!!”.

There was a Dance4Life Ireland 'Tips and Tricks' booklet published and handed out to all the participating youth, and the IFPA is also running a safer sex poster design competition for the Dance4Life students with prizes for the winner and an opportunity to support the HIV prevention project of his or her choice.

And the teachers were also enthused about Schools4Life:
‘I would definitely recommend Dance4Life to colleagues in other schools because all of our students found the project to be a very positive learning experience. The combination of the physical activity and the information begin given meant our students were highly motivated throughout”

‘My students were completely enthused or in their own language ‘blown away’ by the Dance4Life workshop. The workshop was educational and all information given about HIV and AIDS was given in a non-patronising fashion. Most importantly the students were active and had fun learning and performing the dance.’

The IFPA, the Dance4Life NCO, is an important advocate of reproductive rights both within Ireland and worldwide. They are a source of expert knowledge in the areas of sexual health. They provide the best possible reproductive health care in their centers to women and men, and of course non-directive counselling for women with crisis pregnancies.

The Sexual Health Centre Cork has been involved in the field of AIDS & Sexual Health since 1987 by providing support services for people with HIV & their significant others and HIV prevention/education programmes.


Want to know about the organisation in Ireland? Check the National Concept Owner (NCO) of Ireland here or got to their own Bebo site and become a Friend!