U.S. Embassy Supports Artistic Project in Cabañas
November 15 , 2007

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Victoria is the name of this city and victory is the word that best describes the results of a modern dance project aimed at keeping youth of this Cabañas’ city interested in healthy activities and away from violence and drugs. The project was developed thanks to a grant from the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador.

Twenty teenagers belong to a dance group and a music band dedicated to performing U.S. musicals of the 70s. The notes of “Saturday Night Fever” and “Grease” invaded Victoria’s central park on Tuesday November 13.

“We are very excited by the results of this Project. We have been working on it the last semester of this year”, explained the director of the Culture House Telma Escobar. “We have never seen so many teens so interested in what they are doing and concentrated on something that makes them more disciplined and more proud of themselves every day”, she added.

The teenagers received the support of Peace Corps Volunteer Lisa Clausen, who was involved in the creation of the project and in all details of its development. Ms. Clausen says that “the young people were getting involved step by step and now they dedicate most of the day to be better in their art”. And with a dose of humbleness she adds: “I just was with them in something that they have done for themselves”.

A 17 year-old dancer, José Valdez, is a member of the group who assures that dancing has made him want to be better in other things: “When I see people telling me that my dance is cool and that they admire me, I feel good and want to be better in a lot of things, not only in this.”

The project continues until January 2008.