“We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.”

Japanese Proverb

To have a comprehensive view of the interest in practising dance, it might be useful to complete this Japanese proverb with David Byrne’s statement: “To shake your rump is to be environmentally aware.” But whatever the philosophy you prefer, dance still remains a good way to have fun and to free, for a moment, the bodies from the daily pressure of our modern societies.

In the Msida Dance Centre, everyone has found in dancing a real passion and the students admit to looking forward to their lessons each week. They share this moment of enjoyment with a dedicated team of teachers, managed by Kim Spiteri the Dance Centre principal, who also teaches modern and hip-hop to children and adults and loves to choreograph.

I caught up with Kim after one of her class lessons and she started talking about dancing in Malta.

What kind of dances are you teaching at the Msida Dance Centre?

We teach various dances: hip-hop, jazz, modern and Latin dances. This year, we also started to provide Flamenco and belly dancing lessons. We always try to introduce new ideas. Hip-hop lessons, for example, are really popular and attract several young students. It is mainly because it was much promoted, such as in music clips; but also because of the really large range it offers to always create new movements and

choreographies.

Are there a lot of men interested in dancing?

Dance culture in Malta has changed and a lot of guys come for dance lessons now. They come for any dance styles that we offer at the dance centre. But I think that to love dance, you should first think of dancing as fun. It doesn’t matter if you are doing it as a hobby or a profession, or if you are a man or a woman. The most important is to always enjoy it.

Is dance popular in Malta?

Yes. Dancing is very popular and we have quite a few high-quality dancing schools. As for us, we always try to organise the dance centre like any other dance school in Europe. Every year, UK examiners come to conduct exams for our students. In this way, they can obtain certificates recognised by the UK and most of the countries in the world. I have seen the school progressing year after year, with more and more students. And every year, we also organise the Annual Students Show where we invite and encourage all the students, beginners or experienced, to take part. Moreover, we are lucky to have the largest dancing school in Malta with four dance halls to teach and practise dance. Students can come when they want to

practise, alone or in groups, for no charge at all.

What is the level of Maltese dancers compared to other

countries?

We have a lot of talented dancers in Malta in all type of dances and I wish we would get more and more opportunities to show our talent abroad. Having more contacts with other countries could give us the opportunity to improve our level. It is important to always have fresh and new ideas. Malta is a small island with very limited means, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t compare our talents with bigger countries. This is available in all kind of art expression: music, painting, theatre, etc. And we have some really professional shows with excellent choreographers.

Last July, I led a group of 16 dancers from our Dance Centre went to China to take zpart in The Tianjin International Culture and Arts Festival. It was a worldwide festival that brought together dancers from 44 different countries and provinces of China. We performed a 25-minute show which I choreographed. It was a weeklong festival and a fantastic opportunity to discover different type of dances. You learn just by watching the others. We performed hip-hop and modern dances, as well as folklore dances with Maltese costumes and music. People enjoyed it a lot. But seeing the Chinese dancers was also really impressive, they are very disciplined and dedicated and they work really hard. Their shows were fantastic.

During this trip, we also performed in Hong Kong and Guangdong. While in China we had several meetings with other dance teachers to develop some cooperation and exchanges for our students. I feel proud and happy that in December another group of dancers from the Msida Dance Centre performed in a Dance Festival in Cyprus. We look forward to more and more dancing both here and abroad. So, play the music… let’s dance!

The Msida Dance Centre is located in 35 Sawmill Street, Msida and is open from Monday to Friday, from 4 to 10pm and on Saturday from 9am to 2pm.

For more information about Msida Dance Centre please visit the web site: www.msidadancecenter.com or e-mail:

[email protected]