Now in its third year, the annual Batalo Dance Fest is a culmination of the achievements of a year of working together with a wide cross-section of young people and professional dancers from across the globe on traditional and urban dance forms. This August 2015, we will be welcoming the best and brightest young urban dancers from Kenya, the DRC, Rwanda, UK, Canada, the USA and Germany to join their Ugandan counterparts in the development of this movement. Details! SATURDAY 29 August 2015 At the Uganda National Cultural Centre/National Theatre: Elimination battles 12 noon -7pm in the CICP at the National Theatre. Entrance: 5,000 UGX; free entry for registered participants Hip Hop Theatre evening - 7.30 to 9 PM in the National Theatre Auditorium. Doors open at 7 PM. Entrance: 10,000 UGX After party/old school dance jam - 9.30 PM to midnight. Free entry with hand stamp from Eliminations or Hip Hop Theatre evening! SUNDAY 30 August 2015 (National Theatre) Semi-Finals, Final battles and new dance fusion showcases from around the world 3 – 8 PM in the National Theatre Auditorium. Doors open at noon for perusing the Urban Market clothing collection, cyphers and mingling! Entrance to the show: 10,000 UGX Tell me more… BATTLES: Dance competitions among the best and the brightest in East Africa, in six categories and fiercely contested, including Afro House, Top Rock, Krumping, Crew 5 on 5 Battle, Afro Hip Hop ( 2 on 2) and Style Yake (Freestyle). Getting down to business to see who is top in 2015! HIP HOP THEATRE: Introduction Ugandans to a new take on telling stories through hip-hop/urban and traditional dance in an evening of local and international performances experimenting with dance theatre. A unique treat for theatre and dance fans alike! SHOWCASES: Accomplished artists with an affinity for the traditional/urban dance concept from the region and internationally will showcase their original work to blend with the suspense of the final battles on Sunday 30 August. URBAN MARKET: A fresh perspective on casualwear for work and play - come support our work and get some new, original and unique ‘traditional meets urban’ threads for September. Check our Facebook page as styles emerge… What else? We’re so glad you asked! From Monday 24 August – Friday 28 August, there will be traditional dance, choreography, and physiology workshops, as part of Batalo East’s partnership with the professional dance collective Break Anatomy, the German Sports University of Cologne, Makerere University and Goethe Zentrum Kampala. The programme will include Master Classes, Seminars, Outreach, Arts Advocacy discussions and evening programmes around Kampala. Advocacy discussions are organized in collaboration with Guerilla Arts, and entitled Dance Lab - Bringing together leaders in the dance sector in Uganda from academic to practitioners, to discuss and formulate strategies to raise the profile of and support for the development of the arts in general and dance in particular in East Africa. Participants and teachers from around the globe have been selected for their active interest in and contribution to dance in Uganda, the region and internationally! Who is doing all of this??? Batalo East is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and registered in Uganda initiated by Abdul 'abdanger' kinyenya, its composed of some members of Tabu Flo Dance Company, Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU) and other individuals who are committed to the idea of bringing traditional and urban dances together in order to preserve and develop African cultural heritage. Please look at our website, WWW.BATALOEAST.ORG for further information about us as a team. See you at the end of August!