As a crowd gathers round them in the playground of a UN school in Gaza, the Camp Breakerz Crew jump into a medley of flips and twists. The excited audience, some watching from balconies above, is made up of hundreds of Palestinian children, all sheltering in the school in Nuseirat refugee camp.
Camp Breakerz, a group of dancers who have lived through several wars in Gaza, have spent the past few weeks entertaining the children who have been displaced from their homes by Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
“I feel happy that we make the children forget about the attacks for a while. I feel happy when I see some smiles on their faces,” says Ahmed Alghariz, the co-founder of Camp Breakerz, which has been at the forefront of Gaza’s hip-hop scene since 2004.
Neither he nor his fellow dancer Karim Azzam live in Gaza but they have been trapped here, like another Palestinians unable to leave since the bombardment began. They had returned to produce a show with young dancers that was due to begin on 7 October. The fighting that has exploded sincehas put an end to their plans.
Alghariz says the group spent the first five days sheltering in their homes and trying to ensure their families had the necessities to survive, but when he enquired at a UN school about whether they could put on workshops, they found their help was enthusiastically welcomed.
“When I see this number of children and families around me, I feel a sense of responsibility,” he says. “To see the children respond is a pleasure – it makes me feel proud.”
Alghariz, who is trained as a trauma educator, said the workshops relieve stress and help children who are traumatised, and that even the act of forming a circle for the performances can build social bonds.
Families are crowded into the school’s classrooms and in rough shelters on the playground and everyone is concerned about how long they will have access to electricity, water, fuel and food, he said.
He and his fellow dancers share those worries but the performances help them too. Even after missiles struck an area nearby – one of their students was killed – they had decided to continue putting them on.
“Our own trauma was refreshed immediately when we heard a war would begin. What we lived through in every other attack on Gaza Strip returned to our minds and bodies. The instinct to run and survive starts,” says Alghariz.
“We decided to put on activities to feel alive again. It gives us energy and stability to stay strong and focused. It supports our orientation for our bodies and surroundings.”
The workshops have gone down well; since the first one put on by Camp Breakerz on 12 October, children have been begging them to return and the dancers say they feel that everyone benefits from them. Even when they are not putting on workshops, the crew dance and perform flips for children who gather outside the school to see them whenever it is safe.
“Helping a kid stressed with fear gives me comfort,” says Azzam. “We give them hope and happiness for a while. Older people can understand the situation, but what about the poor children? So we help them forget these scary conditions.”
