The French Embassy has partnered with a non-governmental organisation, Fame Foundation, to promote social inclusion and empower youths in Nigeria through sports.
The partnership is to also strengthen the inclusion of young and vulnerable people, inspire and teach valuable life skills to young people under the Play It, Dream It initiative ahead of the 2024 International Breakdance Competition in France.
The breakdance has been chosen to feature on the Paris 2024 Olympic sports programme as a new sport, along with surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing.
Speaking at the competition in Abuja on Saturday, the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, said, “Who could have predicted a few decades ago that breaking, this popular dance born out of hip-hop culture in the block parties of New York’s Bronx, would one day take pride of place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and that millions of spectators and television viewers would acclaim the break dancers around the world?
“This is indeed the first time this discipline has officially entered the Olympic programme, and we are very proud that Paris will be its first arena. Knowing the creativity and talent of Nigerians, we cannot be surprised to see the tremendous enthusiasm that today’s competition has aroused, from the first qualifier in Kaduna, through the stages of Kano, Port Harcourt, Abuja, and soon Lagos.
“Dozens of young people from all over Nigeria have come to take part in this national competition organised by the Fame Foundation, hoping to qualify for the grand finale, with the dream of one day representing Nigeria at prestigious competitions. Popular, acrobatic, spectacular, and extremely unifying, breaking is a sport that showcases the creativity of the dancers who will perform power moves to win the judges’ votes and the first breaking title.”
Blatmann said dance unites, heals, and it is at the heart of everyone’s life, and at the heart of the economy.
“Dance is also a formidable vector of core values – freedom, fraternity, surpassing oneself, but also rigor and excellence.
“These values are also at the heart of the work of Fame Foundation, a formidable Nigerian organisation that promotes sport as a vehicle for social inclusion, and we partner on this project,” she added.
The Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Aderonke Ogunleye-Bello, said six finalists will be selected and will compete at the grand finale in Lagos in November 2023.
“We have been to Kano, Kaduna, Port-Harcourt and this is the fourth place, which is the FCT. In two weeks, we will be in Lagos for the final qualifier, and there will be the overall finals where we will choose two overall winners to represent Nigeria at the international breakdance championship in Paris
“For the first time ever, break dance will feature for the first time as a sport next year. So we are here to create awareness and use it as a tool to empower youth. While we are doing this, we are also campaigning against social vices. The project is sponsored by the French embassy in Nigeria,” she said.
