The Department of Social Services together with the Sports area of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council have opted for the Urban Dance School Maspalomas project as a tool “with a lot of potential for the integration of minors at risk of exclusion, generally coming from unstructured families and who are currently cared for by the Social Work Unit through the Childhood and Family program, ProInfa.” This service lacked a recreational activity that was “formal in the educational process, attractive to young people, academically structured and that allowed the social integration of this group,” explains the councilor of Social Services, Dimas Sarmiento.
The collaboration initiated between the City Council of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Urban Dance School Maspalomas consists of the subsidy for the purchase of sports equipment, as well as the payment of the monthly payment, the payment of insurance, the federation token in addition to giving up the spaces to practice. this Olympic discipline. As Sarmiento indicates, the objective sought by the Administration is “to offer an alternative to these minors, between 4 and 18 years old, with which they can relate and express themselves through music. This joint collaboration between the areas of Social Services and Sports will allow the most disadvantaged families to also offer their minors the opportunity to practice a sport, which in addition to being an Olympic discipline, is at the same time a form of communication as it is the “Dance is a non-verbal language where the dancer expresses feelings and emotions through his or her movements and gestures.”
The Department of Social Services plans an initial collaboration of four months, extendable for a full year, depending on the objectives set. In principle, there will be more than 50 minors who have started this activity. These will be integrated with the rest of the students, that is, it will not be a specific class for minors from the Social Work Unit, but from the beginning they will be integrated with the rest of the groups, because the objective, highlights the mayor of Social Services “is that they integrate and acquire skills that allow their social inclusion.” The centers where this discipline is taught are the CEIP el Tablero, the Víctor Miranda Pavilion, and the Vicente del Bosque Sports City of the Romeral castle.
On the other hand, Urban Dance School Maspalomas is already working to launch new projects that aim at the participation and inclusion of minors with intellectual disabilities such as Down syndrome, Asperger's, Autism Spectrum Disorder or ADHD, among others. In addition, the Department of Social Services and Sports have launched, until December 29, the 'MaspaChristmas Dance Camp' where about 50 minors attend during this holiday period. As explained by the Councilor for Sports, Ramón Suárez, this is “without a doubt, a tool that will help the social development of many minors at risk of exclusion while introducing other sports disciplines that are in great demand in the municipality.” and that it did not have an offer until now.”
