UW-Madison's First Wave hip-hop dance performance group has been selected to participate in Contacting the World 2010, an international theater project that marks First Wave's debut on the world stage.
First Wave, which is administered by the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives, is the first university program in the country concentrated on hip-hop culture and spoken-word performances. The group has 45 student artists on full-tuition scholarship at UW-Madison.
According to Willie Ney, director of the OMAI, the students create scripts and perform pieces based on various issues that affect youth.
""All of the pieces are the original conception of the students themselves,"" he said. ""[They are] reflections on issues that affect youth culture in communities … They could be issues related to gender, domestic violence, racism, or sexuality.""
First Wave is the only theater group from the U.S. that was chosen to participate in Contacting the World, and there are only two groups from the Western Hemisphere participating.
Ney said in a statement that the event is a special opportunity for First Wave.
""This is an unprecedented and unique opportunity for First Wave students to be exposed to artistic colleagues from around the world, while creating and performing on an international stage,"" he said.
According to a release, Contacting the World connects young people's theater groups for the goal of creating theater worldwide.
The release said all groups are paired with a partner in the creation of their material, and First Wave will work with Junges Theatre Basel from Basel, Switzerland. The two groups will collaborate via social media and travel between the two countries.
The event will take place in Manchester, England, July 18 to 26, and there will be more than 40 countries and almost 1,000 students involved in the event.
