Integration, tolerance and intercultural understanding form the thematic core of Steps to Connect. These qualities build naturally through the development of dance skills and creativity in a cross-cultural arena.

By providing an outline of the history and social framework of a different culture, participants develop a rounded appreciation and understanding of the people and the country.

Steps to Connect aims to give young people from England the opportunity to explore and understand aspects of South African culture as well as write and visually document their own stories centred around their lives and wider society. This work will then be used by students from Indonesia and Germany as the basis for their future choreography.

The workshop sessions are designed to engage young people in, and provide them access to, physical activity as well as to engender enthusiasm and enjoyment in dance and choreography.

The project not only allows space to explore elements of a distinctly different culture but also a critical view of the characteristics and features of the participants own environment.