Dancing through Gunshots in Brazil's Favelas
October 25, 2018
922,146
37,345
1,510
4.21%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Vice Episodes Around October 25, 2018
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
17:27Now PlayingDancing through Gunshots in Brazil's Favelas
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelBallet and Bullets: Dancing Out of the Favela” was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
“Na Ponta dos Pes” (On Tiptoes) is a ballet project in the Alemão favela complex in Rio de Janeiro, created by Tuany Nascimento – a 23-year-old dancer who represented Brazil at international events during a flourishing career that was abruptly cut short by a lack of resources. Rather than letting her head drop, the setback strengthened Tuany’s determination to help troubled communities through dance.
Tuany started teaching classes in the Morro do Adeus favela, where she lives. It’s one of the roughest parts of Alemão, which is currently at the centre of a rolling feud between rival drug cartels and the military police.
Many students in her group of girls, aged 4-15, come from families caught up in narco turf wars and afflicted by the chronic crisis of opportunity and urban poverty in the Favelas.
With an average 20 incidents of weapons fired every day in Rio, last year saw more than 100 police deaths – as well as hundreds more civilians, many of whom are caught in the crossfire of confrontations in their local areas.
Intensifying violence in Alemão heightens Tuany’s motivation to find support for the construction of a community centre, which will give her girls a safe space to dance and study.
After the challenges of her own career, Tuany knows her students can’t all become pro ballerinas – but the discipline she teaches will transcend the act of learning to dance, setting them up with a better chance to escape the bitter cycle of hardship which swallows up so many young lives in Brazil.
During one of her lessons in a basketball court in the centre of the Morro do Adeus favela a shootout between rival gangs breaks out with innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.
Tuany is forced to put the ballet school on hold due to escalating violence and until they can raise money for the new community centre so they can have a safe space to practice.
Click here to subscribe to VICE
Check out our full video catalog
Videos, daily editorial and more
More videos from the VICE network
Click here to get the best of VICE daily
Like VICE on Facebook
Follow VICE on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
Download VICE on iOS
Download VICE on Android
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.