Come Unity

kenya
Posted By : Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe

In the Rift Valley community of Ibisil, Kenya, a water well is under construction at a secondary girls school with the help of Kristin Scott, a 31-year-old ballet dancer from Bristol, Pennsylvania. Through her organization Come Unity, which brings together dancers, largely from the American Repertory Ballet of New Brunswick, New Jersey, for fundraising performances, Kristin has been doing charitable work in Kenya since 2007.

Kristin has worked as a professional dancer since graduating Indiana University with her B.S. in ballet. She auditioned all around the country after school, and landed as a trainee at the American Repertory Ballet for a year, after which she joined the group. On summer breaks from the ballet, Kristin had traveled to Peru, Belize, and Mexico. But through the Global Volunteer Network, she decided to take a slightly longer trip – seven weeks in a slum near Nairobi.

“I wanted to experience it firsthand,” Kristin said. “It wasn’t a nice clean tourist trip. I lived with a Kenyan family that ran day programs for orphans and vulnerable children. They feed and teach these kids during the day, and a new program was just getting off the ground when I was there.”

Funds she brought with her from the first Come Unity bought them a blackboard. Come Unity has since raised over $50,000 for projects in Kenya, turning its attention to improving access to clean water. At this fall’s The Pointe of Water, dancers from American Repertory Ballet will choreograph and perform new work at the Painted Bride – some thematically related, some not – and educate audience members about the plight of communities with a scarcity of fresh water. It will be the first time that Kristin and the dancers from American Repertory Ballet have participated in Philly Fringe.

When I spoke with her, Kristin cited a buried cultural assumption that I hadn’t considered before: when you’re prescribed medicine to take with water, you don’t think twice, right? Neither do I. But she pointed out that residents of communities without water access can’t even use medications that come free from their government, let alone grow food, raise animals, or practice good sanitation.

After the jump, Kristin talks about her trip to Ibisil, and a Kenyan bartender explains how he’d alleviate some of the pressure on urban slums.

The Pointe of Water
Sun. 9/13 7:00 pm
Painted Bride Art Center
230 Vine Street
Tickets $15
We dance for social change. Proceeds from this event will go towards bringing clean, safe drinking water to communities in Africa. Born in the hearts of American Repertory Ballet’s impressive dancers, COME UNITY has raised over $50,000 since 2007. Fresh choreography. Phenomenal dancing. Inspiring stories. Heartbreaking truths. Join us. www.comeunity.yolasite.com

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