Partners: Zugraga Dance, the Prison Education and Re-Entry Platform of the University of Malta and the Centre of Residential Restorative Services (CoRRS), which is part of the Correctional Services Agency.
Implementation period: 16 November 2019 – 15 May 2020.
ChaChaChakra is the collaborative effort by four diverse Maltese institutions to provide juvenile inmates held at the Centre of Residential Restorative Services (CoRRS) in Mtaħleb with an opportunity to engage in movement workshops. These workshops will focus on dance whilst also incorporating elements of yoga. They will aim to give the participants a sense of self-worth as well as something creative and fun to look forward to. The creative and meditative practice promoted by ChaChaChakra will engage participants in a deeply healing process that will guide the practitioners towards new and profound ways of expressing their feelings of rage, frustration, alienation and confusion of current and past situations. The project also intends to improve their teamwork, integration and coping skills.
In brief, the activities provided by the project will foster:
- creativity, healthiness and a sense of fulfilment
- self-awareness & self-reflection
- soft and social skill development, including teamwork and integration
Course of action:
The workshops are open to all inmates for voluntary engagement. In the course of three months ten workshops (each one hour) will be held with two separate groups.
Two of the professional dancers and choreographers of Zugraga Dance facilitate the workshops consisting of dance warm ups, group work, creative devising and yoga.
The impact of the project on the beneficiary youth inmates will then be assessed by Dr Joseph Giordmaina, Senior Lecturer at the University of Malta and coordinator of the Prison Education and Re-Entry Platform.
The project is presented by a cross-sectorial partnership: Kopin is acting as the coordinator of the project; Zugraga Dance is an emerging dance organisation aiming at interaction with different communities for the promotion of social values; the Prison Education and Re-Entry Platform of the University of Malta provides expertise in formal and non-formal learning and skill development in inmates, focusing on the latter’s wellbeing and their successful re-entry into society; and the management of the Centre of Residential Restorative Services (CoRRS), which is part of the Correctional Services Agency.
ChaChaChakra is co-funded by the Arts Council Malta’s Creative Communities, a fund established for community-led creative and artistic activities. For further information, visit the fund’s website
