As I type the young people from Daimohk will be making last minute preparations for tonight’s concert to mark their 10th Anniversary.  Many of you will have seen their performances on one of their many tours and marveled at their tremendous energy and spirit.

So that no-one feels left out, here is a video of their performance of the ‘Dagestan Dance’ from last year’s UK Tour.  I confess that it is my favourite dance – when the group come to the UK I get to spend a lot of time with the girls.  I love their contagious giggling, their constant running around, their ability to get everything organised, their sheer hard work.  But, they’re also no different to any other young women.  This dance, I think, really allows them to let rip, to whoop and holler and show off what energetic and talented dancers they are.  Enjoy.

Dagestan Dance from Peacebuilding UK on Vimeo.

Daimohk’s 10th anniversary concert will be held this evening in Grozny – our Programmes Co-ordinator Chris Hunter spoke with Ramzan Akhmadov the group’s leader yesterday, who was doing a dress rehearsal with the kids.

Members of PBUK have sent video messages, which will be played on a large screen at the event, together with a message from our Honorary President and messages from other supporters in Europe.  Chris has written a message for the programme at this prestigious event. We have also learnt that a UK Parliamentary delegation plan to be there this evening.

I think that Chris’ words probably sum up just how far Daimohk have come in the past ten years, so I won’t say anymore…

Read the rest…

Little Star in Turkey

The Little Star team of psychologists and support staff gathered in the Turkish Mediterranean town of Kiris, near Antalya from 14^th to 22^nd October together with Louis Greig (Honorary President) and Chris Hunter (Programmes Coordinator) from Peacebuilding UK, Janet Riley from Friends’ International Library, and interpreters Ismayil Khayredinov and John Coutts.

The main task of the meeting was to create a first draft of a teacher’s training manual to assist teachers in Chechnya in using the book Power of Goodness: Stories of Nonviolence and Reconciliation in schools. Janet Riley created this book project and has worked on it with many other people from around the world for over 15 years. The stories that will form the second edition of the book can be seen on the website www.fil.quaker.org.
Peacebuilding UK has applied for funding for the printing of the second edition and the teacer’s manual. Janet was moved and delighted to see how the Little Star team have taken the project to heart and found good use for it in their work with children in Chechnya, and to see them developing it further and creating the manual for use in Chechen schools.

Having created an outline structure for the manual, the group proceeded to work on individual lesson plans for each of the 25 stories. These and other sections of the book will be finished in Chechnya by mid-November, and then edited by an educator with experience of creating curricula in the US. Little Star will review the edited version before sending the manual to print.

John Coutts has translated many of the stories in Power of Goodness, and Ismayil Khayredinov not only interpreted tirelessly throughout the meeting but made many excellent suggestions for the teacher’s manual. Louis Greig was able to hear detailed reports and stories on the present situation in Chechnya and the work of Little Star, and the psychologists very much enjoyed renewing their connection with him. We were all impressed to hear from Little Star how their training work with teachers and school psychologists in trauma counselling and psychosocial assistance workshops is developing. The Ministry of Education is increasingly making requests to Little Star to conduct such seminars to help staff to better understand and deal with psychological trauma in schools throughout Chechnya. Little Star is preparing a mobile training unit to visit all of Chechnya’s 15 regions next year, to provide three-day training seminars in each regional centre.

Everyone greatly appreciated and enjoyed the banquet that Louis arranged in a nearby restaurant on his final evening, presided over by the newly appointed Countess of Kabardino-Balkaria, Janet Riley, and of course the evening’s hostess and Little Star accountant Zargan Isaeva. Staying in a resort near the Mediterranean meant that there were excellent opportunities for well deserved relaxation. Long lunch breaks and later afternoon/ evening sessions provided several hours for swimming in the sea and sunbathing in the middle of the day. The hotel’s evening entertainment had an extra attraction for the week we were there – Chechen dancing! This complemented the Turkish dancing well and was enjoyed by our group, our Turkish hosts and Russian holidaymakers alike. The group left for home in good spirits, happy to have spent the time together and to have made so much progress in creating the teacher’s manual. The completed version will be ready for printing in early 2010.

Did you miss the Daimohk UK Tour this time around, or maybe you saw their breathtaking performances and can’t wait until next year for another fix?  We are pleased to announce that we have a selection of merchandise for sale.  All proceeds help cover the costs of the tour and enable the group to continue performing to new audiences throughout the world.

Of course we welcome donations the whole year round to support Daimohk, so please consider either a one-off donation or setting up a regular standing order.  More details on how on our Donations Page.

“Dans Grozny Dans” or “The Damned and the Sacred” DVD – £12+P&P

This is a documentary film about Daimohk by Dutch film-maker Jos de Putter in 2004. Jos and his team followed Daimohk, comprised  of children between the ages of 6 and 16, on their tour through Europe, filming them in Amsterdam, London, Krakow and Warsaw, and during their journey by bus through Europe and Russia. The film also shows the children practicing in the rubble of Grozny and performing in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and London’s Lyric Theatre.

“Chechen Tunes” – £5+P&P

Ten Chechen folk melodies by the musicians of Daimohk, recorded during a visit of the group to London.

2009 Tour poster – £1+P&P

This large tour poster features one of the Daimohk dancers who performed in the UK this year.  A great memento from the tour!

How to purchase

If you would like to buy either of these or multiple copies then please post a cheque payable to ‘Peacebuilding UK’ with your order, name and address to:

‘Peacebuilding UK’
Unit 7
Thorne Farm
Bude
Cornwall
EX23 0LU
England

or alternatively please e-mail info@peacebuildinguk.org with the above details and either forward us a cheque or pay through My Charity Page with ‘Daimohk Merchandise’ marked clearly in the message section.

We’ve been so lucky with getting some fantastic coverage of the 2009 Daimohk Tour – both in listings and in various articles in the press and on the BBC.  Thanks to all who covered it, and a special thanks to Nick for his photos and prints – hope you got some good shots on Monday!

We’re hoping that we can add all of this and more to our growing archive of photos and film.  If you took any photos of Daimohk or if you filmed any of the performances then we want to hear from you.  Maybe you have put a film up on YouTube or have some photos you want to share with us?  If so then share the link with us in the comments box or send a disc to our office address.

To make life easier I have set up a Flickr group to help photographers share their Daimohk photos.  In time we will add a ‘Gallery’ page to this site to enable all of the photos in the group to appear on our site.

Here’s how it works:

• Go to the Flickr website and create a personal account for free if you don’t already have one
• Follow the instructions to upload your photos onto your own personal Flickr page
• Visit the Daimohk Flickr group and become a member
• Go back to your personal Flickr pages, click on ‘Organize’ and then drag the photos you want to share into the middle of the page to create a ‘batch’ of photos
• You then need to click on ‘Send to Group’. Select Daimohk and follow the instructions
• Your photos will automatically appear on this page once the gallery page is created!

www.flickr.com/groups/daimohk

It’s with heavy hearts that we said goodbye to Daimohk yesterday morning.  It’s been such a busy time, and bringing them here is such a huge task, but despite that I think that we would have loved a few more days with the group!  Over 5,000 people came to the five performances and many more would have seen them online or on TV, so hopefully if you are reading this you will have some insight into just how spirited and special the Daimohk children are.

I’m hoping to get some photos and film up soon, but in the meantime, while I catch up on work and sleep you can watch a selection of films that Faye has added to her YouTube page, a short film from the masterclass at Kings Langley School on the BBC Russia site (in Russian) and read an article from the Daily Mail!

It’s hard to know where to begin with the thank yous, everyone has been so kind and worked so hard – this little blog hardly does it justice!

Chris Hunter, our Programmes Co-ordinator has, as always, gone above and beyond the call of duty to bring everything together.  Without his hard work sorting out visas, travel, accommodation, catering and venues this tour simply would not have taken place.  He has just a few nights kipping in his own bed before heading out to France to join Daimohk for the next leg of their tour.  How far things have come from a meeting with Ramzan in Chechnya back in 1999!

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ramzan and Aiza Akhmatov for their continued work developing Daimohk into the world class dance ensemble that they are.  From choreography to costumes they put in so much work to bring audiences superb performances.  It’s hard to comprehend that this dynamic and beautiful dancing springs from the ashes of war.

Alice Lagnado has done a fantastic job of raising the profile of the tour through the media – she has a fantastic energy and all of the kids are head over heels in love with her!  Louis Greig, PBUK’s Honorary President hosted the Gala Performance on Monday and kindly gave funds for a memorable day out on Sunday.  Thanks also to PBUK’s Trustees for supporting the tour and spreading the word and to our accountant Howard for balancing the books and dealing with the challenges a tour like this brings!

Faye Waterton, who has known Daimohk since they first started touring in the UK accompanied the group for most of the UK tour.  She is so much a part of the group that they have declared that she is an honorary Chechen – the girls worship her and the boys want to marry her!  Thanks also to her Mum, Lorraine Sheldon and family Abbi, Evan and Owen for helping out.

Mary O’Meara and Fran have been working around the clock to feed the group – no mean feat given the appetites of these kids!  Thank you both so much for putting up with requests for raw garlic salads and keeping us in supplies of yummy home-made cakes!  Hope you’re both getting a well-earned rest now!  Thanks also to Danny for allowing us to use the scout hut and clearing up afterwards!  Roisa, Magomed and Shamilt’s mother, who accompanied the group, has also worked incredibly hard cooking, cleaning and keeping the group in order!

We’re also grateful to Magomed Tutaev, former Daimohk dancer now studying Civil Engineering at Brighton University (and getting some astounding results it should be said!), for all of his help keeping the group entertained!  Thanks also to Calum for accompanying the group throughout the European Tour.

Aside from those who helped out, came to performances, wished us well and made donations to cover the costs of the tour we would like to express our thanks to the members of the extended Daimohk family who couldn’t make it – you know who you are!  Special mention however to Chris Layton, Camilla Carr and Jon James who were in our thoughts even though they couldn’t make it this time round.

“Большое спасибо” to these people and anyone I’ve missed out!  Hats off to you!

We’re currently sat in the Lilian Baylis studio preparing for tonight’s performance.  The kids are hard at work rehearsing, Ramzan is putting them through their paces, Aiza is making last minute adjustments to costumes and the girls are ironing out the creases.  The performance tonight is almost sold out, so we’re hoping for a full house.

I’ve been with Daimohk since Thursday and I’m astounded at how much energy they have!  Bringing them here and hosting them is such a huge undertaking, but seeing them running around, laughing and playing I’m reminded how important this visit is.  Yes, they are amazing dancers, but first and foremost they are kids.  Hopefully coming on tour allows them the space to play around free from worry.

On Tuesday the group conducted a master class at Kings Langley School ahead of their excellent performance.  We were lucky enough to have a journalist from the BBC come along and film it.  Russian speakers can check out the film on the BBC Russian website.

Thanks so much to everyone who has pitched in to make this happen – our caterers, people in the press, everyone coming to the shows.  It means a lot that Daimohk are getting the profile that they deserve.

Right – two hours until show, time to do some last minute work!  See you later!

I’m going to be heading down to London tomorrow afternoon to meet with Daimohk but I’ve been getting some wonderful reports of their tour so far.  This latest update comes from our Programmes Co-ordinator, Chris Hunter who has done an immense amount of work to ensure that this tour took place.

‘Daimohk just did an excellent workshop for around 40 kids from Kings Langley Rudolf Steiner School. A journalist from BBC Russia Online was there, so from tomorrow you should be able to see a 6-minute clip of the workshop with interviews (in Russian) on the BBC Russian pages.

At 7.30 this evening Daimohk will do a full 90-minute performance in the school’s theatre, nearly all the tickets have been sold (370).
Last night a similar sized audience at the Michael Hall School theatre in Forest Row were stunned and delighted with the performance there.

There are still many tickets to be sold for the two performances at Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells this Saturday 18th and Monday 20th July at 7.15. Go to here for information about how to get tickets. Please tell anyone you know who can get there, it will be an unforgettable treat!

Daimohk will have free days from tomorrow till saturday, and will be going swimming & sightseeing in London.’

If you are on Facebook then you can RSVP on our events page.  We are also on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PeacebuildingUK if you want to keep up to date with the tour!

Well, the months of training certainly paid off last night with an absolutely staggering performance at the finale of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, performed to a huge audience of 3,500 people!  If you were there then please leave your comments on the performance, or let us know if you have any photos or video you would like to share with us!

I briefly met with Daimohk earlier on their way down to London where I will meet them in a few days.  It’s just wonderful to see children who I haven’t seen since 2006 growing into young men and women and to receive some big Chechen hugs from the group!  Their positive energy is completely infectious, so it’s such a joy to have a hand in bringing them over here to share their talents with new audiences.

In a little bit of bad news their trusty coach, which has carried them all the way from Grozny, broke down just half a mile from the Eisteddfod.  The problems have now been fixed, but this additional cost to the tour now makes it unlikely that Daimohk will be able to raise the funds they had hoped for on this tour.  So, if you are at all able, please consider making a donation to help cover the costs of the tour and their work back home.  You can go to our Donations Page to find out how to donate.

I’m going to be filming some of the performances in London to ensure that we can introduce more and more people to the wonderful talent coming out of Chechnya.  However, in the meantime here is a YouTube clip from their 2006 UK Tour of one of my favourite dances – the Dagestan Dance.  Many thanks to Faye for this footage.  Enjoy!

We’re now getting incredibly excited about Daimohk’s visit with the news that they are now making their way across Europe for their first performance in Llangollen at the weekend!  A phenomenal amount of work is taking place so that the children have a fun and relaxing time on the tour, so huge thanks once again to our staff for all of their hard work!

We’re also happy to announce that the performance at Michael Hall School has been successfully re-scheduled.  The details are now:

Michael Hall School Theatre
Monday 13th July at 7.30pm

Tickets £12 Adults, £7 for 18’s and under
Tickets available from the office at Michael Hall School, Kidbrooke park, Forest Row, East Sussex , RH18 5JA, or The Seasons,  Hartfield Road , Forest Row,  East Sussex
or Tel: 01342 825 083