Addis Gyms Bouncing with Hip Hop

By MIREILLE DE VILLIERS

SPECIAL TO FORTUNE.

Dancing is no strange thing to Addis Abeba, the capital city of a country where dancing forms a fundamental part of celebrations and social gatherings after dark. This is a country where no bar is likely to tell its clientele not to dance, despite there being no designated dance floor.

Most local restaurants also have a penchant for very loud music, to the point where lip-reading becomes the post practical means of communication.

However, some people find it very easy and almost prefer dancing as a way of expressing themselves.

“I love dancing,” she told Fortune after a hip hop dance class in Alem Fitness Centre on Bole Road, located next to Friendship Mall. “Sometimes, at home, I just close my bedroom door, put on some music, and dance.”

The class ends in some freestyle dancing. All the participants, who up till then were in a neat line facing the mirrored wall and following the steps as presented by Fahmi Kassahun, the instructor, form a circle and take turns dancing solo.

They do not illustrate what they have just “learned” but dance however they want, by a system of tagging the next person when their turn is over. Judging by the way she dances, Entu loves this part especially. She also picks the person to follow her, not by tagging her, but by miming to her to go.  

Fahmi, 22, has been dancing for 22 years, he joked to illustrate how much a part it is of him.

“When I dance, I feel something, like I do not have to pretend, like I am my real self right then,” he told Fortune. more