Friday, 18 May 2018

Could this really be the world’s craziest dance video?

It stars patients with leprosy, TB and many other conditions, doctors, aid workers, hundreds of youngsters from the slums of Kolkata, plus a 90-year-old woman recovering from a hip operation - all dancing their socks off to a soundtrack by British artist Rhy Lewis. 
This has to be a joke, right?
Well no, actually the video was inspired by two women who were cured of TB late last year by NGO Calcutta Rescue.


The were so delighted that they broke into dance in the middle of the charity’s TB clinic, surrounded by patients wearing masks to prevent the spread of this potentially fatal disease.
That spontaneous expression of joy provided the creative spark for this video involving patients, schoolchildren and staff across all the charity’s projects in Kolkata.
The charity provides healthcare and education for some of the most disadvantaged people living in some of the worst slums in the city.



It is difficult work, in challenging conditions, and the lives of the people it helps are very hard.
But they so often demonstrate a remarkable resilience and love of life.
Every day the charity puts smiles on the faces of so many children at its schools, cures patients of life-threatening illnesses, provides medical care and pain-relief for people with everything from leprosy to fractured limbs.
So the charity thought why not try and capture that positive spirit in dance - something for which India is rightly famous?
The song Living in the City, seemed like the perfect soundtrack, with its powerful message about how hard life can be in a city, and about staying and facing that challenge with courage.
Rhys backed the project from the start and has let us use his song for free.
British photographer and musician Jake Roos volunteered to go to Kolkata to shoot the video.
The film was shot at all 12 locations around the city where Calcutta Rescue works, from the roof of a school in a red-light district to a mobile clinic parked up in one of the city’s most deprived slums.
Getting things done in Kolkata is not easy at the best of times - with the heat, the traffic congestion, the pollution, language and cultural differences…
And it wasn’t as if charity’s staff weren’t fully occupied already.
On top of that, the three-strong film crew had just eight days to shoot it in!
No wonder the project quickly acquired its nickname #theworldscraziestdancevideo
Along the way, one of the crew narrowly escaped having his fingers sliced off by a ceiling fan while testing whether benches would support the weight of dancing patients, and another almost fainted several times in the 38oC heat.
But the enthusiasm of the staff and the patients for the project was exhilarating and kept everyone motivated.


After weeks of editing, the video has just been released on YouTube and Calcutta Rescue is hoping it will inspire people all around the world.
Chief executive, Jaydeep Chakraborty, said: “It is impossible to watch this video without feeling uplifted.
We are hoping everyone who sees it will want to share it with their friends, so many more people learn about our work which is all about bringing help and hope to people living in the most difficult conditions.”

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