gen·e·sis  (jen’ i-sis) n. pl. gen·e·ses (-seez) 1. The coming into being of something; the origin. As with almost anything in life, dance begins with an origin, an idea, an inspiration, sometimes one move and continues to grow into something else...a creation.  This process never stops...it's constantly in motion, constantly evolving. Inside GENESIS lives new beginnings and re-birth, allowing for us to continually re-invent. We are planting a seed, lighting a spark, and creating new beginnings for the communities throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina. GENESIS represents the birth of this program and the generations of this program that are to come.   The Journey of GENESIS: SARAJEVO The bedrock of GENESIS: SARAJEVO is two-week summer and winter dance intensives focusing on tap, ballet, and jazz with the goal to expand and evolve to become a professional dance company. In addition to becoming a dance company, our goals include continuing dance intensives and workshops for children-in-need, developing a dance therapy program, creating an exchange program for Bosnian dancers to study dance in the U.S., and continuing to spread the dance education of tap and jazz to this region of the world. The Program: The activities include regular classes where participants receive training in jazz, ballet, contemporary and hip-hop from GENESIS: SARAJEVO instructors as well as from local professional dancers. In addition to the regular classes, we invite guest instructors from the Balkan region, Europe and the United States to conduct workshops in different dance styles with participants. The aim of the workshops is to foster intercultural exchange between artists in other parts of the Balkans and Europe where dance is more developed. In addition, GENESIS: SARAJEVO presents performances in which participants perform in Sarajevo as well as other cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to bring more dance exposure to the region. Participants also perform their own social awareness choreography during these performances. The objectives of the activities are as follows: • To spread dance, especially tap, jazz, ballet, contemporary and hip-hop beyond Kakrinje and Sarajevo to other cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in particular Mostar • To provide regular professional dance training for children/youth in need to prepare them to be a performance based company that performs in Bosnia and eventually other countries • To continue their development as dancers and as more productive members of society. • To foster mediation between different ethnicities through dance and arts education while developing new community bonds. • To use dance in an awareness campaign to address societal and youth problems in Bosnia, such as segregation and poverty. • To provide underprivileged youth with a livelihood and career. The Future: GENESIS: SARAJEVO Dance Company will be a performance-based company, presenting our work locally and throughout Eastern Europe and the United States. The future also holds possibilities for GENESIS: MANILA, GENESIS: UGANDA, and GENESIS: NYC Dance Companies, with our goal being for the international companies to unify and tour and perform together. GENESIS: SARAJEVO is where new artists are created and where new barriers will be broken. We are tapping into the resources of Bosnia-Herzegovina that remain for the most part untouched to create new opportunities and new possibilities. We are working to enrich the lives of children, to enrich the culture that runs through Sarajevo, and to cultivate the passion and talents that live within. The journey of GENESIS: SARAJEVO is the generating of new lives…one life touches another life which touches another life and so on. Our journey involves giving back to the community, unifying different races and religions to work together, and spreading the visceral language and art of dance and music.