Salzburg Global Fellow Samwel Japhet reflects on his personal journey with dance and its power to "heal, challenge systems, open dialogue, and connect us across cultures"
This article was written by Salzburg Global Fellow Samwel Japhet, who attended Salzburg Global's Culture, Arts and Society session on "Creating Futures: Art of Narrative" from April 6 to 11, 2025.
Reclaiming My Voice Through Dance
Life often has a way of rewriting our stories, sometimes in ways we never expect. Mine began with abuse, homelessness, and the daily fight to survive. Between the ages of six and eight, I ran away from home to escape violence. I walked for miles, day and night, through cities and streets in Tanzania. Sometimes I hid beneath the chassis of buses, hoping they would take me far enough to never be found.
For more than ten years, the streets became my home. That time left me feeling invisible, broken, and unsure of where or even if I belonged in a world that often felt cold and unwelcoming.
Everything shifted when I joined Makini, a Tanzanian non-profit supporting street children, where I discovered the arts, traditional dance, and theater. This spark led me to MUDA Africa Dance School in Tanzania, where I received professional training and deepened my commitment to dance.
Dance became a way to reclaim control of my story, transform pain into strength, and envision a future I never thought possible. With every performance, I recover a part of myself: my dignity, my humanity, my voice, and my sense of belonging. It became the bridge between my past and my future - a path no longer defined by childhood wounds, but by the strength I gained through surviving them. Through dance, I’ve learned that while it’s easy to feel stuck in the pain of the past or the chaos of today, the future is not fixed. Movement reminds us that every step is a choice: to grow, to hope, and to rewrite our stories with compassion and possibility not just for ourselves, but for our communities.
Telling Stories Through Dance: A Tool for Social Change
Dance is more than movement; it’s a language. When words fall short, movement steps in. Even in silence, dance connects us, reminding us that pain and hope are not limited to one person, but are deeply human and shared.
Each performance I create is not just an exploration of art, but a response to the world around us - a call to see, reflect, heal, and recognize that we are not alone. These works demonstrate that dance is more than expression; it is a tool for resistance, connection, and the reimagining of new paths. Through movement, we confront, challenge, and create moments that speak to the heart of change and possibility.
In the face of injustice, division, and violence, dance helps us process pain, resist, and imagine something better. It challenges dominant narratives, both those imposed from outside and those we carry within. The body reveals what words often hide: fear, pride, and the stories that shape us. Movement invites us to witness and be witnessed, creating a communal experience that deepens how we see ourselves and relate to each other. It reflects the chaos we’ve survived, the struggles we still face, and the hope we dare to carry forward.
In YIN-YANG, my collaboration with Tanzanian artist Tadhi Alawi, we use dance, music, and film to explore the tension between the individual and society, searching for balance in a world shaped by conflict and division. In A MOMENT – WAKATI, we reflect on care and connection, showing how the moments we share with others, through dance, imagery, and music can offer comfort, support, and give us the strength to carry on. VURUGU/VIOLENCE, a collaboration with dancers from Rwanda, Vietnam, Tanzania, and Mexico, carries a message of hope. It urges us to break cycles of conflict and indifference, moving beyond violence by embracing love, understanding, patience, and empathy, because we cannot fight violence with more violence.
Dance has the power to change the world. It heals, challenges systems, opens dialogue, and connects us across cultures. As long as I have breath, I will keep moving - not only for myself, but for those who can’t dance freely, and for those still fighting and resisting alone, sinking in the ruins but not falling.
Dance may not change the world alone, but it influences change where it begins - in people. In bodies that carry stories, in communities that seek to be seen, and in movements that refuse to be silenced. Let us use our voices, our bodies, and our stories to help others see themselves - and together shape a future full of hope, healing, and possibility.
A Message of Resilience and Hope
This journey isn’t one I’ve walked alone. Dance has taught me the importance of community and of coming together to heal, to grow, and to dream. When we share our stories, our pain, our joy, and our victories, we create a collective energy greater than anything we can create alone.
Looking back, I see how far I’ve come, and I’m reminded that the path we choose today shapes the world we’ll live in tomorrow. I dance not just to reclaim my story but to open the door for others to rise, to move, and to transform their own narratives. Through creative platforms, cross-cultural collaborations, capacity-building initiatives, the sharing of knowledge and opportunities, and my work with Nantea Dance Company, I’m committed to creating spaces where others can find their voice, grow, and reimagine their future.
Let’s move together, dream together, and build a future where we all have the opportunity to rewrite our stories not just for ourselves, but for our communities.
Samwel Japhet is a dance artist, choreographer and social entrepreneur, who found his voice through dance after a rough childhood of homelessness and abuse. He uses dance as artistic expression for story-telling and an invitation to transcendence and critical reflection on the realities of our times, and the political world. Over the past decade, he has been exploring the intersection of dance, storytelling, and social issues. Through his work, he strives to address global challenges and build a culture where art not only reflects reality but also inspires new possibilities. His fascination with human relationships and our connection to the world is also central to his work, he extends choreographic practices by combining dance with visual storytelling, real-life experiences, text, music and dialogue to reflect on the dynamics between individuals and society. His work has toured festivals and theaters in the Netherlands, South Korea, Israel, South Africa, Portugal, Mozambique, Germany, Ethiopia, and beyond. He is a recipient of the 2021 Seed Award from the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development and is a 2024-2026 Global Fellow with The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. A graduate of the MUDA Africa Dance School in Tanzania, he co-managed UMOJA, a multidisciplinary residency program for East African and European artists, from 2021 to 2022. In 2015, he also co-founded Nantea Dance Company, a Tanzanian non-profit that produces multifaceted performances and community-based projects.
This article is part of our Annual Spotlight: “Centering Africa." Across our sessions and events in 2025, Salzburg Global is highlighting the central role that the African continent will play in global development now and in the next decades. As demographic trends across much of the world project a future of older and less productive economies, the African continent stands out for its growing youth population, dynamism and innovation. In reimagining an international system that better responds to the needs of the 21st century, it is our hope that Salzburg Global can play a small but meaningful role in centering African ideas, innovations, and perspectives in global forums like ours.
