Girls want to dance. That is the message that came across loud and clear from the Nike Rockstar Workout Live weekend.

Dance is a form of self expression, a way to release feelings and tell a story. It keeps girls active, motivated and inspired. Dance is their sport.

Upon migrating to the Netherlands many women experience difficulties integrating into Dutch society. Often they feel depressed, isolated and contend with health problems because they think there is no other option.

In 2005 the Be InterACTive Start to Run program was born. The project uses sport as a tool for social inclusion for females from ethnic minority groups. Nike Netherlands has been a supporter of the Start to Run project since 2006 and continues to play an active role in changing women’s lives and creating new dreams through fitness.

It’s nothing new that engaging in sport strengthens more than just muscles. Often boys play sports, kick balls around, skate or break dance, while girls watch from the sidelines and applaud. However, a joint initiative between the German Children and Youth Foundation (DKJS) and Nike encourages a new trend.

The Facts:
Country: Italy
Launched: 2007
Partners: Nike Italy, Athla, VITA, Cascina Bellaria Social Cooperative
Objectives: To give disadvantaged young women the opportunity to play sports in order to protect their health and retrieve or maintain a good level of socialisation, against any kind of conditional isolation and marginalisation.
Program Highlights:
The ability to use sport as a mean to:

promote social […]

Social exclusion due to race, socioeconomic status and a number of other things is common against many girls in Spain. In an attempt to combat this Nike in conjunction with Fundación Balia por la Infancia developed an after school program offering eligible girls free dance classes.

The program, is offered to girls between 13 and 18 years of age, who live in situations of risk and have low social, cultural and economic backgrounds and who often bear great family loads. Many of these girls are placed in charge of their siblings and the housekeeping and hence don’t attend school, receive education and have very limited social skills.