Taking over the internet with the Wash Wash Dance

Ester Kamati WINDHOEK“Who says washing your hands should be boring?” asks the intro to a video by the Ombetja Yehinga Organisation Trust (OYO) dance troupe, showing how to wash your hands and later spicing it up with some music. The social media challenge was conceptualised by the OYO team when they noticed the lack of information Namibians have about the coronavirus. According to OYO director Phillipe Talavera, a lot of information appeared on social media but most of it was written, and “yet we know not everybody reads”. The expressive dancing team therefore thought of a way to “translate” the information into a more visible form through movement, which at the same time made it fun and created a dance challenge. Making it funAccording to Talavera, although it is easier said than done, especially with people who have no access to running water, they want people to wash their hands properly, and have fun while doing it. “Dancing is fun. So, we took the basic movements we all should use when washing our hands and turned them into steps. We tried to create a fun soundtrack that young people would like and want to move to.”Get your dance onThe dance challenge has five tutorial videos posted on OYO’s YouTube channel, uploaded daily for five days. Being a family challenge, the steps are child-friendly and the first video is a beginner’s lesson. Day two adds more steps to the routine and makes it slightly more complex. “Day three you can expect more challenges, like going down to the floor,” said Talavera. By the end of the week, participants will have learnt all the steps and “then they can add their own spice if they want and record their version of the Wash Wash Dance to post it on social media and tag us”.There are aren’t many rules but the soundtrack must be used and participants need to apply the moves shown in the tutorial videos, adding their own flair. The best versions stand a chance to win prizes such as T-shirts courtesy of OYO. “We just want to keep young people, in particular, active, busy and creative so that every time they wash their hands, they can have fun.”New dance piecesAs welfare organisations are not a listed essential service, OYO had to close its offices last week, Talavera said. “It makes our work difficult as we are not the type of team who sit behind a computer and can work remotely from home.” They however worked around-the-clock to complete short pieces on social distancing, which will be posted this week, as well as a piece on how to deal with depression, which will be posted next week. “I think that now is the time we need non-verbal information on Covid-19.”

Taking over the internet with the Wash Wash Dance

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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Taking over the internet with the Wash Wash Dance

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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