With only 100 days to go until the start of the Commonwealth Games, the City of Edinburgh Council and Dance Base are urging residents to show their online support for Scotland’s second teams for the chance to win tickets to Glasgow 2014 events.
The Support a 2nd Team programme, which is led by sportscotland, aims to encourage local communities to engage with the cultures of the Commonwealth and develop links with their nations and territories.
The City of Edinburgh Council and Active Schools is encouraging everyone to join in the fun by learning and performing the first ever ‘virtual flashmob Haka’.
To kick off the celebrations, a flashmob of young people took to the streets of the Grassmarket this afternoon to demonstrate their support for Edinburgh’s second team New Zealand in the 100 day run up to Glasgow 2014. The flashmob members, who performed their own version of the famous Maori ‘Haka’ dance and chant outside Dance Base, joined from Edinburgh Active Schools and community sports hubs.
Schools, community groups, clubs and businesses are encouraged to learn the moves and chants with a simple follow-along tutorial video. Groups can film their flashmob and send it to haka@dancebase.co.uk for inclusion in a final ‘virtual flashmob’ video which will be launched in July in time for the Commonwealth Games. The Virtual Flashmob Haka has been created by Dance Base and New Zealand dance company Taki Maori as part of the nationwide dance project Get Scotland Dancing, supported by Culture 2014.
Running alongside the virtual Haka competition, Edinburgh Council’s ActivCity hub for sport and physical activity is putting residents’ Commonwealth knowledge to the test by encouraging people to guess the name of the Capital’s ‘other’ second team for the chance to win further Commonwealth tickets. Social media followers can enter the competition by sending their responses as a direct message with the hashtag #Edinburgh2ndTeams to the @ActiveEdinburgh Twitter account, the social media hub for sport and fitness news in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh’s Festival and Events Champion, Councillor Steve Cardownie, said: “The countdown to the games is on and with just 100 days to go, I hope people will feel motivated to get involved and show their support for the Games and Edinburgh’s second teams.
“The Council’s team of Active Schools Co-ordinators encourage young people across the city to be excited by sport and more physically active. Based in schools across the Capital, they provide opportunities and motivation and it’s fitting that we have teamed up with Dancebase to offer everyone the chance to join in Edinburgh’s build up to the Commonwealth Games fun.”
The Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, said: “With just 100 days to go until the Commonwealth Games begin, everyone has a role in making Scotland shine even brighter this summer – when Scotland takes centre stage and we can show the world it’s a great place to live, work and invest.
“Get Scotland Dancing is one of the government-supported legacy projects for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and a cornerstone of the Cultural Programme. It aims to create a lasting dance legacy for communities across Scotland, widening access to dance and strengthening the sector for the long-term.
“The Virtual Flash Mob is a fantastic way for local people to get involved in dance, get active and try something new while learning about New Zealand culture at the same time. It’s an innovative way of local people coming together and creating and celebrating their own legacy from the Games, and I’m pleased that through legacy programmes such as Community Sports Hubs, Get Scotland Dancing and Support a Second Team have inspired this to happen.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
