Passionate konversation!

Elvire Mavusi Matu (Barking) tells Salvationist about starting Konverse Dance Crews at the age of 14

What’s your story?

My name’s Elvire and I’m 24 years old. I’ve been a part of The Salvation Army since I was about 12 and very much involved in all the youth stuff. My relationship with God has been embedded in my family. We’re a Christian household. I really believe that it’s him working through me. It’s honestly only through God that I have the strength to do what I’m doing.

What’s your passion?

My passion is dance. I’m a creative head, so I enjoy doing lots of things like DIY. I’m also sporty and I played volleyball for West Ham ladies under-18 team. I don’t know why, but I decided to go to university and study event management.

What challenges have you faced?

The difficulty was balancing Konverse Dance Crews (KDC) with school. I was probably trying to pick my modules at the time. Then I was trying to do my exams and then my A-levels and then university. And, in general, all the planning and getting ready for shows and competitions, it’s not that easy. Honestly, it’s with God’s help that I’ve managed to do it.

How did KDC start?

My family were attending Barking Corps at the time. Coming from a disadvantaged background, we didn’t have much to do in the borough. The Salvation Army offered opportunities for us like joining the youth club. My sister, Charlelie, and I wanted to start dance classes to get more young people coming through the hall doors. I wanted to give people in my community a space to feel safe and have fun.

When it was my sister and me, it was just a small youth dance club. When I took over, I was ready to make it into a proper crew. We wanted to attend shows and competitions, so I was like, ‘We need a name!’ I came up with Konverse Dance Crews because the group allows people to converse and express themselves, and to communicate through dance. But I didn’t want to get sued by Converse, so we put a ‘K’ in front of it! I kind of took it and ran with it and, yeah, it’s been about 10 years now.

What does KDC do?

We have Konverse Kidz, who are 5 to 9 years old, Konverse Juniors, who are 10 to 13 years old, Konverse Elite, who are 14 to 18 years old, and the Adults Class. We train once a week on Fridays at Barking Corps.

We do all our own choreography and mainly do hip-hop and Afro. Depending on requests, we sometimes do performances for the borough, or we have a theme like winter or Christmas. When Barking Corps had its Christmas show last year, we did a Christian Christmas song. So yeah, it varies very much.

Why does KDC exist?

It’s a platform for people who are from underrepresented groups to showcase their talent. A lot of the young people we work with are actually from BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities. Not exclusively, but a lot are. I think it’s mainly because, when we started off, we were charging, like, 50p a class. Now it’s £15 a month – which is still about £4 a session. We’re trying to keep it low because we know a lot of families within the borough are struggling with the cost of living.

Our mission is to give people a platform to express themselves through dance and to showcase their talent. There are so many talented people in the borough who don’t have a place to show everyone what they can do!

FEELING KURIOUS?

See Konverse Dance Crews live at Welcome to the High Council on Saturday 20 May. To book your ticket, go to sar.my/welcome.

Find out more about Konverse Dance Crews at konversedancecrews.co.uk.

What’s maintaining your passion for KDC?

Honestly, it’s the young people. There are days where I might come through and it’s been pouring with rain and I’m sad. But working with these young people, they really do cheer you up. It’s knowing you’re making a positive impact on them and knowing that they’ve got somewhere to go, and also have the opportunity to take part in shows and competitions. It’s really cool to see, and that keeps me going.

What are your future hopes?

I really hope that we can get more of the young people and adults into paid jobs within TV and film. I want to see them using dance as a career, not just something to do because you enjoy it. I want to see them fly out and have opportunities to be backup dancers or feature in adverts. That’ll be the mission for KDC.