Cabarete, Dominican Republic.- The north coast was given a special cultural treat this past Wednesday when world famous Hip Hop Dance Crew Havikoro joined the US Embassy Office of Cultural Affairs and The DREAM Project for a free concert on the beach of Cabarete.

The crowd of well over 1,000 spectators enjoyed reggae and funk fusion music from local artists Soul Libre, then the main event with international DJ Joe Belmarez and the dancers from Havikoro. One of the highlights of the evening came from performances of DREAM’s “Estrellas Jovenes” or Young Stars, at risk youth groups. The two groups from Caraballo and Cabarete joined forces with dancing, Haitian and Dominican hip hop and a group dance performance.

The event was the perfect expression of local flavors, with dance, hip hop, theatre and lots of laughs for the perfectly mixed crowd of Dominicans, Haitian Dominicans, Cabarete’s local expats and tourists.

The Centro Franklin and DREAM showed what can happen when a group of positive forces come together to offer Dominican youth an avenue of expression outside of their normal options. Much of the message of Havikoro is self expression and creativity instead of the drugs, violence and prostitution that Dominican youth must deal with every day.

Havikoro will be performing in Santo Domingo this weekend. To learn more about DREAM and the “Young Stars”, please go to www.dominicandream.org.

Jonathan Resor Wunderlich

Director of Development 

The Dominican Republic Education And Mentoring Project

The DREAM Project