How dance connects cultures

We meet Sylvia Camarda in front of the town hall on Knuedler, where she has been active as a municipal councillor for the DP since 2017 and where she – who is also President of the Cultural Commission – is primarily committed to cultural issues. Before we get down to the actual interview, we make a few videos for social media, but this doesn't go unnoticed, as we are spotted by DP alderwoman Corinne Cahen, who watches us from her office window and even captures the whole thing on film.

The first time we consciously experienced Sylvia Camarda was during a performance organised by Mudam in Park Dräi Eechelen together with the Luxembourg artist and composer Steve Kaspar, where the dancer gave an impressive testimony to her talent at the time.

"That was my first project with Steve Kaspar. After that, we often worked together, for example on How do they know that they are the last humans on earth or on Ex(s)ilium, where Steve was responsible for the music. For me, Steve was my spiritual father, " says Sylvia Camarda, whose interest in dancing can be traced back to pop queen Madonna, as the 46-year-old tells us right at the beginning of our conversation.

"I was a huge fan of Madonna from an early age, as she started out as a dancer. The first time I danced in front of people was at my first communion, when I was Madonna. A few years later, when I passed the entrance exam for the Lycée Hubert Clement in Esch, my parents gave me a ticket for Madonna's Blond Ambition tour in Dortmund. I cried with joy. It was the best present I've ever received in my life. I was a big Madonna fan for quite a long time. When I was on the road with Cirque du Soleil on the Delirium tour in the USA in 2006, this tour made it to number 5 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the most successful tours, while Madonna only made it to number 6 with her Confessions tour. We had a bigger tour than Madonna, which was of course cool and gave me extra motivation."