Israel song is Ugandan hit

A DANCE group from Uganda has shown that Eurovision transcends borders with its rendition of Netta’s Toy, this year’s Israeli entry.

The video of dancers from Spoon Youth, a group that meets every day in the Namuwongo slum in Kampala, Uganda, went viral after they picked Netta’s song to dance to.

“It started when, with the other Israeli volunteer, I connected our music to the compound speaker. The guys heard the song and just started dancing,” said 25-year-old Tel Aviv native Shiraz Arieli, who has been volunteering in Uganda for six months.

“They just started dancing and we said we have to film them and send [it] to the singer. They were really excited about the idea and got really into it.”

The routine was put together in a day, as the dancers created the choreography while the volunteers organised T-shirts, scouted a location in the slum and did the actual shooting.

Ms Arieli said the hardest part was to find a place that would print the shirts.

But filming day was great fun, she said: “All the slum came to see what was going on and we ended up with a huge crowd.”

It prompted Netta herself, whose song is the bookmakers’ favourite to win this year’s contest, to take to Twitter and thank the dancers.

Spoon Youth is supported by Little Light Uganda, an Israeli-Ugandan charity created ten years ago to improve the life of the Namuwongo slum, one of the poorest places in the world.

They are trying to raise $150 (£106) per month to rent a permanent place in which the group can practice.

Besides the dance group, the charity runs a nursery school, a women’s empowerment programme, as well as a sponsorship scheme that helps local children to go to school. Members of Spoon Youth dance to Netta’s Toy