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Sri Lanka 2016

Sri Lanka
December 2016

Battery Dance returned to Sri Lanka, ten years after its last engagement, in order to collaborate with several of the nation’s leading cultural institutions. Battery endeavored to break down barriers that exist among the dance community, create opportunities for interaction with dance students and teachers as well as Sri Lankan choreographers and musicians, and share skills in the areas of arts management, lighting and theater production, and conflict resolution.


Dates

  • December 1 – 4: Colombo
  • December 5 – 6: Kandy
  • December 7 - 13: Colombo

The Team

  • Jonathan Hollander - Program Director, Speaker
  • Barry Steele - Production Designer, Speaker
  • Robin Cantrell, Mira Bai Cook, Bethany Mitchell, Sean Scantlebury, Razvan Stoian - Dancers/Teaching Artists
  • Unnath Hassan Rathnaraju - International Guest Artist

Program Specifics

  • Master classes at the Royal Nelung Arts Centre in Colombo and the University of Peradeniya
  • Teacher training workshops
  • Lectures at the Business of the Arts at American Centers and Design Elements and Principles at American Centers
  • Three performances, with audiences of up to 500

Sponsor

  • U.S. Embassy Colombo

Local Partners

  • Chitrasena Dance Company
  • Dancers’ Guild
  • Naadro
  • Royal Nelung Arts Centre
  • University of Peradeniya

  • Communications can be tricky when dealing with different working terms and circumstances. However, persistent cooperation ensured that all settled into place once the companies were together in Sri Lanka and collaborating, able to navigate challenges productively.

  • Many of the challenges faces in the arts, and as a charity, are global. Lack of funding, studio space, etc. Sharing these created a true sense of camaraderie, and mutual encouragement to commit and persist for the sake of your art.

Battery Dance returned to Sri Lanka, ten years after its last engagement, in order to collaborate with several of the nation’s leading cultural institutions: Chitrasena Dance Company, Dancers’ Guild, Naadro, Royal Nelung Arts Centre and producers of the annual NatFest dance festival, Natanda Dance Festival. Among its many goals, Battery endeavored to break down barriers that exist among the dance community, create opportunities for interaction with dance students and teachers as well as Sri Lankan choreographers and musicians, and share skills in the areas of arts management, lighting and theater production, and conflict resolution.

Strong local connections enabled Battery Dance to engage in the kind of creative interactions that would not have been possible otherwise. Months of prior communications between Artistic Directors of Battery Dance and Dancers’ Guild, Jonathan Hollander and Chandana Wickramasinghe formed a basis for collaboration in the creation of a new work, VILLAGE, that was set on a cast of 12 dancers, six from each company. Four rehearsals took place at Royal Nelung Arts Center and the piece quickly took shape, and was well received in its only performance in the Drums & Dance production at Bishop’s College Auditorium.

Through Chandana, Battery Dance was connected to the Sri Lankan percussion ensemble Naadro, and a second collaboration took place. Entitled ProPULSion, it featured five drummers on stage along with five dancers of Battery Dance and Indian guest artist Unnath H.S.

This trip revealed a notable increase in enthusiasm, among the communities we collaborated with, to explore our form of contemporary dance; the standing ovation following our finale of Drums & Dance was certainly not taken for granted. Sri Lanka was one of our most welcoming hosts and we hope that we will not be waiting another 10 years to return!