Battery Dance had the honor of serving the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs in its first major cultural diplomacy initiative in over 6 years. As in most of our international work, months of preparation were invested in conceptualizing the best approach to reach maximum impact. The Bethlehem Cultural Palace offered its facilities including two beautiful large dance studios and a 1,000 seat theater. The Battery team paired up in teams to work with the 30 students who joined. Two beautiful and compelling works of choreography were created and performed in the grand finale.

Vive and Sara Seger were free to engage in so-called “Satellite Activities”, traveling with USG support to Nablus, Ramallah, East Jerusalem on successive days, running 2 – 4 hour workshops in each with groups ranging from kids ages 10 – 13 to teens from 14 – 19. They came back each day brimming with enthusiasm for the warm welcome they’d experienced. The group from Ramallah was so excited by the experience that they offered to travel to Bethlehem and perform their Dabkeh (the local folk dance) in the grand finale. Vive and Sara joined in and it was a true symbol of Palestinian-American friendship.

With the political perspective of the Palestinian’s anger over the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh shortly before our trip, and the fact that President Biden’s visit to Israel, Jerusalem and Bethlehem took place just after our departure, it really seemed as if our program was people to-people cultural diplomacy at its best. The loudly enthusiastic ovations at our grand finale were heart-warming and to top it off, The Office of Palestinian Affairs put out a short video compilation after our program had concluded which has already racked up 60,000 views and over 650 “likes” on FaceBook.