Teacher Training

In Phase I of the project, Battery Dance’s team of six highly skilled teaching artists and the Company’s artistic director worked with 19 local teachers from Bremen and Bremerhaven over the course of a one-week, 20-hour training session. The goal was to equip local teachers with an understanding of the philosophy and introduction to the practical skills necessary to conduct Battery Dance’s arts education methodology, Dancing to Connect, with the intention that these teachers would then partner with Battery Dance’s teaching artists in conducting workshops in their schools. Teachers of various ages, ethnicities, and religions (including Russian and Brazilian emigres and a Ukrainian refugee) engaged in the physical and theoretical training conducted by the Battery Dance team. They shed their self-consciousness and entered the process with open minds and hearts. They displayed a spirit of camaraderie while summoning up creative expression that may have been nascent previously. Teachers of math and social studies as well as others who taught dance or gym/recreation participated. This was the first time since 2006 when Battery Dance launched its arts education initiatives in Germany that intensive local teacher training was achieved and thus the sustainability and multiplier effect of the project was brought to life

Student Workshops

Phase II took place during the second and third weeks of the program. The local teachers accompanied Battery Dance’s teaching artists into their schools, collaboratively implementing 20-hour dance workshops with their students. Eleven original choreographic works were created, each distinctive, unique and compelling in its own way. Bremen, being the most diverse Federal State of Germany, was a prime location in which to test the assertion of the project that the dancing workshops could dispel fear, misunderstanding and marginalization of students perceived as “other”. Approximately 200 students took part in the workshops.

Syrian Guest Teaching Artist & Performer

The involvement of a professional Syrian refugee teaching artist, Amr Karkout, was integrated into the project. He joined the Battery Dance team for the 4th time, having learned the Dancing to Connect methodology in previous engagements with the Company. He visited each workshop during the two weeks of training, introducing himself with a brief overview of his journey and his current work as a member of Sascha Walz & Guests in Berlin. His presence added to the impact and the example of trust-building on a professional level for the local students as well as presenting a solo at the Metropol Theater in both final performances.

Performances

The Final Phase of the project took place at the Bremen’s opera house-style Metropol Theater over two nights in which first five and then six school groups presented their completed choreographies on a program that also included the solo by Amr Karkout, and “The Wind in the Olive Grove”, a newly commissioned work by Syrian-German choreographer Saeed Hani, performed by Battery Dancers. Battery Dance engaged a young professional video crew to document the performances and to make a short 5- minute documentary. We estimate the audience for the two performances at 1,200.