Workshops: The morning after the Budapest performance, BDC departed for Györ to conduct programming similar to that which it had done in Budapest. After a meeting over tea with local partners Elek Zsolt from the Györ Dance High School and Keszeiné Tóth Bernadett from the Györ National Theatre, the dancers led 3-hour creativity workshops with 30 students from the high school and 40 students from Györi Balett. After the workshops, master class participants were able to perform short pieces devised from their own inspiration. On the morning of the performance, BDC’s Clement Mensah also led an intensive master-class with the 30+ members of the Györi Ballet.

Performance: In an intimate gathering, Battery Dance Company performed for 80 guests and the Györ media. Despite a power outage in the middle of BDC’s set, the dancers continued performing while the audience provided rhythmic clapping to substitute for the lost music. Afterwards, a champagne reception was hosted by the Györi Balett in which audience members, Györi Ballet and Theatre dancers and administrators, local partners, and BDC intermingled.

Future Collaboration: Through the short stay in Györ, numerous meetings were also held between BDC Deputy Director Salem, Bernadett, and Kiss János, Artistic and Executive Director of Györi Balett over shared passions and ideas for future collaboration. The Györ Balett has invited a BDC representative as a special guest of the 9th Hungarian Dance Festival starting June 17, 2013 and discussions continue over having The Györi Balett perform at BDC’s Downtown Dance Festival in 2014 and for BDC to return to perform as part of the Hungarian Dance Festival.

Following on the success of its 6-day Congolese program by a team of four in October 2011, Battery Dance Company was invited to nominate one of its members for a one-month assignment to return to Kinshasa through a U.S. Department of State program called the Cultural Envoy program. (This program has since been combined with the Performing Arts Initiative Program and both fall under the rubric of Arts Envoy Program.)

The first week of the program was filled with meetings and performances which, on top of her earlier experience in Kinshasa, provided a foundation to support her creative ideas and move forward in designing the program for the following three weeks.

The Cultural Envoy program was initially planned to involve the creation of one piece in partnership with the National Ballet of Congo. While this was entirely possible, there was no way that a work of sufficient length to fill an entire evening could be created in such a short time. In order to flesh out the program, the company discussed auditioning pieces by local artists and to curate the evening choosing who and what would be included. However, In the spirit of exchange and as a returning artist (with many alumni interested in participating), Carmen was hesitant to serve as judge and instead, chose to work collaboratively with various groups instead. Thus Carmen worked with local dancers to create a suite of three shorter pieces around the theme of gender inequality. The format of this work was in the style of the Dancing to Connect model from Battery Dance Company. This proved to be an enormous amount of work. In addition to the works created and performed by the Congolese dancers, Carmen developed solo material for herself in collaboration with local singers, a poet and a rapper all within the social message of cultural exchange, HIV/AIDS and gender inequality.

Fredericke Ngandu, Director of The National Ballet of Congo, was a joy to work with. He and Carmen developed an easy rapport. Among other things, he was able to help Carmen encourage the dancers to move outside of their usual vocabulary and to develop their own abstract movements to convey their story. His willingness to explore new and different ways of working took the pressure off of Carmen to fit her means into strictly traditional forms. Together, they met somewhere in between the Congolese and Western cultures to bring about a creative process introducing new ideas while maintaining the integrity and characteristics of the local traditions.

The National Ballet became the Carmen's home base -- she was given permission to use the venue for for rehearsals with the Dancing to Connect dancers as well as for the National Ballet. Fredericke's staff created costumes to specification and his technical crew supported the entire show. They were entirely professional and did a beautiful job of lighting design.

When necessary, additional rehearsals took place at the National Zoo and College Boboto. Electricity in these spaces was unreliable and sometimes meant working in the dark. Even being use to spartan conditions, Carmen found the state of ill repair of the facilities in Kinshasa to be heart-breaking.

When over 70 youth appeared to audition for the project, Carmen was faced with a decision. She was loathe to reject a large number and decided to utilize the "Dancing to Connect" methodology that is common to Battery Dance Company's approach and that could accommodate a large number of performers. She was assured by local partners that there would be a significant drop-out rate due to scheduling issues and lack of compensation. It was unclear whether the Embassy's budget would spread far enough to cover honoraria for the local dancers and this uncertainty contributed to attrition. In the end, 33 local dancers signed on to the project. From that group, three subsets were created based on schedule availability. With three groups to work with, the idea of the three epochs of the Congolese Woman was born.

The level of dance in Congo, despite lack of resources and training, is extremely high. The keen curiosity of the participants, their innate talent and hunger for opportunity were all factors in the success of the program. They were provided with meals and participation certificates; and as things turned out, funds were adequate to pay them all quite well which was well deserved.

One of the local hosts (Pam) created a partnership of support with a local shelter run by an Italian Brother in Congo. It was an introduction for what BDC hopes can become a future program. This shelter houses street kids or “shay gays” as they are called, orphans, child prostitutes and child soldiers. Brother Mauro gives overnight, extended shelter including education, meals and job training as well as an open center for those kids that prefer to remain on the streets but need a temporary refuge. On the visit, about a twenty-minute drive into a very dangerous area of outer Kinshasa, the company saw both parts of the facility but interacted with the children from the temporary care center. The kids, ranging in ages from seven to sixteen, organized a performance for us in the one language that is such a part of their culture, the language of dance. The company were desperate to try and organize a Dancing to Connect for them. Brother Mauro tirelessly provides support on all levels and even seeks out the families of cast-a-ways. He gives financial support, business training and family counseling, sometimes following a family for over two years until a child is safely reintegrated. It is endless work and he touched the company deeply with his energy and commitment. The girls, upon completion of their show, tried to teach the company some of their dance steps. They did not realize that the company too spoke their language of dance and when they answered their call, executing the steps. The children jumped up and down in excitement.

The final week and performance went relatively smoothly with the exception of a few issues. One was the performance venue and BDC's schedule day of rehearsals with all the performers. The company found out on the Monday before the performance that the daytime hours at the Halle were not possible. This was after having completed rehearsals for that day and communicating it to the Dancing to Connect groups. BDC could only be there using the space that Thursday evening for about four hours. To space and tech a ninety minute show in four hours is unheard of. Of course it all worked out in the end with some extra planning and efficiency. Again, an enormous “hats off” goes to the technical crew of the National Ballet and the Halle de la Gombe for their professionalism in making the show happen. The company were so proud of all of their dancers who arrived on time for the rehearsal on stage. It is typical for people to be anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours late in Kinshasa. The dedicated group made a commitment even with unreliable transportation, to be on time. Aside from these issues, the performance itself was incredible.

The passion of the Congolese and their dedication to the project came through vividly for the final event. The program booklet included two paintings by local artists depicting Congolese women in some way with their hopes and struggles. The painters were finalists in the State Department sponsored contest. Sandy Francis and Nathalie Marini sang beautifully in songs that united Congolese and American traditions. The audience joined in and it was quite a rousing way to start the show. The National Ballet took it to a whole new level doing what they do best, conveying theatrical dance. At the pinnacle moment in the story where the woman chooses to share the fish with her male partner, the audience clapped and exclaimed out loud. The company was jumping up and down in the wings! The Dancing to Connect dancers performed all three pieces perfectly with more energy than ever before. Finally, Elfia recited a perfect poem describing a hope and call for social equality among the sexes and Lexxus talked about HIV/AIDS, closing the show with his artful rapping skills. BDC's Carmen, also received enthusiasm and support from the gracious audience with her two solo performances.

By working together with the National Ballet of Congo and local youth, BDC discussed ways of showing the role of women in the past, present and perhaps the future. It was a learning process to discover how it could be done with movement and dance. The message was carried forth in the performance and in the process. As dance artists, the company explored new territory in movement creation derived from a narrative and completely driven by a social message. This month of collaboration enriched BDC's work in so many ways.

The company are now home in New York reliving the indelible memories from this incredible month in exchange. A small piece of their hearts is still in Kinshasa with the people there, and the company vow to return to collect it and continue connecting with the people there.

On February 19th at 6:45 AM, Battery Dance Company left Algiers for Oran to prepare for their first performance later that same day!

They rested in the morning because the company knew that the rest of the day and evening would be a marathon. When BDC arrived at the theater, they had the unusual triple duties of preparing themselves for their own performance, preparing the Dancing to Connect students for theirs, AND being in full charge of the lighting and technical aspects. The theater had very few functioning lights and the lighting designer was a novice. He either ignored BDC's suggestions or simply didn't have the capacity to follow them. There was much conversation between him and his co-workers which the company couldn’t follow – and which didn't yield any recognizable results. A few times Robin had to raise her voice to get his attention. Trying to run the students’ pieces and simultaneously talk to the sound guy and lighting designer and trying to patch up holes in the floor off stage was not a happy job.

Overall the performance went well, the theater was packed and there was lots of applause. The students seemed really happy. After the show, they were clapping and singing and throwing the dancers up in the air. There was a wonderful feeling of everyone working together to do a fine job.

It is always exciting to develop sustainable connections from various programs. Equally as exciting is when these relationships evolve in new and interesting ways. Battery Dance and the Algeria program proved to be one such opportunity providing three years of continued partnerships taking different forms around the theme of cultural exchange and dance. Each venture has been sponsored by the U.S. State Department along with the Algerian Ministry of Culture, demonstrating the positive role that dance and the arts can have in maintaining diplomatic relations.

The initial tour of Battery Dance to Algiers occurred in February of 2010. Two veteran dancers and teaching artists, Robin Cantrell and Sean Scantlebury, spent one week working with the National Algerian Dance Company L’ONCI. The program included a Dancing to Connect residency with a performance of the resulting piece. The performance featured L’ONCI dancers along with Battery Repertoire performed by Robin and Sean. The success of that initial venture led to an additional full company program in October of 2010. The second tour involved three different Dancing to Connect residencies with the full L’ONCI troupe and performances in three outlying cities. It culminated in a final event at La Salle de Mougar Theater.

Shortly thereafter, two Algerian dancers visited Battery Dance and joined the company as supplementary dancers for the New York season in April of 2011. Most recently, the company was called back to Algiers to participate in the fourth annual Contemporary Dance Festival sponsored by their Ministry of Culture.

The Algerian Contemporary Dance Festival is a fantastic initiative to build the contemporary dance scene in Muslim North Africa. Given the cultural constraints of a conservative Muslim population, progressive dance forms have fallen behind in exchange for more traditional forms of folk dance. In addition to providing a forum for modern dance performance, the festival provides monetary incentives by offering a competitive component. The majority of participating companies competed for cash prizes ranging from 5000 Euro to 1000 Euro. Some of the represented countries included Cuba, Venezuela, Spain, Argentina, Syria, Iraq, Tunisia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt and many companies from Algeria.
Battery Dance was a guest of the festival with a full company presentation and two company members functioning as judges of the competition.

Tadej Brdnik and Carmen Nicole Smith arrived in time for the opening ceremonies of the festival. They were two of five members of the jury panel that also included a Bulgarian dance teacher and two Algerian independent choreographers and teachers. Performances were given each day of the week long festival. After viewing each evening’s choreographies, the judges would discuss the performances over dinner. By the end of the week, the jury was responsible for ranking the three top companies and also submitting a special award to a choreographer whose work showed particular promise. The deliberation process was far from smooth and Carmen Nicole encountered some challenges as the only woman on the panel. The treatment towards Carmen by one judge in particular was so disrespectful that another judge complained to the Ministry of Culture. Given the male dominant culture, this was not a surprise. That said, there were marked changes in gender roles in the direction of equality- an overall a positive sign. And despite the challenges Carmen faced deliberating with some members of the jury, there were many fun moments as well. Mr. Kador (one of the judges) even provided her with a comedic serenade over one of the meals. Another time, the group enjoyed traditional Algerian fare with explanations provided by the Algerian judges. In the end, a decision was made with the first place prize given to Cuba, second place to Argentina, third to Tunisia and the special prize awarded to a young Algerian choreographer. The closing of the festival involved a lovely presentation of awards, a feast for all participants and traditional Algerian dance and music.

In addition to their participation on the jury, Tadej and Carmen taught master classes to L’ONCI and at the major dance college in Algiers. Tadej focused on Graham based technique classes while Carmen taught a variety of contemporary techniques along with some Battery Dance Company repertoire. The classes occurred over four days and lasted two hours each day. L’ONCI also took the opportunity to discuss choreographic techniques. The two were invited to attend an open rehearsal of L’ONCI prior to the first day of the festival for advice on one of their new performance pieces. This placed Carmen and Tadej in a difficult position as judges of the competition, yet they managed to remain neutral and offer some comments about choreography in general as opposed to critiquing the L’ONCI competition piece directly. Needless to say, it was a delicate position to navigate especially when L’ONCI did not win any of the top rankings in the competition. The master classes also involved very important discussions about dance training in the U.S. and progressive definitions of dance. Algiers remains quite conservative in its approach to contemporary dance training and performance. It is highly probably that the contemporary dance scene will continue to shift with the ever-increasing spirit of openness in Algiers.

As previously mentioned, Battery Dance Company had multiple roles throughout the festival. Tadej and Carmen functioned as judges of the competition, master class teachers and also as guest performers. The other three members of Battery Dance Company along with Barry Steele, the company’s technical director, joined Carmen and Tadej to represent the U.S. The four spent only three days in Algiers arriving in the morning of day one and performed the following day and returned home to the U.S. The performance involved three different pieces comprising a forty-five minute program. Ambassador Henry S. Ensher attended the program with members of his family along with members of the Algerian cultural ministry. Along with the Ambassador was the Public Affairs Officer, Tashawna Bethea. It was anhonor to have them attend the performance and to be honored by the festival with flowers and special mentions.

The fact that there was such wide representation and respect for a diverse range of cultures was inspiring. Algieria is one of many North African countries widening the cultural circle and perspective towards contemporary dance. It will be fascinating to watch the dance scene develop it’s own unique identity bridging the Muslim world with current dance trends; a unique style is sure to emerge. Battery Dance hopes to continue its relationship with Algeria and build upon the strong friendship and exchange already in place.

Master classes at the Cultural Center of the Philippines

Battery Dance Company’s debut in the Philippines was put in place after the other sectors of the Asia Tour were planned, anchored by an invitation to perform in the country’s premiere theater, Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the generous offer of complete hospitality support by the local Renaissance Makati City Hotel.

The U.S. Embassy staff, with Cultural Affairs Specialist Tony Perez as point person, did an outstanding job of organizing a full roster of outreach activities and performances during the company’s stay of fewer than three days in the Philippines. On the first day, three master classes were taught at the CCP’s studios – ballet by Lydia Tetzlaff, modern by Stevan Novakovich and hip-hop by Sean Scantlebury – and offered free of charge to the very gifted members of Manila’s dance community. The ballet class was attended by approximately 30 students, ranging from teens to young adults; the modern by 40 very advanced dancers; and the hip-hop, a small group of 10 highly professional dancers who are members of the local performing ensembles.

Matinee performance and gala evening performance for the American Embassy at Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater)

Cultural Affairs Specialist Tony Perez and ACAO Stephen Ashby also assisted in organizing the Company’s two performances, a matinee and evening performance on the same day, which were noted as the first performances at the CCP by an American dance company in nearly a decade. The afternoon show was attended by a majority of young people; the evening show by members of the general public as well as a contingent of VIP’s. Nestor Jardin, Executive Director of the CCP, and U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney gave introductory speeches and the Ambassador hosted a reception in the lobby following the show.

Agnes Caballa, one of the Embassy’s press specialists, did an amazing job of attracting representatives of all major media outlets, television as well as print media, to cover the master classes as well as the performances, greatly expanding the public awareness of BDC’s activities.

Battery Dance Company conducted five Dancing to Connect workshops in and around the Northern French city of Maubeuge in Feb/March, 2013. The program, Battery Dance Company’s debut in France, was a close collaboration with the U.S. Embassy Paris and took one year to plan. The locale was specifically chosen to target immigrant and disenfranchised communities; and a local host institution, Secteur 7, was identified as the ideal partner.

Secteur 7 has a good track record in engaging local youth, utilizing hip hop and other urban art forms as magnets for a broad mix of participants, celebrating their talent and creating esprit de corps. There is high unemployment in the region and career prospects for young people are grim. There is tension between the different ethnic groups – between people of different color, religion and social mores. The Embassy hoped to utilize Battery Dance Company’s prowess in the dance education and conflict resolution areas to make a significant contribution to the community. From the response of the participants themselves, the Secteur 7 leadership and the local and municipal government officials, it would appear that the project exceeded all expectations.

Originally a national theater, Le Manège, had been chosen for the final performance. However, another alternative had to be sought two months before the program, purportedly because of scheduling issues. However, while in Maubeuge, we heard mutterings about the schism between the world of high art (which is funded nationally and via EU) and local art. We wondered whether Manège had looked down upon the Dancing to Connect project because of its populist aspect. The Embassy staff scrambled and was able to locate a beautiful new theater in Louvroil, adjacent to Maubeuge, which welcomed our program. The poison pill came when it was discovered that this theater, Espace Culturel Casadesus, had no lighting equipment of its own. An outside contractor was engaged and after haggling with prices and cutting anything that wasn’t absolutely essential, the Embassy was able to share the unexpected costs with the Préfecture du Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

The stage at Casadesus was beautiful and the lobby was bright and inviting; but the theater architect hadn’t counted on a large number of performers, and had created only 3 dressing rooms that could each accommodate 2 or 3 people maximum and therefore worked for the Battery Dance Company members exclusively. Since the DtC workshops involved over 60 participants, a solution had to be found for them. Originally, it was thought that a heated tent could be erected outside the backstage of the theater; but this would have proved costly and was considered dangerous given the inclement weather (it was snowing and windy). Another solution was found by curtaining off the two sides of the lobby and draping inside the theater to create areas where the participants could wait for their entrances, providing a hidden entrance into the backstage area from each side of the lobby. Similarly, the issue of the projector and cyclorama were challenges that were overcome through experimentation and teamwork on the part of BDC’s tech director, the theater’s tech director (who moved the projector, allowing for a wider image) and the local contractors who provided a good white cyc on which to project the video effects that form a critical part of the BDC portion of the program. It took days to work out this solution but all was well in the end.

On the night of the show, it was thrilling to see the house completely full with visitors from as far away as Paris and Brussels and from each of the surrounding towns. There was a mix of children, seniors and everything in between. The U.S. Embassy’s Minister Counselor for Public Affairs Philip Breeden welcomed the audience as did a representative of the French Government and Jonathan Hollander, whose address in French was vetted by Sophie Nadeau, the Embassy’s point person for the entire project. A Secteur 7 representative served as emcee.

The entire performance was documented by the Embassy and posted on Youtube. Click here to view full performance. A lengthy radio interview with Jonathan Hollander and Secteur 7’s Clementine Coulon was aired the week after the program, amplifying its impact. The Voix du Nord newspaper gave ample coverage to the event and France Television broadcast a 2 minute clip in the lead up to the performance. The Mayor’s Office of Maubeuge hosted a luncheon for Hollander, Breeden, Nadeau and Secteur 7 and made everyone feel very appreciated. Parisian artist Catherine van den Steen attended the workshops and performance and has posted a gallery of photos illustrating the social and physical milieu of Maubeuge and the workings of the Dancing to Connect process.

See Narrative under Maubeuge, France.

Battery Dance has visited Russia three times so far. The two most recent visits were organized by the Art-Residence International Culture Project headed by Konstantin Grouss, a contemporary choreographer and a curator. The main goal of the visit was the Company’s participation in an outdoor festival of street art in a small historic town of Vyksa 6 hour drive westward from Moscow.

In addition to performing at the festival, three BDC dancers, Mira Cook, Robin Cantrell and Sean Scantlebury, conducted a week-long workshops with Vyksan teenagers.

Below are the dancers’ observations of their work with the workshop participants in 2013:

Mira Cook: I taught a Dancing to Connect workshop in Vyksa for 16 girls in their mid- teens and one woman who was 27. I had 3 students who had been in my workshop last year and some of my other students from last year were in Robin and Sean's classes. It seemed like about 8-10 people from my group last year had returned. Overall my students this year displayed fantastic enthusiasm and energy, I felt lucky. I actually had to tell them to tone it down a little bit for the performance since their energy was almost becoming over the top.

During the snack break each day all the girls would crowd around me and my helper/translator Ksenia and just stare at us and look at my pad of paper as I was writing notes (even though they did not read English) and smile and ask Ksenia questions. I felt like they were emulating my every move and I thought it was sweet.

During our dinner breaks Robin, Sean and I would rehearse our performance piece and students would watch through the window and door as we practiced. Later one of my students showed me her interpretation of a move that she saw us do. She orbited her finger around her other finger then made an explosion motion with both hands and an explosion noise.

At the end of the workshop the girls blew up and framed a picture of the group that had been taken earlier in the week and gave it to me and cried and said "you are welcomed in Vyksa" and "come back" over and over.

The piece we had created throughout the week was a very bold statement of girl power. All the dancers showed total confidence and pride in their movements. I was really proud of them. Most of the students were around 15/16/17 (not the most confident age) and it felt like they had made a strong club of righteous ladies by the end of the week.

Robin Cantrell: My group consisted of about 15 girls ages 11 to 17. However one was much older, around 28 with a husband and a child. Although she did not speak any English, I was so impressed with her maturity and how she pulled the younger ones along. At the end of the program she explained (with an interpreter) that she had been a teacher trainee the year before and this year wanted to experience the project as a participant. She is a teacher and had incorporated a number of the exercises that had been used the year before in her class and found that her students had improved and greatly over the course of the year. She plans to use the exercises that she learned with me as well. I like this because it's exactly the sort of long term result that you hope for with the project.

I also found it to be a very good sign that about 75% of my students were returns from the previous year. Sean and Mira agreed that their behavior was much better and their confidence and creativity more apparent this year. Now that they knew what to expect, they jumped right in to the work.

Ballet Master Class

A ballet master class was taught by the Battery Dance Company at the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet with approximately 20 students participating. The teacher was very impressed with their technical proficiency and Jonathan was complimented by the VNOB administrators and teachers afterwards on the warm attitude and generosity of BDC’s teaching artists. The implication seemed to have been that some previous visiting artists had shown a more formal, less giving approach.

Modern Master Class

A modern master class/workshop on contemporary dance was conducted with Together Higher, a hearing-impaired group led by Le Vu Long & Luu Thi Thu Lan, both of whom have been to New York under the auspices of DTW. The participants were wonderful – they approached every challenge with good spirit and effort, and succeeded admirably. The BDC teaching artist dealt with the new experience of working with disabled dancers quite well and forged a good rapport with the participants.

Hanoi Opera House Performance

Before the Hanoi Opera House Performance, welcome speeches were given by John Boardman, Chargé d’Affairs, U.S. Embassy; and Nguyen Van Tinh, Vice Director in the International Relations Department of the Vietnam Ministry of Culture and Information. The welcome was followed by a full program of 4 works by BDC and 2 works by the VNOB. The Opera House was relatively full and the response was excellent. Lou Lantner, Public Affairs Officer of the US Embassy, commented afterwards that the applause was more prolonged and hearty than any program he had attended at the Opera House since arriving in Vietnam. Ambassadors of Spain, Mexico, the EU and various other diplomats attended the performance; however, the audience was predominantly Vietnamese.