Wittenberg, Dessau 2019

Three workshops were organized in the city of Wittenberg and two in Dessau- Roßlau, building on relationships developed over prior years with Sachsen-Anhalt State education officers as well as individual schools in some cases. The workshop participants ranged in age from 14 – 20 with a wide range of abilities, most with no prior dance training. Five local German dance teachers were recruited to serve as teacher-trainees and teachers from each school also observed and in some cases assisted the Battery Dance teaching artists.

The final performance took place in an historic military exercise hall, redesigned as a community gathering space. The city arranged for a portable stage to be erected, lighting grid installed and back curtains hung and a large two-part tent put up as a changing area. A nearby gymnasium was reserved by the city as a back-up space for the students to warm up, have a catered meal in between stage rehearsals and performance and to store their backpacks and street clothes during the performance.

By the time the performance began, every seat in the hall was filled and children and families found spots on the floor in front and side of the stage for overflow. The crowd was remarkable for its diversity. Families of the refugee and immigrant participants attended in large numbers which is not always the case. A standing ovation ended the evening with a great feeling of camaraderie and good spirit.

Cottbus

Despite challenges in participant attendance, we were fortunate to have successful workshops and performances in Cottbus. We were able to achieve meetings with city officials and the head of one of the larger comprehensive schools, as well as the director of the Stadthalle, resulting in the cobbling together of several groups of students as well as the lowering of prices charged by the Stadthalle for the technical setup, rehearsal and performance. Fortunately, the date for the final Dancing to Connect performance fit into the Interkulturelle Woche – a City-wide festival of intercultural events. This, along with last-minute word of mouth, secured us a large and enthusiastic crowd at the performance and a beautiful review in the local newspaper.

We were supported in Cottbus by two professional dancers from Berlin who commuted to Cottbus each day. Amr Karkout and Medhat Aldaabal, both Syrian refugees who have settled in Germany, served as teacher trainees in previous Battery Dance programs. They have become equipped with the skills to support the Dancing to Connect program. We included solos by each Amr and Medhat in the final performance – a practice we had not done before; but which seemed natural and added variety to the program.

Weinheim

Returning to Weinheim was a welcome relief since our partners there, Alexander Haas, Halo Azad and Eva Gersbach had worked with us twice before and had taken care of many preliminaries before we arrived. The Stadthalle was once again donated by the City of Weinheim. Syrian refugee Saeed Hani served for the second time as a teacher trainee, traveling from the City of Trier, and staying with the group in Weinheim for the duration of the tour. Having had a successful experience with Amr and Medhat in Cottbus, Battery Dance invited Saeed to perform in Weinheim and he presented a beautiful solo.

Kassel

Preparatory Visit

Artistic Director and Project Manager Jonathan Hollander and Production Designer Leonardo Hidalgo spent a day in Kassel a week prior to the start of the program.  They met with Charlene Hackley for the purpose of confirming all of the details of what was a first-time program in Kassel.  They met local host institutions, visited all of the workshop spaces as well as the performance venue, met with the vendors who were providing the lighting and sound equipment for the performance, met Charlene's office supervisor who had approved the project, and checked out the hotel where the group would be staying and the public transportation hub nearby.  Charlene had done a meticulous job with the arrangements, and they returned to Weinheim the same evening, feeling confident that the program would be managed well.  

Tragedy in Halle

On October 9th, the first day of the Dancing to Connect workshops in Kassel, an anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic attack targeting a synagogue and kebab store occurred in Halle, just two hours away. The attack and our learning the story of the ”controversial” Monument to Strangers and Refugees, pictured right, reinforced our mission in Kassel and demonstrated the continued need in the region to bring people together to change perceptions and build unity.

Workshops

The Dancing to Connect workshops took place at a variety of community locations across the city of Kassel over the course of four days, for five hours each day. The 44 youth who participated in the program were dedicated to the workshop process and schedules. Ages of the participants ranged from 11 – 26. Half of participants identified as being German. The remaining participants identified nationalities from 14 different countries. Through the workshops, the participants had an opportunity to express themselves in a new way and to explore their creativity. Sequential activities were utilized to first get participants comfortable with self-expression, creative movement, and one-another, and later to get participants to find out more about themselves and those they were working with. Through this process, five new original dance works were created by the workshop groups that told the stories of the participants.

Six local dancers assisted with the workshops, mirroring Battery Dance’s teaching artists. Through their participation, and exposure to Battery Dance’s teacher training manual, the local dancers were trained over the course of the week in the Dancing to Connect methodology.

Film Screening

A free public screening of Moving Stories, which chronicles Battery Dance’s work across four countries, had its first Germany premiere at the Gloria Kino Theatre in Kassel. Approximately 75 audience members made up of Dancing to Connect participants, their families, and the general public attended.

Performances

The five original student works premiered at SOZO Visions In Motion Halle 2. Prior to the performance, Production Director Leonardo Hidalgo worked with technical staff and equipment vendors to set up the lighting, sound, and raised seating in the large studio. To accommodate an overflow audience, black curtains were also removed from adjacent the seating area. Two performances took place at 5pm and at 7pm. Each performance had an overflow audience of 150 each, with some audience members standing, and students sitting on mats placed on the ground.

Both performances elicited rapturous applause from participants, encouraging and motivating their fellow students, and from the audience that watched the emotional stories of the students performed on stage. While the stamina of the participants, especially the younger students, to perform in a second performance was of concern prior to performance day, this proved to be a non-concern as students gained even greater momentum and energy after the first performance.

Short Film

A short film that documents the process and performance in Kassel was shot by Murad Abu-Eisheh, a Jordanian filmmaker living in Germany as an international fellow at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Murad’s most recent documentary was featured at DOK.fest Munchen.

Ahmedabad

Performance as part of Vikram Sarabhai Festival at Natarani Amphitheater (audience of approximately 500), 2 workshops with children in government schools

Vadodara

Performance at C.C. Mehta Hall, M.S. University (audience c. 650); Film Screening of Moving Stories at Playbox Theater, Faculty of Performing Arts, M.S.U.; All-day workshop for dance students at M.S. University; Workshop at Udayan, NGO for disadvantaged girls;

Lucknow

Performance as part of Lucknow International Dance Festival (audience of approximately 150 – low numbers because of anti-American rally on the same day and violent anti-CAA protests a few days earlier)

Hassan

Performance at Hasanaba Kalakshetra (audience of 1,300); Workshop for special children and young adults; Teacher training workshops for advanced dancers and dance teachers with attendees from Hassan, Bengaluru and Kochi; Urban Dance workshop

Hyderabad

Performance at Shilpakala Vedika (audience of 900); Film screening and panel discussion at Prasad Labs; Workshop in contemporary dance for teens and young adults at HY dance studio; Workshop for S.E.L. social and emotional learning children; Workshop for Naandi Foundation – young women; Lecture at University of Hyderabad; Workshop for children at SpringUP Leadership NGO;

Surat

4 workshops at government schools and the Tap-in Dance Studio

Mumbai

Performance at St. Andrew’s Auditorium as part of EVAM 2020 Festival (audience of approximately 500); Film Screening and Q/A – Sumeet Nagdev Dance Academy; Film Screenings – American School of Bombay; Lecture/Discussion – “Deconstructing Choreography” at Natanam Studio

Pune

Keynote Address – SymBIZ Entrepreneurship Summit, “Entrepreneurship in the Arts” Kochi – Film Screening & Discussion – Lokadharmi Theater Centre; Film Screening & Discussion – College of the Sacred Heart

Battery Dance was able to reach new audiences and implant its internationally acclaimed arts education program, Dancing to Connect, in HCMC and Da Nang during its short 10-day program in Vietnam. The program built on relationships and reputation established during the Company’s previous cultural diplomacy projects in 2005 (HCMC and Hanoi) and 2015 (Hue and Hanoi), both sponsored through grants from the U.S. Embassy Hanoi. The rare synergy, trust and understanding that had built up between the founders and artistic directors of Battery Dance and Arabesque Vietnam, Jonathan Hollander and Nguyen Tan Loc respectively, laid the groundwork for the project’s success.

The rare talent of the Arabesque dancers, ranging in age from 19 - 36, their open-mindedness and their quick ability to absorb new skills, enabled the transfer of Dancing to Connect methodologies to occur in very abbreviated time. Months and months of preparation beforehand ensured that there were few internal misunderstandings, that challenges could be overcome cooperatively and that the members of Arabesque were ready with a positive outlook even before the program was launched.

Floods in Hoi An and Da Nang in the weeks before the program took place forced some last minute changes in the structure of the workshops. Namely, Hoi An was ruled out since school closures set back the academic teaching schedule; and Da Nang high schools similarly. As a result, we shifted our target group to slightly older students in colleges; teachers from the Da Nang College of Arts and Culture and from the Trung Vuong Theater also joined in as active participants alongside their students. All were extremely receptive and ready to engage whole-heartedly in the workshops. Their self-confidence in charting new territory creatively built steadily during the week of workshops and their final performances were remarkably polished.

The Trung Vuong Theater had an impressively sized audience of 500+ and their appreciation of the various performances was obvious, even in a culture that doesn’t usually demonstrate response vociferously.

Arabesque Vietnam is now fully equipped to carry out Dancing to Connect workshops in HCMC and elsewhere in rural districts and other cities. Through his contacts with Citibank, Jonathan Hollander introduced the Country Head and Public Affairs Officer of Citi Vietnam to Tan Loc and Arabesque, both of whom attended the Studio Showing in HCMC. Hollander followed up and encouraged Citi to sponsor a future DtC program or programs in HCMC conducted by Arabesque, sustaining the long-term impact of the Consulate General’s support of Battery Dance’s cultural diplomacy initiative.

Jonathan Hollander introduced U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper to Artistic Director and Choreographer Nguyen Tan Loc and Company Manager Nhi Huyen of Arabesque Vietnam.

The U.S. Consulate General has also been re-introduced to Arabesque and could consider supporting a future project as has been done by the U.S. Embassy in Athens which helped local Greek teacher trainees take Dancing to Connect to Athens schools and those across the country each year for 7 years up until the pandemic.

Battery Dance conducted a robust national tour of Indonesia of 18 days November/December, 2022, its first program in the Country since 2011. Each of the major program elements included youth arts educational workshops and performances with an underlying theme of climate change and humans’ relationship with nature.

The New York City-based team of 6 dancer/teaching artists, 1 artistic director/program manager and 1 technical director was supplemented by local Indonesian partner, Mohammad Reiza, who had worked with the dance company in its prior engagement eleven years earlier in Makassar while serving as a Cultural Affairs Assistant with the U.S. Embassy Jakarta.

The overall dimension and details of the project were developed in close cooperation with Reiza and U.S. Embassy Public Affairs staff Pirina Vindiartha and Emily Norris, both of whom had supported Battery Dance’s 2011 Indonesia program, and Grace Clegg, ACAO. This close coordination came into play even as situations changed on the ground and the program was able to be successfully modified to take advantage of opportunities as they arose and to prevent any diminishment of impact when the team faced unforeseen challenges.

The locations chosen for the workshops and performances were spread across the country – Makassar in South Sulawesi; Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan, Borneo; Mataram in Lombok and Serang in Java. Each location had been the epicenter of climate disasters such as Tsunamis, earthquakes, forest fires and mudslides. The concept that creative dance workshops could help young people process trauma and explore feelings and expressions emanating from natural disasters beyond their control is something that Battery Dance had tested through Dancing to Connect workshops held in the New York City Borough of Staten Island, after it was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy in 2014.

Student participation and responses were powerful and inspiring. The overall quality of creativity, innovation, talent and work ethic was extremely high. The dance pieces created by the youth (and in some cases adults) were distinctive and compelling; and emotions overflowed at the end of each program with plenty of hugs and tears of joy and sadness that the engagement was completed.

Two pre-program virtual panel discussions were added to the primary “live” elements of the program to boost awareness of the tour and lay the groundwork for the workshops that would take place soon after. The @america event that took place on the final day of the tour was also shared virtually with an audience reaching 170+ thus far on youtube.com.

In the aftermath of the program, we see many opportunities for continuity: government officials and cultural leaders in Makassar and Mataram have expressed interest in sending their local dance companies to New York for future Battery Dance Festivals. In both cases, invitations to Battery Dance to return to participate in large festivals were also discussed. Whether there is continuing will and funding to propel these ideas is not clear. Palangkaraya has also spoken about future collaboration and asked for guidance in applying for a project supporting the preservation of Dayak culture through the Ambassadors’ Fund for Cultural Preservation.

Lagos

The Battery Dance team of eight conducted a jampacked 3-day program in Lagos, a city where the Company had taught and performed three times previously and where it had established a robust bilateral relationship with SPAN (Society for the Performing Arts of Nigeria). With the support of the U.S. Consulate General, Battery and SPAN devised a sequence of workshops that compressed the usual 5-day Dancing to Connect model of youth engagement into 3 days, packing as much information, training, and sharing as possible in the time allotted. In addition, Artistic Director Jonathan Hollander conducted tv, radio and print media interviews and an inspirational talk with the older dancers and teachers. The team found time to create a short video “art activation” in cooperation with Tiwani Contemporary, one of the world’s leading galleries of contemporary African and diaspora art.

16 hours of intensive workshop time was spread over two days with morning and afternoon shifts led by four Battery Dance teaching artists. 35 youth and young adults took part, demonstrating remarkable talent, attitude, and motivation, exceeding all challenges, cooperating seamlessly with each other and inspiring the New York team with their creativity.

In addition to the Dancing to Connect workshops with trained dancers, a large group of about 50 children, ages 8 – 12, were bussed in both days by Footprint of David Art Foundation, an NGO that serves the Bariga community.

Battery Dance Teaching Artist Razvan Stoian taught workshops on both days with the children who were bursting with enthusiasm and full of appetite for dancing and creating. On the final day, rehearsals and a performance were staged in the grand ballroom of the Eko Hotel. The two workshop groups performed their self-created choreography with much appreciation from the 300 audience members. A group of children from Bariga, a subset of those who took Razvan’s workshop, performed local drumming and dancing styles and a local brother and sister performed a classical ballet piece.

Battery Dance presented two dances from its repertoire at the beginning and end of the program, demonstrating to the workshop participants their artistry for the first time since they had only been known up until then as trainers.

Sarah Boulos commented, “It was incredible… very thought provoking and helped a lot of our dancers to dig deeper than just the commercial aspect of dance.”

One immediate follow on: SPAN veteran dancer and Bariga teacher Moses Olayinka Akintunde has received support from Battery Dance members who helped him purchase his flights to France where he is taking up a one-year fellowship at the ESPE Dance Conservatory.

Abuja

The Abuja portion of the program placed six Battery Dance Teaching Artists in five local dance studios (or adjunct spaces) for five days with 10 team heads, 100+ youth and young adult participants and a combined total of 100 hours of dance training. The culminating performance at the NUC hall in Maitama on the sixth day was a joyous affair in which each of the five groups of participants presented their completed choreographies, Krump Studios presented a trio choreographed by Jemima Angulu, and Battery Dance presented a duet and a group work from its repertoire. A massive thunderstorm contributed to the fact that the audience stayed in the auditorium for nearly 45 minutes after the show concluded, experiencing the afterglow of such an exhilarating experience. Cultural Attache Julie McKay represented the Embassy with a warm welcome to the audience and, along with Jonathan Hollander and members of the Battery Dance, Jemima and local studio heads, took part in televised interviews after the show.

For the first time in Battery Dance’s 17-year history of conducting Dancing to Connect projects around the world, a locally driven “phase two” occurred immediately after the American company’s program concluded. With support from the U.S. Embassy, Krump Studios carried on a program they called Dance for Impact over several weeks. Jemima, Thomas Moses and the team leaders went into five communities outside Abuja, rural places where such big-hearted training and resources would be extremely rare (and much needed.)

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.

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.

Battery Dance completed the second year of its Dancing for Trust initiative in Germany in the Fall of 2023, with workshops and performances centered around the city of Halle in the Federal State of Sachsen-Anhalt, and a refresher for teachers in Bremen where DfT had been launched in 2022.

One week of training was provided for 20 German school teachers, comprising 20 hours of theoretical and practical sessions devoted to introducing the methodology Battery Dance has used in schools across Germany, in the U.S. and countries around the world. Once the teachers were familiarized with the educational/creative process, they joined with the Battery Dance teaching artists in bringing it into their schools. This happened in two cohorts – with five secondary schools in the week following the teacher training sessions; and with five gymnasia in the two weeks afterwards. There was a gap of time due to a long weekend that included German Reunification Day which took place this year on a Tuesday, necessitating an extended time frame.

The final two days of the project were taken up with rehearsals and performances at the Volkspark, a multi-venue theater and community center with historical importance for the City. On Wednesday, October 11th, each of the secondary school groups rehearsed on stage in the afternoon and performed their completed choreographies in the evening. The audience comprised approximately 400 audience of families, teachers, peers and members of the general public and dignitaries who spoke at the beginning of the performance including Heike Piornak-Sommerweiss of the Landesinstitut fur Schulqualitat und Lehrerbildung Sachsen-Anhalt and Norbert Ryl of the Landeschulamt Sachsen-Anhalt and David Paned, Counselor for Public Affairs, U.S. Consulate General Leipzig introduced the program.

The following night, Thursday, October 12th, the five gymnasia followed the same pattern. This time, John Crosby, Consul General from the U.S. Consulate General Leipzig spoke in place of Mr. Paned. Syrian-German choreographer Saeed Hani introduced “The Wind in the Olive Grove”, as well as “A Certain Mood” by Taiwanese choreographer Tsai-Hsi Hung, both of which were created for Battery Dance on commission by the Renate, Hans and Marie Hofmann Trust.

Through the support of the Consulate General in Leipzig, the Company added an interactive event at the Grassi Museum in Leipzig, bringing audiences into the outdoor porch and indoor galleries that display Benin Bronzes and other relics from countries around the world. This event extended the Company’s reach into the Federal State of Sachsen and helped to spread awareness of the Dancing for Trust performances and workshops taking place in Halle.

Entrance and exit questionnaires were distributed to the student groups. An indication of the success of the program came the day after it was concluded when a teacher from a school in Sachsen-Anhalt wrote to inquire whether the Company would be returning and whether it would be possible for her school to join. The school offices in Magdeburg and Dessau, where earlier Dancing to Connect projects had taken place, contacted Frau Piornak-Sommerweiss with similar inquiries. Two teachers from a “gifted and talented” school in Halle took part in the teacher training sessions in week one of Dancing for Trust, despite the fact that an earlier-scheduled school trip precluded their students from taking part this year. There is hope that Battery Dance could send teaching artists in 2024 following the program it is scheduled to conduct in the Federal State of Brandenburg, to serve this and other schools in Sachsen-Anhalt.

General Narrative

In response to the pandemic, Battery Dance transitioned its Dancing to Connect for Refugee Integration from live interactions to online projects — providing youth across Germany with opportunities to stay connected with one another, to explore their creativity and share their stories through dance. A total of 15 projects were completed over the course of 12 months, overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic and responding, sometimes at the very last moment, to changing conditions.

As the pandemic situation altered possibilities for schools and their students and families throughout the year, the methodology for how these dance works were created and filmed changed as well. As a result, each project had its own distinctive different process. Some involved groups in schools, while others came about via an open call for participants that brought together individuals from across the country. Some allowed for youth to gather together in a group and touch, some did not allow touching, and some did not allow youth to gather at all.

Therefore, the dance films below showcase stories of the youth and their changing experiences during the pandemic, but also, taken together, illustrate the changing environment in Germany as the pandemic raged and waned. Above all else, the films exemplify the resilience of youth, their drive to connect and explore, and the unique ability of dance, even virtually across borders, to bring people together.

Battery Dance’s teaching artists Sarah Housepian, Vivake Khamsingsavath, Jillian Linkowski, Bethany Mitchell, Sean Scantlebury and Razvan Stoian led the workshops on Zoom from the U.S. and in cases where translation and support was needed locally, German dancers Antony Franz (Kassel - Lacking, Weinheim – Kaleidoscop/Kollidieren, and Guben – Stamm der Pink), Yara Eid (Halle - Constricted), Olga Miller (Halle – Dirt) and Amr Karkout (Offenbach – Home) collaborated. Antony was in the studio in Kassel for the first project; and went to Guben for the filming of the last project. Yara and Olga supported the projects remotely from their homes in Berlin. Amr traveled from Berlin to support the group in Offenbach in the school and in the park where the dance was filmed.

In the last case, the project in Offenbach, the students were led on a virtual tour of an art installation in Frankfurt’s Park in which American visual artists Caleb Duarte and Mia Eve Rollow had been commissioned to create a work that exemplified the living conditions of Refugees. The piece entitled The Embassy of the Refugee showed the highly constricted living conditions of families transplanted from their homelands through conflict and terror. This in turn allowed the students to reflect on their own home life, constricted by the pandemic. The resulting dance manifested concepts and physicalization of the theme.

Projects

See the projects here!

Kassel (October, 2020): "Lacking"

“Lacking” takes inspiration from the youthful participants’ feelings and raw experiences as they reflected on months of quarantine. In the workshop sessions, they explored the sensation of loss, of not feeling complete. Their journey from isolation to connectedness was accomplished through the process of collaborating with others. In that sense, “Lacking” illustrates the finding of peace within the storm, regaining strength and completeness through the building of community and sharing.

Weinheim, Baden-Württemberg (December, 2020): "KALEIDOSKOP/KOLLIDIEREN"

“KALEIDOSKOP/KOLLIDIEREN” is a collaborative dance film that explores our forced social shift to the online sphere. Flipping, mirroring, and repeating color, shape, and shadow create a kaleidoscope of fractal patterns to frame the dancers. By connecting colors, natural elements, geometric shapes, and emotions, the dancers demonstrate how we are all painted by the same palette, bound by our shared experience of humanity. How can changing our perspective actually change our understanding? When we remove our masks, what will we have learned?

Halle (January, 2021): "Constricted" & "Dirt"

"Constricted” takes inspiration from working within a confined space. The dancers created all the material from the safety of their own homes exploring unconventional spaces and restricting different parts of their body. The dancers only worked together on the day of the filming, and found a way to connect within the constricting rules of the pandemic.

During the workshop process for "Dirt," the participants needed motivation in creating their own movement. In discussion about the pandemic and its impact on their everyday lives, each individual chose a word to represent their feelings, and from those words, “COVID-19 solos” emerged which were converted into group phrases that formed the basis of the work. We found ourselves on a lot belonging to a local factory that kindly offered its space. It was snowing that day so we took shelter in one of the domes. There was a huge pile of dirt which became the background of the piece.

Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; Frankfurt & Kassel, Hesse; Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg (February, 2021): "Fragmentum"

Everyone was working remotely from home during quarantine time. In this process, we captured fragments of everyone’s very much changed lives across different parts of Germany. The students didn’t know each other beforehand and represented different interests such as music, gymnastics and even contemporary dance training. However, a bond developed quickly and allowed for the creation of the full puzzle picture made up of the different pieces.

Bickenbach, Darmstadt, Frankfurt, and Kassel, Hesse; München, Bavaria; Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg (February, 2021): "Phases"

“Phases” takes inspiration from the different moon cycles. The moon experiences these phases when sunlight is present to reveal more of the moon’s face. In contrast, the moon has periods of darkness where shadows cover portions of the moon to hide itself. Much like the participants personal journey in creating the work. The virtual workshop allowed them to fully shine a light on themselves and expose their individuality and creativity. Through community and creation the participants found full freedom in this new phase.

Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Fulda Eppertshausen, and Wiesbaden, Hesse (February, 2021): "perspective"

“perspective” is a visual collaboration between artists from different cities in Germany created from their respective homes. Through an open dialogue, the participants discussed what they experienced during this year of pandemic and turned it into movement. The themes of isolation, connection, and hope were some of the unifying elements that infused the film. Each person was able to express themselves via movement, location scouting and how they filmed their dance.

Bremen (February, 2021): "Translation"

“Translation” is a collaborative effort between the teaching artist in NYC, students, teachers in Germany and our videographer/editor. In addition to translating from English to German, each artist took an idea and translated it into a larger exploration of its meaning. The work itself is a dance, exploring various themes discussed by the students. These themes were translated into poses, formations, interactions and movement created by the students themselves. The underlying theme is the translation between individual and group, how do we communicate with one another through movement. The film was given another layer of translation with the interpretation by our videographer and editor who took our movement and captured its essence from a new perspective. We leave the audience with the final task to translate what this work means to you. How do you resonate with what we have created. What does it mean to you?

Bremen (February, 2021): "What Time Is It Now?"

During the pandemic, the sense of time is lost. The participants felt that they were drifting from day to day, moment to moment, without the structure of time. As a result, we decided to base the piece on the movements of the clock and the music track that was chosen is called “Clockwork”. The formation of the dancers in space was reinforced by the image of the clock. Our multicultural cast was strongly supported by the local teachers who worked with me (Sean Scantlebury) to help the students stay focused and integrated into the creative process.

Bremerhaven, Bremen (February, 2021): "Structure"

“Structure” takes inspiration from the participants' new guidelines they discovered while attending school in a pandemic. It illustrates their journey to find their movement and voice within this functional order on campus grounds. Despite having a militant and robotic undertone, it shows the collapsing and breaking down of order and function. Throughout the virtual workshop, the participants were also able to establish a new bond and structure of friendship and unity with one another, all the while observing physical distancing.

Guben, Brandenburg (February, 2021): "Stamm Der Pink"

“Stamm der Pink” takes inspiration from the strength of the female spirit. The dancers worked together in groups, duets, and trios to create intricate movement and partnering highlighting their creativity and ability to work collaboratively. They are one being, moving and breathing together.

Bremen (May/June, 2021): "Curious Voyage" & "TEAM"

“Curious Voyage” explores the impact on individuals as they come out of isolation and into the world once more. The students asked themselves, “What does it mean to be true to ourselves and equally true to our peers?” Razvan and Sara witnessed the students’ growth and willingness to explore. We hope they continue the journey with new confidence and sense of each other.

“TEAM” is a look inside the research of what it means to work together, listen and learn from one another, ultimately collaborating and creating as a unit. The students investigated through various activities individually, in pairs, groups, and collectively to construct movement based on abstract ideas. What does it meant to conceive one’s own perception of a concept and merge it with someone who sees it in different ways. “Team” is an idealistic window into what society could be when we are open to allowing new, different and sometimes contrasting viewpoints, and efficiently constructing a landscape that serves all.

Offenbach (September, 2021): "HOME"

In “Home”, participants took inspiration from an art installation by Mia Eve Rollow and Caleb Duarte called ‘The Embassy of the Refugee.’ Throughout the week, the dancers explored the differences in space, from being tightly confined in a small home to the vastness of an open field. They explored how space informed and affected their movement and emotions. The dancers investigated personally what the true meaning of home meant to them. They all shared a common thread and came to a common ground. It is a safe space where they felt peace, love, family and support. The creation of “HOME” rides the journey of their ideas.

Three elements were included in the project:

30 DANCE CLASSES FOR YOUTH were recorded, edited and framed in Spanish by three American master dance teachers. These programs were designed to support young Bolivians, many of whom were sequestered in their homes during the worst spread of COVID 19. The Embassy shared the programs with Bolivian Satellite Television which, we understand, has disseminated the programs several times to homes throughout the country and to bordering countries as well. Classes are linked here

3 ARTS MANAGEMENT SEMINARS were held on Zoom, led by Battery Dance COO and VP Emad Salem with participation by Battery Dance Founder and President Jonathan Hollander. 70+ Bolivian arts managers across a wide range of disciplines, ages and experiences attended each of the sessions

3 DANCING TO CONNECT VIRTUAL PROGRAMS, 8 SESSIONS EACH were held with students who varied from experienced young dancers from the private dance studio All That Jazz to others who came from less privileged backgrounds. For all of them, the experience provided an opportunity to unleash their creative abilities, to build teamwork skills as well as boosting self-confidence. The choreographic material derived in the workshops, with Battery Dance trainers projected onto the wall of the All That Jazz studios, were captured by an Embassy-sourced videographer who sent the raw files back to Battery Dance. Our Teaching Artists edited the material into discreet and highly original video dance works, which can be seen here: Group 1, Group 2, Group 3

Participant feedback can be seen here.