One of the stops on BDC's 2010 Algerian Tour was the market town of El Eulma. Battery Dance Company was supposed to have performed in Sétif, a much larger and more cosmopolitan city. However the stage in Sétif was determined to be too small for the dancers needs. Unfortunately, when the company arrived in El Eulma (following a very long and truly dangerous bus ride) they discovered that the small stage of the rather grandly titled Complexe Culturel was shaped in a semi-circle with a low ceiling dotted with recessed multi-colored patio lights.

To complete the picture, there were swagged draperies and a photo of President Boutaflika against the curved back wall. The crew was more than willing to remove the draperies and photo, revealing an attractive trellised plaster wall (see photo below) Adaptability was BDC's mantra, and the dancers instantly switched the intended large-scale program for a series of solos, duets, a trio and one quintet, all of which could be accomplished on this cookie cutter stage.

During the afternoon, we suffered our only security mishap of the tour: Mira and Robin were assaulted by two teenage ruffians who knocked Mira off the sidewalk, onto the broken bricks of a back lot and attempted to steal her bags. Robin screamed bloody murder and both women used their best karate kicks to ward off their attackers, who laughed and ran away. Both women performed a few hours later and showed no lack of composure on stage.

BDC dancers were particularly touched by the audience in El Eulma. These were people who had never had the opportunity to see a modern dance performance before and who would have had no previous exposure to Americans. A group of high school students participating in an Embassy-sponsored English language program were thrilled to meet the dancers after the performance. The balance of the audience appeared to be merchants and others who were attracted by the novelty of a visit of a dance company from New York.

Battery Dance Company’s program in Algeria was the brainchild of the American Public Affairs Officers (PAO) and Foreign Service National (FSN) in Algiers. This creative and hard-working duo of U.S. Embassy PD staffers had been introduced to the BDC approach in February, 2010, through a 10-day program in Algiers and Oran with two of the Company’s teaching artists.

Building on the success of the earlier program, the Public Affairs Officer and Cultural Affairs Specialist worked with BDC’s artistic director Jonathan Hollander to devise a framework that would maximize the impact of the full company’s presence via Dancing to Connect (DtC) workshops and performances. An emphasis was placed on the importance of engaging young people and reaching out from the capital to under-served communities. The biggest impediment proved to be the Algerian Ministry of Culture, an agency that operates by the rule of “later”. In Algeria, the US Embassy cannot run any cultural programs without the Ministry’s consent. BDC’s programs involved very active collaboration with the national ballet company (L’ONCI), local dancers and theaters, thus making the Ministry’s participation all the more crucial. Even to get to the starting gate – obtaining visas for the Company – the Ministry’s approval had to be in place. Curve balls were flying in all directions during the weeks leading up to the program, despite the fact that initial meetings had yielded an enthusiastic response. There were at least three changes of cities, the last of which occurred even after the Company was en route!! To be fair, some of these changes were the result of security concerns on the part of the Embassy.

The DtC program in Algiers consisted of a week of training with three groups of dancers from L’ONCI – all day sessions with 2 BDC teaching artists working with 15 – 20 Algerian dancers from the age of 18 – 30. It was generally thought that the male dancers outshone the females in terms of athleticism, technique, performance quality and enthusiasm. But the buy-in was exceptional in almost all cases. Publicity and media coverage was excellent throughout the Algeria program including a lengthy interview on the national television show “Bonjour D’Algerie”.

After touring in Annaba and Eulma, BDC returned to Algiers and were reunited with the dancers from L’ONCI for a grand performance at the Salle el Mouggar. The return journey to Algiers from El Eulma warrants a full description -- everyone involved was imagining newspaper headlines reporting the tragic death of 8 dance company members and two USG officials in Algerian road accident. Ironically, the rationale for this road trip (in the wrong direction, away from Algiers, in order to fly to Algiers) was the concerns of the Security Officials at the US Embassy. This terrifying adventure involved a pre-dawn departure, fishtailing bus on slick roads, accompaniment by Algerian security vehicles that switched off every time a county line was crossed and who were far more hindrance than help, channeling the company via backstreets rather than highways. BDC arrived at the airport in Constantine with 10 minutes before their flight was scheduled to depart. Luckily or unluckily, depending upon how you look at it, the flight was cancelled. The FSN went into over-drive, re-booking us on another flight that in a crazy twist of fate, would make two stops, the first being Setif from which we had just driven. The pressure was extreme because the company had a performance that night in Algiers and had major technical rehearsals and brush-up to do with the local Algerian dancers. Instead of arriving at the theater at 9 a.m., they were almost two hours late.

How BDC's production director got the lights hung and focused and the show cued and ready to go at 7 pm is completely unfathomable. But he did, and the dancers were amazing. One BDC dancer was sick to his stomach and sweating profusely with fever, but he managed to he make it through the entire program with full energy before collapsing in a heap in the dressing room. The Ambassador attended the show and graciously addressed the full cast afterwards. His statement that, “cultural cooperation is the best cooperation possible”, and his warm, personal handshaking and congratulations afterwards made for the perfect cap on the evening and on the Algerian portion of the companies tour.

Bafana Matea and Sean Scantlebury arrived in Mbabane in the early afternoon on October 17, having been delayed due to weather conditions, they were met at the airport by Marjorie Balarin of the Embassy’s Public Diplomacy Staff. Marjorie escorted them to the hotel, Ezulweni, where they checked in and rested. Afterwards, Marjorie and her husband took them out to dinner at a local Portuguese Restaurant. On the morning of October 18, they were picked up at 8:30 a.m. from the Hotel and escorted to Mbabane Theater Club.

The first morning workshop was scheduled for 9 a.m. Participants arrived a bit late and the session began at 9:30 a.m. Some were wearing jeans and boots and their preconception was that the workshop would be in the hip-hop style (a misunderstanding that the teaching artists have experienced elsewhere in the past.) There were 25 participants the first day, 23 young men and 2 young women. A few people drifted out of the workshop as the day progressed; otherwise, the session went from 9:30 a.m. until 3, with a 1-hour lunch break. “The food was delicious; everyone ate together, which provided a nice opportunity for socializing.”

The participants were interested in knowing how Matea and Scantlebury had gotten started in their careers as dancers. They also wanted to know about different styles of dance and methods of training and were curious about the project itself, wanting to understand what were the goals and expectations as well as how it would be accomplished.

Some of the participants expressed the fact that they didn't have opportunities in Swaziland to pursue the arts. This pertained to performing arts such as dance, theater and music, as well as the graphic and fine arts. The content of the first day consisted of a warm-up, stretching and exercises of moving across the floor (i.e. basic modern dance elements.)

The teaching artists were assessing the abilities of the participants; and the participants were getting a clearer sense of what the project was all about. Already in the afternoon of the first day, the teaching artists were gathering material created by the participants and showing how different phrases could be put together in order to build choreography.

The participants who appeared on the second day were far better prepared in terms of clothing and attitudes. Six young women joined the workshop on the morning of the second day. Clearly the word got out into the community that the program was going on and that the teaching artists were open to accepting new students. In essence, the workshop stayed at the same number (24 +/-) because for every participant who had dropped out the first day, there were new entrants.

The teaching artists decided that it would be advantageous to split the group in two, having the women working with Matea and the men working with Scantlebury. In this way, the teaching artists felt they could make the most headway by catering to the particular skills and techniques of each group. It seemed important to the confidence and comfort of the participants to clearly define the style by gender.

Since the program was so abbreviated, it was important for the teaching artists to begin stitching the material together even at this early point, because they knew that at the end of the third day, the dance would be performed. The participants were young adults, ages 19 – 28, and were able to handle the pressure of quick creation and nearly instant performance. They had a lot of self-confidence, high level of dance, theater and musical talent, and at the same time, were open to the new and different ideas and styles that were being introduced.

Since many of the participants already had fixed ideas of what they wanted to accomplish and perform, the teaching artists had to discover a way to incorporate the existing material and ideas and at the same time, build new understanding about the range of dance expression and technique. They were sensitive to the feelings and background of the participants and showed respect for what they came with. Therefore, the end result contained a mixture of what had been known and what was new.

The performance piece was completed and polished; the order of the program was established incorporating pre-existing dances and music by the participants and solos by the teaching artists. Scantlebury was interviewed on local radio with two well-known performers of Swaziland who were participating in the workshop and there was coverage in the local news. The advertising and outreach for the performance was modest, given the fact that everything was so new and no one knew in advance what the results would be. However, the artists guess that over 100 people were in attendance.

The U.S. Ambassador and representatives of the press also attended. Bafana and Sean sum it up: “We came to Swaziland as professionals and teachers; but we left as students. We learned so much about the life and challenges of the Country; particularly the struggles that artistic people face there. We feel that we left the participants with a sense of optimism and opportunity and new dreams. We were asked repeatedly whether we would be coming back. As far as we are concerned, we would love the opportunity to do so.” The next day the teaching artists departed Swaziland.

Dancing to Connect, the international arts education initiative of the Battery Dance Company, entered its fourth year with a 33-day program that stretched across Germany in Autumn, 2009. Between September 13 and October 16, the team of 12 artists from New York City’s Battery Dance Company and its partner company Drastic Action taught choreography workshops to students from 18 high schools. Over 300 students were engaged in creating dances that responded to the history of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the so-called Peaceful Revolution in the 20th Anniversary year of those events. A striking feature of the program was in the selection of participating schools: with only one or two exceptions, the schools were all of the lower rank of the German secondary educational system (Hauptschules, Realschules and/or Berufskollegs) and the students were often children of immigrant families.

The dance interactions proved life-changing for many participants according to their teachers and school principals. Reiner Düchting, Headmaster of the Hauptschule am Stoppenberg in Essen offered this assessment of Dancing to Connect:

Many girls and boys of our school are shaped by numerous frustrations and disappointments which are linked on the one hand with their bad results at school and on the other hand also with their difficult family and social backgrounds. They experience and judge this as their individual failure and develop thereabouts worries, fears that they won’t find the place in society which they want after school and which they - because of their abilities - normally could have hoped to achieve. Their fears are not without reasons: less than 50 % of those students find an apprenticeship after school. That’s why they fear the future and are not much motivated for the tasks and challenges of the present. The dancing project is for them a great experience which gives them energy and helps developing their self- esteem. The close, family-like bonds in the dance group during the training, the ability to express their experiences, their personal strength, wishes, hopes, moments of their personal history through the dancing, the efforts and strain because of the dancing, the encouragement through the coach, the work for a common joint, the performance, are not limited to this one project: This period of time and these experiences together with the performance in front of parents, teachers, brothers and sisters, friends and foreign people will be encouragement for their further development, they will give motivation and stimulation like a “lighthouse” does, to find their own way with more strength and self-esteem.

The Berlin Lehrerzeitung, Berlin's newspaper for the teaching profession, added, "There are high points in school life that leave permanent traces in all participants and which they will remember with eyes agleam because they make school something special. Dancing to Connect was such a high point."

Performances took place in mainstream public theaters in Sachsen-Anhalt, NRW and Berlin-Brandenburg, drawing large crowds of people of all generations. Many in the audience, attracted by the participation of a family member in the performance, had not previously frequented the theater. The performances garnered national attention through a five-minute feature on the popular public television broadcast, "Nachtmagazin". The Markische Allgemeine Zeitung titled its review, "The New Youth Movement" and described the performance in the Nikolaisaal as "an exceptionally fresh stage program with lay dancers and professionals." The involvement of the professionals as well as the students on stage and back-stage introduced yet another element of connection and validation: This was not a student performance and as such forgiven for lack of polish; rather, the students rose to the level of professionals and comported themselves accordingly.

The structure of each Dancing to Connect workshop matched two professional teaching artists with approximately 20 students, ranging in age from 14 - 21. Both boys and girls participated, and most often grade levels were mixed. In NRW and Berlin-Brandenburg, the groups were composed of students all of whom came from the same school; however, in Sachsen-Anhalt, schools were combined, enabling students to be involved from 8 instead of 5 schools. In all but one case, students participated voluntarily; and in all cases, students were freed from their academic requirements so that they could focus exclusively on the dance project for the six workshop days as well as the performance day.

As in past years, the ability to understand and communicate in English was a side-benefit of the project as none of the teaching artists spoke German and English was the medium for teaching in the dance workshops. Personal involvement with the history of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations and a profound exploration of the dramatic political and social events of 1989 in Germany were also notable benefits for the students, who, in many cases, appeared to be only slightly familiar with these circumstances at the beginning of the project.

Battery Dance Company's programs in Baku, Azerbaijan, were groundbreaking in that a visit to this capital city by an American modern dance company was exceedingly rare (none of the dancers or critics whom we met could cite an earlier example). The Company’s performance at the Musical Comedy Theater was packed with a diverse audience, ranging from fur-coated oil magnates and their bejeweled wives to turtle-necked college students. Getting the show up was one of BDC’s biggest challenges to date: the stage surface was cut through by an old-fashioned turntable, separated from the main stage by a gap of up to an inch and not level with the stage. Fortunately, the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy and his staff had identified this problem before BDC’s arrival and contingencies were in place. Masonite and packing material were obtained and the entire stage floor was covered and painted. The surface was smooth and therefore safe for the dancers’ bare feet, although it was still somewhat “lumpy”.

The performance was covered by national television news as well as the local Baku press. Master classes were excited, over-crowded affairs with large numbers of students and teachers watching from the sidelines. The dance system in Azerbaijan was structured by the Russians and decidedly old school. Modern dance is practically non-existent due more to the lack of qualified teachers than to a lack of interest. Hip hop and show/jazz dance are fascinating to young dancers who have formed a couple of small ensembles to train each other and to perform for cabarets and shows. These dancers appear to have learned whatever they know from MTV and movies and are hungry for “live” instruction.

Arrival at the Baku Airport in the early morning hours of Monday: We certainly stood out on from the all-male, black-coated fellow travelers who seemed part of a 1950's black and white movie. The straight-faced customs officials accepted our 8 passports and pre-prepared visa applications, studied them along with the official diplomatic note from the U.S. Embassy and without the slightest hint of a smile, said "no charge" waiving the very substantial visa fees. Wow! What a nice welcome! It seems that performing artists are respected and welcomed in this country. A bevy of reporters gathering in the afternoon on the rooftop of our hotel for a mini-press conference were interested to know if we were aware of Azerbaijan's rich background in folkloric dance and music (we admitted our ignorance in this regard). They hoped that we would have the opportunity of interacting with young dancers and choreographers who had been turned on by the British dance company Random Dance via British Council-funded residencies in 2003, and a Russian modern dance company that had temporarily set up a branch operation here in Baku, only to shut down a short while later. We had the chance with three workshops at the Baku School of Choreography, the University of Arts & Culture, and the Spider Dance Group.

After our workshops and the press conference, we all regrouped (and re-groomed) for a reception at U.S. Ambassador Anne Derse's residence. The Ambassador herself was down-to-earth and genuine and when she delivered her welcome speech in Azeri as well as English, the guests (and we) were deeply impressed. THree of us headed off to Azerbaijan's premiere dance conservatory -- about which one can find many entries on the www from 1930's onward. We were surprised to find that our session started off with a press conference -- approximately 15 journalists and TV crews wanted to know what we thought about Azeri dance, and whether there were any established ballet companies in the U.S.! After mentioning NYC Ballet and American Ballet Theater and dropping Balanchine's name without any sign of recognition, I realized that we were "big news" and not the more marginal "cultural news" because certainly, these names would have been familiar to the cultural press. We had prepared material from our repertoire that involved various moves on the floor -- but these had to be quickly modified when we entered the large sunny studio and saw 20 young ballet students in traditional Russian ballet attire (black leotards and white tights for the girls; white t-shirts and black tights for the boys; and pointe shoes or ballet slippers on everybody. More alarming was the condition of the floor -- bleached unfinished boards that were probably perfect for ballet slippers but deadly for either bare feet or the floor moves that had been planned (splinters galore!) The master class began with a series of isolations with ribs and hips, gyrations that caused the students and audience to giggle uproariously. Phrases from the repertoire were doled out in good measure and the kids did their best to keep up. Great fun was had by all and when we wandered out of the room at the end, we encountered students, participants and audience alike, gleefully trying out the choreography in the hallways and staircases and clamoring for autographs.

By way of an unplanned post-script to our program, BDC's Artistic Director was asked to lead a workshop for the Neru Dance Group, 7 very talented and hard working dancers who had been mentored by a Russian teacher who closed shop some time ago. They showed their work in the form of a techno ensemble dance, whipped to smooth finish, which they said was in the style of Britney Spears. It was fortunate that they shared their work first, before the master class, because the impression given by the culture journalist who raved about this group was that they were "experimental" and "avant-garde". This was definitely not the case by Western standards, but they were wonderfully open to anything offered and jumped in to the experimentation and self-expression that was asked of them. After 90 minutes, they had concocted a very complex and engaging dance essay and everyone left with warm embraces and promises to meet after the show so that they could be introduced to the BDC dancers.

The U.S. Ambassador and Azerbaijan's Minister of Culture were in the audience at the Musical Comedy Theater to attend Battery Dance Company's performance. Equally exciting was the fact that at least one hundred dance students from all of the schools and studios where we had taught were there to cheer us on. BDC members were a little surprised when the TV cameras appeared back stage at intermission asking for interviews. As always, the questioners rolled around to, "What is your impression of Azeri dance? How do you like our country?"

After our wonderful interactions in the workshops, our dancers had plenty to say about the passion and determination of Azeri dancers -- too much in fact! They had to be interrupted with a reminder that the audience was awaiting the second act! The miracle of the show, of course, was that it happened at all given what was mentioned previously about the stage floor.

From the moment we landed in Beijing, it's been a jolt into the future: arriving at the newly opened airport: huge, magnificent; checking into the JW Marriott, our hospitality sponsor: sparkling new, palatial yet gracious; meeting Sarabeth Berman and Willy Tsao of the Beijing LDTX Dance Company, our hosts for the First Beijing International Dance Festival: warm, welcoming, and impeccably organized. Over the past 4 days, we've taught two master classes, given a performance on the terrace at the hotel, attended the opening night performance of the Festival presented by the stunning Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC), indulged in great food while spending time comparing notes with our Chinese colleagues, and tonight is the big night: OUR PERFORMANCE AT THE FESTIVAL! Nerves are running high.

Last night's performance at the Tian Qiao Theater was the grand finale of our Asia Tour, and the dancers and Barry held nothing in reserve. Over 1,000 people came out to see what the American dance company was all about, and judging from the ultra sophisticated and very complimentary comments we heard in the audience talk-back session at the end of the performance, they liked what they saw! Viewers told us that they appreciated the musicality of the program, paying special attention to the fact that three out of the four musical scores were composed for us and that the dance and music meshed in a way that "isn't usually seen in China". Two speakers talked about Shell Games and gave their interpretations -- showing that they had excavated deeply into the piece and had mined very rich meaning from it. We were glowing with excitement to be so thoroughly rewarded, especially since it was clear that this was an audience of cognoscenti.

Sarabeth Berman, a young American dancer who has taken up residence as Festival Manager for the Beijing LDTX Dance Company, was a complete delight. Though she was stepping out for the first time in her very responsible role, she carried it off with grace and expertise. Willy Tsao, the Johnny Appleseed of modern dance in China (he has established no less than 3 dance companies - in Hong Kong, Guongzhou and Beijing) is a charming and open-minded artist. He made us feel so comfortable and welcome in his home territory. We were very disappointed not to be able to see the Beijing LDTX Company in action -- but hope that we can help them find performance opportunities in New York before long!

Starting our 4-day program in Laos, we acclimated to the 3 H's - hazy, hot and humid. We're New Yorkers after all, so this is familiar to us though slightly out of season. A great Lao meal on the first night following a day of recreation, shopping and theater reconnoitering (Barry and me) on our first day off since April 11 helped to restore us. Even more so, the delightful manners of the Lao people reinforced our feeling of being welcome in this beautiful country.

This morning, we were introduced to 30+ young dancers and singers, members of several dance groups here, who jumped into Carmen's modern dance master class and will join Sean in hip-hopping this afternoon. A huge air-conditioned hall was arranged for the classes, complete with great sound system, mirrors but, unfortunately, a cement floor. Carmen modified her class (no jumps!) and off they went with abandon and excitement to learn some new techniques. Apparently, we are the first professional American dancers they've met, and their enthusiasm showed! Last night's performance was a stand-out for the Company.

We filled the orchestra of the National Cultural Hall -- 920 people strong -- with a large proportion of young people who rewarded us with a tremendously resonant response. Laos is a relatively isolated country, the least Westernized in Asia that we've seen. And yet the audience clearly followed all of the action on stage and gave back so tangibly with laughs, gasps and applause. The dancers responded in kind and raised their performance to the very top notch. We were deeply touched by Ambassador Ravic Huso's effusive praise at the end. We'd met him earlier in the week, and he'd promised an honest assessment; and given his no- nonsense delivery, we understood him to mean it! Laos' Vice Minister of Information and Culture Mr. Bouangeun and his wife were also charming on the stage -- with a little English and a lot of hand gestures, they made it clear that they loved the performance and hope we'll return soon. We're sad that our short stay here is over and hope this isn't the end of our contact with Laos! Working with Amy Archibald, the APAO here, and her delightful and talented staffer Sengsouriya has been a treat. A special thanks also to our driver Sengthavy whose smile and guidance were welcome throughout!