Jordan hosted 11 members of New York's Battery Dance Company (BDC) for performances and workshops March 23-27, 2004. Although breaking events (the assassination of Sheikh Yassin by Israeli forces) precipitated widespread agitation in Amman and led to the cancellation of two major performances for security reasons, the BDC members distinguished themselves by their openness and willingness to engage with the Jordanian public of all ages and backgrounds.

The group conducted two very successful master classes with approximately 50 young ballet and modern dance students, while the musicians led a workshop with 25 mostly elementary school students drawn from schools in Amman.

In one of the most stimulating events, five of the dancers presented solo and duo modern dance routines to a rapt audience over 300 teenager girls at the Ahliyya School in downtown Amman, followed by a spirited discussion of the role of art in modern life and the importance of bridging cultures and backgrounds to reach the universality of the human spirit. The group integrated easily with local artists, musicians and dancers, sharing in after hours activities with them and trading emails for follow-up. At the one full matinee performance BDC was able to get approved by RSO and the Amman Municipality, and drew in an audience of over 200 people who had been contacted individually by phone from the PA offices, with only 18-36 hours notice. Local co-sponsors report that ticket sales were headed for a full sell-out before the plug was pulled, while Embassy phone lines were clogged with disappointed invitees and ticket holders who couldn't believe the show had been cancelled.

Magnificent weather, hospitable Swedish audiences, and a feeling of elation at the unexpectedly grand success of its first stop on the Company’s Baltic Tour, all produced a determination among Battery’s Dancers. They want Stockholm to be a regular stop on their international itinerary.

On the first day of the tour to Stockholm, Battery’s Swedish dancer Mariella Rietschel ascended to a height of 18 feet, atop the towering Festival stage at the “King’s Garden”. She danced silhouetted against the sky overlooking Stockholm’s palace and harbor, as a featured Stockholm personality of the City’s 750th Anniversary. Following her solo performance, choreographed especially with the vertiginous platform in mind by Jonathan, Mariella (attended to by her own private fireman), lit the fuse that set off a glorious series of fireworks.

This was a big night for BDC, as it was reported that a 10,000-person audience tally may in fact be an understatement!

On the second day of the Stockholm 750 festival, Battery Dance Company presented an outdoor concert on the huge stage at Skeppsholmen, an island in central Stockholm that is home to the world-famous Moderna Museet, the Oriental Museum and, as its name implies, various majestic sailing vessels. A public audience of over 1,500 gave the Company their riveted attention as the dancers presented “the anyones ballet”, “Used Car Salesman” and “Mother Goose”. The evening sun bathed the entire performance in amber light, which provided a completely unique dimension to the choreography and emphasized every nuance of emotive and physical output by the dancers.

Before the performance, the dancers were treated to a pre-show reception hosted by Citibank and the American Embassy at the stately residence of Ambassador and Mrs. Charles Heimbold. They were even ferried by boat to the venue! Afterwards the Performance the dancers were feted at the debut party of “Life as a Boy”, meeting Hugh Grant, and tasting of the Mid-Summer magic spirit of Stockholm.

On the third day of BDC's Stockholm visit, the company unveiled its Solo Project in a white tent complete with blonde wooden dance floor (this is Scandinavia, after all) in the bustling center of the King’s Garden. Several hundred on-lookers, ranging from little children to senior citizens, formed concentric rings of a perfectly courteous and approving audience in the round.

The deep colors of BDC dancer Katrin Schnabl’s solo costumes (Maurizio in golden yellow, Adrianna in fuschia and burgundy, Tadej in forest green, Mariella in turquoise, Kevin in purple and Virginie in flame orange) stood out like bold strokes of paint against the Festival’s white tent, creating an unforgettable image and a perfectly satisfying cap to Battery’s three-day Stockholm premiere.

Concluding the trip, a cocktail party at U.S. Public Affairs Officer Viktor Sidabras’ residence on Strandvagen, and dinner at Mariella’s parents Margareta and Bjore Rietschel’s apartment afterwards. It warmed the hearts of the entire Company, including Battery Board Member Robert Anker and his wife Enid.

BDC dancers Mariella Rietschel and Tadej Brdnik taught two master classes to a full group of students (intermediate level). The classes, which generated an overwhelming interest from the local dance community, helped Battery reach out to the 18-22 year-old audience, and invest in a long-term relation with the “upcoming” dance scene in Stavanger.

Siri Dybwik, choreographer and professor at the University of Stavanger, who coordinated the workshop locally, was equally pleased about the outcome of our collaboration, and offered to coordinate more activities for Battery Dance Company in the region in the future.

Battery Dance Company brought American modern dance to Stavanger audiences, and presented 3 works by Jonathan Hollander in the Company’s Norwegian debut. The Company received a steady, warm applause at the end of the performance, which looked beautifully executed and produced in the elegant venue.

In addition to the performance, Battery Dance Company taught 2 masterclasses to local Norwegian Students. Many of the students also attended the performance at Stavanger Konserthus.

Despite an unforeseen and unprecedented journalists’ strike, which harmed good publicity before the event, the performance was attended by over 150 people thanks to the efforts made by Konserthuset. The audience was mainly from Stavanger, but also comprised staff and guests from the Rica Forum Hotel, our local sponsor, as well as VIP guests from Citibank Norway, who especially made the trip from Oslo.

The president of Citibank Norway, hosted a reception in honor of Battery in one of the foyers at Stavanger Concert Hall. About 20 Citibank managers and Citibank clients attended, along with all Battery dancers. Mr. Drangsholt invited Sven Van Damme, Battery Dance Company’s tour manager, to make a speech about the Company and Battery’s mission. Citibank was extremely pleased and is looking forward to seeing Battery return to Norway. Alain Fassotte, producer of Carte Blanche, was publicly introduced to everyone at the reception.

Battery Dance Company’s outdoor presentation of The Solo Project was facilitated by Tiia Hiie, a friend of Jonathan Hollander’s who had served as an interpreter for a variety of international events that took place in Estonia. Tiia negotiated adroitly with local authorities, gaining permissions and arranging for the City to erect a stage in the middle of Tallinn’s medieval main square. On that Sunday afternoon, hundreds of strollers and city visitors stopped by to watch. By the end of the performance, Battery had gathered an audience of over 500 around the stage, and had introduced a new face of American culture to the Estonian public.

Being in Tallinn provided an opportunity for meetings with members of the local dance community including Priit Raud, first dance presenter in Estonia. By coincidence, the dancers picked the same café for Jonathan’s birthday celebration that was chosen by Paavo Järvi and his colleagues from Estonia’s illustrious clutch of orchestra conductors to celebrate twin sister conductors Anu and Kadri Tali’s birthday the same night. Both groups noticed each other and formed one big joint celebration of performing artists and birthdays!

Rakvere, a small town in North-Eastern Estonia, hosts an annual international dance and theatre festival. In 2002, Rakvere also celebrated its 700th Jubilee. Battery was honored to perform as part of this historic event. Rakvere’s Von Krahl Theatre was packed “to the roof” and the performance rallied the community from miles around, including local residents, students and workers s to city officials. Battery was given a token of honor, and was thanked for “creating such sweet memories for the city’s Anniversary”.

2001 India Tour Overview

How does a big international tour come together? Often, there is one person or one institution proffering one invitation that evolves into something much bigger. What it takes to build the tour from these exciting but modest beginnings depends on so many factors. Most dance companies are not in the category of fame and fortune such that offers routinely come in from international sponsors that include financially viable arrangements. More often, companies have to meet their international hosts half-way, by agreeing to cheap (camping?) accommodations, travel subsidies, corporate or foundation grants and individual donations (often from the artistic director’s pocket.) Before entering into one of these jig-saw puzzle arrangements, it is critical to assess the rationales for the tour and determine whether there are compelling reasons to go ahead. Clearly look at the possibility that a whopping deficit will greet you upon your return home.
Taking Battery Dance Company’s 2001 India Tour as a case study, several rationales came together, promoting the concept of building yet another national tour of India:

1) Artistic/program
Jonathan Hollander created a piece in 1998 called “Layapriya” which provided him with the opportunity to grapple with the complexity of Indian rhythmic structures while staying true to his Western roots. The score for “Layapriya” (Sanskrit for ‘one who loves rhythm’) – had been composed by Eero Hämeenniemi on commission by the Helsinki Philharmonic. The 30 minute work drew on the forces of the full orchestra with 5 soloists, percussionists from Delhi- and In addition, Karaikudi Mani, one of India’s most celebrated percussionists, and his ensemble from Chennai as soloists in the concerto-type of form, also giving the Indian musicians freedom to improvise as Western musicians do in cadenzas. The score was brilliant and had received a 20 minute ovation at its one and only live performance at the Helsinki Philharmonic Hall – and luckily for BDC, the Finnish radio had recorded it – but because of the difficulty of bringing such disparate forces together, the piece was unlikely ever to be performed again. Response to the work in New York and in cities around the U.S. and Europe had been very strong, particularly among Indo-American audiences and institutions – and word had reached India, rendering interest high.

CHRISTINE CORREA and FRANK CARLBERG – Another strong link with India and a compelling reason for Indian presenters to latch on to Battery Dance Company was our collaboration with the Finnish composer/pianist Frank Carlberg and his wife, the Mumbai-born Goanese jazz vocalist, Christine Correa. Christine had not toured India extensively since having made a name for herself in the U.S. Mother Goose was Battery Dance Company's latest collaboration with Frank and Christine – Frank had composed the score for the company in 2000 and it had been well reviewed in the New York Times. Touring India with a live musical ensemble (which also included percussionist Michael Sarin) was a coup given the Indian tradition regarding the inextricable partnership between music and dance. Thus BDC had two items in their repertoire with special appeal to the Indian audience.

2) Personnel

These were the years that the Martha Graham Dance Company was on furlough, with the rights to Graham’s works held up in a legal battle. Battery Dance Company had become a home for some of the terrific Graham dancers – Tadej Brdnik, Ariel Bonilla, Maurizio Nardi, Kevin Predmore, Virginie Mecene and Naiyu Kuo. Coupled with Mariella Rietschel from the Royal Swedish Ballet and Adrianna Thompson, a long-time Battery Dance Company member, and BDC’s long-time production designer Barry Steele, BDC had an all-star cast for the India Tour. With such a team, it was hard for Jonathan to consider cancelling when signs pointed to a financial loss. Whether this was a mistake or whether it was the “cost of doing business” was a moot question at this stage.

3) Cross-cultural Synergies

A few years earlier, Hollander had suggested the formation of an arts council in New York to celebrate and promote the artists and arts of India. The Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) was formed and he became an officer of the Board, with Aroon Shivdasani , his co-founder, as President and Executive Director. Aroon and Jonathan felt it was time to introduce the IAAC to the arts community in India and she agreed to accompany BDC on its tour of the 6 largest cities of India and to co-host town hall meetings with cultural leaders in each. BDC invited a prominent local cultural leader (ie. a university vice-chancellor; the head of a national arts foundation; an actor – head of a public relations firm) as convenors and invested in them the responsibility for assembling a list of 100 representatives of the arts community to attend. The conversations were provocative and productive, each side (U.S./India) sharing its frustrations and challenges. The company hoped that by being an outside catalyst, they might inspire greater cooperation within each city’s arts community as well as demystifying perceptions of the American landscape and breeding trust and on-going communication. In retrospect, the company felt they should have done more to lay the pathway for follow-on activities; though the IAAC has done a credible job of improving the cultural traffic between the two countries over the decade since.

4) Humanitarian Concerns

In January, 2001, the Northwestern Indian State of Gujarat was hit by a devastating earthquake with tremendous loss of life and destroying over 600,000 homes. The tour could easily have been cancelled, coming only 3 months later. But instead, the BDC team agreed that it was important to show solidarity with the Indian people. The Company felt it would show respect and concern for them to carry on – most notably – with their performance in Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat.

5) Sponsorships -- the good, the bad and the good

BDC director, Jonathan Hollander had managed, once again, to get major sponsorship's in place that covered one-half of the entire project budget: international and domestic airfare, hotel accommodations and half sponsorship of meals; and media relations support were all donated by Air-India, Indian Airlines, Oberoi Hotels and Ogilvy India respectively. The company also received grants from the Ford Foundation, Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust and several other Indian and American foundations, corporations and individuals that covered payroll, insurance and so forth. There was supposed to have been money coming in from each performance on the tour that would help BDC cover local expenses of the 4 weeks+ tour. Unfortunately, these local sponsorship's evaporated during the course of the tour. There was a meeting at the very glamorous Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai that Jonathan will never forget. Things had gotten so bad that BDC were close to cancelling their performances at the Homi Bhabha Auditorium because of the loss of sponsorship's that were to have covered the theater rental. Unbelievably, a young man, Imam Siddique, a friend of the arts but definitely no wealthy heir, jumped in to help the company. At the town hall meeting with leading cultural figures in Mumbai, Jonathan confided to the actress Lillete Dubey and Imam, while they were on a break, that he was broke and the Company might have to abandon its performances. They were shocked and Imam sprang into action: he called the room to attention and put out a plea for donations – of cash and of “things” including a grand piano (which the late Niranjan Jhaveri, prime mover of the Jazz Yatra Festival in Mumbai, donated.) Gerson Da Cunha, who had graciously agreed to convene the Town Hall Meeting, took over the role of auctioneer – auctioning off a performance by Battery Dance Company – and nearly everyone in the room pledged something. Imam appeared later that day and offered to collect all the funds – which he did over the course of the next 24 hours, presenting Jonathan with a packet that covered the rental of the theater. As a result, the performance was salvaged and BDC were able to continue the tour without other major mishaps.