Year » 2011

Through the financial and facilitative support of the U.S. Embassy Madrid, Battery Dance Company brought its heralded Dancing to Connect project to Madrid, introducing the art of choreography and a major performing experience to youth who would otherwise lack such access. The participants were low-income students from 10 of Madrid's public schools and a residence for children who have no parents or have been deemed to be unsafe in their home environment.

The Battery Dance Company teaching artists were paired up for the project with young Spanish dance teachers-in-training, who served as both translators and collaborators in leading the workshops. The Spanish dance teachers are members of Alas Abiertas, a non-profit arts organization in Spain that is directed by Mercedes Pacheco and whose mission is similar to Battery Dance Company's. The excellent results of this project have opened many doors for future collaborations.

Extensive work was done in advance of the project to inform the Spanish partners of the ways and means of Dancing to Connect (DtC). Battery Dance Company prepared a teachers' manual, translated into Spanish, to lend structure and clarity to the process. The goal of teaming up with local artists was based upon Battery Dance Company's practice of sustaining the value and impact of Dancing to Connect in each country where it is introduced by training local dance teachers who can carry it forward after the Americans return home.

Six days of 6-hour workshops took place including a Saturday. From the first moment, it was evident to the Battery Dance Company teaching artists that the youth were excited to have such an unusual opportunity and were proud to have been selected. At the same time, there was some anxiety when faced with the need to communicate in English and to work in an artistic medium that was unfamiliar. The facilities at the Centro de Danza Canal are state-of-the-art, including 10 beautifully designed dance studios, three of which were made available to the DtC project for the duration of the workshops. Centro de Danza Canal's Director, Marcial Rodriguez Otero, was very present during the program and made the teachers and students feel very welcome.

Due to a last-minute medical emergency, several adjustments were made, none of which compromised the quality of the project: Mira Cook, a BDC teaching artist, was unable to participate in the project and Sean Scantlebury was substituted. Sean was involved in a DtC project in Israel that reached completion on the evening of the first day of meetings in Madrid. He traveled overnight and arrived the next morning, in time to lead his group of students in its first workshop session. Carmen and Bafana took responsibility for handling the first meeting with the Spanish dance teachers and for running a combined warm up on the morning of Day 2 with all of the students.

The Spanish dance teachers were hand-picked and supervised by Marcedes Pacheco, a former ballet dancer turned arts educator with a wealth of experience. Each of these young teachers-in-training brought good energy and very open minds to the process. They jumped into the process, bonded with their American mentors and quickly became inextricable partners in the process. We feel that they will be able to carry the project further on their own in Spain, thereby sustaining and amplifying the meaning and value of the Dancing to Connect project.

Jonathan had designed and planned the DtC project from New York over the course of many months in close cooperation with the Embassy team of Laura Gould, Elizabeth Martin, Macarena Moreno. He arrived three days into the project (from Israel) and engaged in outreach activities, coordinating with Marcial Rodriguez Otero, Sol Llopez of the Education Department and Macarena Moreno, as well as supporting the dancers and Barry Steele (who arrived on Day 5 of the project to handle all technical responsibilities for the final performance in the Sala Verde.)

Hollander met with directors of three of the four dance conservatories in Madrid, visiting two of them and observing a performance by the graduates of the Conservatorio de Danza Mariemma. He also met with Diego Hidalgo, a Board Member of El Pais, Spain's primary daily newspaper and escorted him to the Centro de Danza Canal to observe the workshops. Jonathan attended a press conference with representatives of the radio, television and print media of Madrid. Through the good offices of the Consulate General of Spain in New York, he met with Paz Santa-Cecilia Aristu, Director of the Department of Music and Dance (INAEM) in the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Antonio Garde Herce, Deputy Director for Music and Dance of the INAEM.

The Dancing to Connect program received considerable positive press. DtC was featured on Telemadrid, Telemadrid Nightly News, and Antena 3. In print and online, DtC was covered by ABC, El-Mundo, Terra Noticias, and with feature articles in El-Pais and Elpais.com.

A Spanish language survey was administered at the start and end of the DtC program to measure the program’s effectiveness with the teenage participants. The questionnaire was composed of a mix of qualitative and quantitative close-ended questions, developed by Emad Salem, Battery Dance Company’s Deputy Director for International Programs. Most students completed pre- and post-program questionnaires resulting in a paired sample size of 55. In addition, a qualitative questionnaire was given to the local dance teachers who received training. Data analysis will follow.

Battery Dance Company is extremely grateful for the support and full cooperation of the U.S. Embassy Madrid, including Ambassador Alan Solomont, Public Affairs Officer Thomas Genton and above all, the hands-on leadership and vision of Cultural Affairs Officer Laura Gould, and the program design and implementation meticulously carried out by ACAO Elizabeth Martin-Shukrun and Cultural Affairs Specialist Macarena Moreno and the media relations effectively handled by Marta Garcia.

By way of anticipated long-term results, Battery Dance Company hopes to continue building collaborations with both Centro de Danza Canal and Alas Abiertas in Spain, as well as the dance conservatories in Madrid, and to feature Spanish dance at one of its future editions of the Downtown Dance Festival.

Battery Dance Company’s teaching artists worked with 60 students – from Israel, West Bank and Germany -- in two series of workshops earlier this year. Using the universal language of dance, these students of 16 – 18 years old built teams that crossed religious, social and geographic boundaries. Together, they created choreography that spoke to the issues of inclusion and exclusion. As the process went forward, the differences between the students melted away.

The first session of 5 days took place in the working-class city of Bochum in the German State of North Rhine Westphalia (for more on the Bochum program, see Bochum, Germany). The students from Israel and the West Bank had flown to Germany a few days earlier and had toured Berlin before coming to Bochum.

Over the course of the next several days, they worked with Battery Dance Company teaching artists and were introduced to the craft of choreography. Given the fact that only a few of the students had taken formal dance classes in the past, everyone was on a similar level – they knew very little about the medium of dance and choreography. The professional teaching artists coaxed the students into creating movement by giving them a variety tasks that built from individual creative movement phrases into group choreography. The workshops completed, the students took part in a grand performance in the auditorium of the Pestalozzi Realschule, attended by dignitaries from the state government, U.S. Consul General and German recording artist Peter Maffay whose foundation, Encounters, provided support for the project.

During the second session, the migration was reversed: the German students traveled to Israel, stayed in Jerusalem and commuted each day to Kfar Menachem, a rural town to the South West. The students were accompanied by representatives of the Peres Center for Peace and of Encounters (Germany) as well as Jonathan Hollander, and two BDC teaching artists. Each day, they worked at the Savit Regional High School with its excellent facilities, once again using the language of dance to build teams and trust. A performance was held at the high school, attended by Israeli and Palestinian families, government officials and community members. The emotion was palpable on the part of the students as well as the families who saw something they never would have believed possible – young people of three societies between which historical events have created seemingly impenetrable barriers working physically and artistically towards a unified goal.

Post-reactions:

"As Project Manager at the Peres Center for Peace, I have seen a lot of projects with teenagers. But this time is special. It is so hard for youngsters at the age of 16 or 17 to express themselves in words or in other ways and the work of the (dance) company made them all connect and express themselves in a way that I think amazed every one of the adults involved. You have to remember that Israeli and Palestinian kids are unable to connect with each other in everyday life; they are coming to the meeting with each other with a lot of stereotypes and a lot of misconceptions and to see them dancing together and creating something that is joint project -- they are realizing that they are all teenagers and human beings first and foremost" ~Libby Lahar, Project Manager, Peres Center for Peace

"I had the great chance to see and to feel what happens between the students (in the Dancing to Connect project.) First they were alone and didn’t touch each other and had problems based on their identities as German, Israeli and Palestinians; but then they began to be open, to open their hearts and to realize that each one’s contribution is important to the group; “I am part of the group; and if I am to succeed, then everyone must succeed.” ~Silvia Zens, Headmistress, Pestalozzi Realschule, Bochum

Having attempted to build Indonesia into its Asian itineraries for several years, Battery Dance Company was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the U.S. Embassy, designing a program that started with a high-visibility performance and two subsidiary programs in Jakarta, the nation’s capital, and continued with an intensive series of interactions in the provincial capital of Makassar, a maritime city of 1.5 million people. Ramli Ibrahim, the great choreographer and dancer based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, helped BDC establish contact with two of Indonesia’s leading dance entrepreneurs. By connecting these local contacts with the U.S. Embassy, the shape and dimension of BDC’s program was developed in a way that satisfied everyone’s desire to make the most of the Company’s time and talents.

To start things off, BDC had the honor of performing at the Teater Jakarta, Indonesia’s most modernized theater and part of the Jakarta Art and Cultural Center, Taman Ismail Marzuki, with an audience notable for the range of ages from young students to senior citizens. U.S. Ambassador Scott Marciel gave a welcoming speech and introduced Battery Dance to a full house of over a 1,000 people. The Company performed, Autobiographica, a new work choreographed by the five company members, and Layapriya, a revival with Indian and modern Western components. A leading Indonesian newspaper Kompas declared of the performance “It was a presentation of flawless techniques and prime stamina of its dancers, as well as a show of music, multimedia and lighting that were nicely done.”

On the second day in Indonesia, five Battery Dance teaching artists traveled to Makassar, while Jonathan Hollander and Barry Steele remained in Jakarta to conduct seminars on fundraising and lighting/production respectively. The dancers were divided and given different assignments for the week. Two dancers visited government schools each morning and engaged in media interviews during the afternoon. The other three ran Dancing to Connect workshops that lasted for four days, simultaneously training local teachers so they could lead their own DtC workshops in the future.

The program culminated in a final performance held at the Gedung Mulu, a historic Dutch community hall, transformed into a dance theater through the skilled and imaginative exertions of Barry Steele and his local counterpart, Andi Muhammad Redo, executive director of Yayasan Kesenian Batara Gowa. Jonathan led a talk on Fundraising and Arts Management for Rumata, a house for art and cultural interaction that had just been inaugurated in Makassar. Jonathan also addressed the local Ministry of Tourism and Culture on the role the Arts can play in civic development. A follow-up meeting with the Minister provided the opportunity to converse on how best the city of Makassar could support its budding local arts community. Battery Dance’s Indonesia trip, the final leg of BDC’s 2011 Southeast Asia Tour, left the Company hoping for more such opportunities in the future.

See the narrative for Jakarta, Indonesia 2011

A one-week program in Singapore offered Battery Dance an exceptionally intense immersion and high impact introduction to the city-state. Singapore’s high standard of living and the dominance of the English language made it appear more like a Western rather than an East Asian city to the crew. The program was supported by the United States Embassy Singapore and the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

In traditional BDC fashion the crew engaged a diverse selection of secondary and tertiary educational institutions, working with teenagers and young adults. The brevity of the Singapore trip required creative planning to satisfy the many requests received by the U.S. Embassy. The company was split into two independent units to achieve maximum outreach. The program week kicked off with a day-long residency at LaSalle College of the Arts with a performance, question and answer session followed by lunch with the faculty and a lecture on arts management. Three teaching artists ran Dancing to Connect (DtC) workshops for four days with 60 students at Republic Polytechnic, a public university that serves over 20,000 students from diverse backgrounds from across Singaporean society. Meanwhile, the other four company members visited schools and conservatories, teaching master classes, delivering lectures and giving mini-performances.

At Republic Polytechnic, the company met Ganesh Kalyanam and Zaini Tahir, the two inspirational leaders of the arts program at the institution. While Republic Polytechnic does not offer majors in the arts, the participating students were members of dance clubs ranging from hip hop to Malay and modern dance. The three Dancing to Connect workshops provided the students with the necessary techniques and skills to support the creation of 3 original works. Republic Polytechnic furnished three amazing dance studios for the DtC workshops and a magnificent theater for the final performance, which was packed with students whose response was raucous.

At Nanyang dance department director Caren Cariño organized a series of master classes on ballet and hip-hop for dance majors. Additionally, the Raffles Institution, an elite Singaporean high school, was host to a duet performance by Robin and Sean, a master class for 80 students, and a panel discussion on the topic of “Lives in the Arts”.

The final component of the Singapore program consisted of a joint performance and sharing session with Madame Som Said and the Sri Warison Performing Arts Group, a premier Malay dance company, at the Goodman Arts Centre. The peer to peer experience with the Sri Warison Performing Arts Group allowed the company to display their own work and appreciate the fascinating art form that is classical Malay dance. Battery Dance extended the invitation to Sri Warison to come to New York in August to take part in the Downtown Dance Festival. This bilateral interaction is a vital competent to the company’s mission.

Battery Dance began its 2011 Africa Tour by first stopping in Lagos, Nigeria and Maseru, Lesotho. In order to visit all four of the African countries part of the tour, the group was split into two smaller teams of three. Robin Cantrell, Sean Scantlebury, and Barry Steele formed one team and traveled to Nigeria and Guinea. Carmen Nicole, Bafana Matea and Mira Cook comprised the other subgroup and worked in Lesotho and Zambia. Robin, Sean, and Barry stayed and worked around Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa is bifurcated along sectarian lines; Muslims mainly inhabit the northern part of the countries while Christians reside in the south. Unfortunately, these divisions often lead to political instability and civil strife, making Lagos, the former capital and chief city relatively unsafe.

Despite these challenges the group successfully interacted with the locals and admired their dancing abilities. Robin and Sean were faced with the challenges of miscommunications and a lack of adequate rehearsal space, as the Society for the Performing Arts of Nigeria (SPAN), was the only dance studio in Lagos. Robin found her group to be particularly talented and expressive and enjoyed conducting the Dancing to Connect workshops with a group of 13 dancers between the ages of 21 and 32. After Barry rendered the National Arts Theater’s sound system usable, the students conducted a Dancing to Connect performance while Sean and Robin performed 3 duets at the venue. Additionally, a local traditional African group displayed their own piece.

The team benefited greatly from their relationship with Sarah Boulos of SPAN and Segun Lawal. Sarah came to New York in January 2012, to attend several conferences and meet the rest of the company. Her experience with Battery Dance and the DtC workshops encouraged her to pursue further bilateral engagements with Battery Dance. Four DtC participants from Nigeria were also able to travel to New York to take part in the August 2012 Battery Dance Company’s Downtown Dance Festival.

After their mission in Nigeria was complete Sean Scantlebury, Robin Cantrell, and Barry Steele headed northwest to Conakry, the capital of Guinea. Guinea is an impoverished country and has suffered from a turbulent postcolonial history. Robin and Sean each taught full six-day DtC workshops, with a total of 40 disadvantaged youth participating and found the students energized and eager to work with their American teachers. A local artist, Mamady, served as a translator between the participants and the teaching artists, his assistance was indispensable to the positive outcome of the mission. The Franco-Guinean Cultural Centre, a relatively modern and well furnished facility was the venue for both rehearsals and the actual performance. The DtC performance which capstones every set of DtC workshops was attended by locals and embassy staff, Robin and Sean also performed three duets. Robin and Barry also had the opportunity to conduct national television and radio interviews.

While one part of the company toured western Africa, Carmen Nicole, Bafana Matea and Mira Cook headed to the nations of Lesotho and Zambia in the southern part of the continent. The Kingdom of Lesotho is a small enclave within the country of South Africa; Maseru its capital was the location for Battery Dance’s Dancing to Connect workshops. In the late 1990s Maseru was the scene of political unrest and rioting. Due to very limited facilities for the dance workshops that were envisioned, the Company, in collaboration with the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy, was forced to vamp. The Embassy identified a very willing and appropriate partner in Kick4Life, an NGO dedicated to youth empowerment through sports. K4L offered up its young charges as participants in the Dancing to Connect workshops. They also made an indoor recreation space available. Needing more spaces to accommodate the over-lapping workshops, a plan was concocted to create an outdoor dance space by placing wooden platforms on the soccer field, shielded by tenting. Unfortunately, the surface was more uneven than anticipated; and worse, the weather dealt a severe blow to the tents (intended to shield the participants from the noon-day blazing sun, but unequal to the task of standing up to blustery winds and sheets of rain.)

Forty-eight students participated in the two, four-day Dancing to Connect workshops, with teaching artists Mira and Bafana at the helm of each session with Carmen as the trouble-shooter and support person. Kick4Life interns and volunteers jumped into the process as well. While many of the DtC participants were affiliated with Kick4Life, others came from a local shelter for orphans and homeless children. The young people’s issues and concerns surrounding HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, and drug abuse found their way into the dance workshops. (UNICEF estimates that nearly ¼ of Lesotho population from the ages of 15 to 49 is living with HIV. 43% of Lesotho’s population lives off less than $1.25 a day.) Despite these circumstances Battery Dance found the DtC students to be resilient, optimistic and enthusiastic.

The final performance consisted of traditional Lesotho dancers, three musicians, a ballroom dance group, two DtC pieces, and two trios and three solos performed by Battery Dance artists. Ambassador Michele Bond as well as other diplomats were in attendance for the final performance along with families and Peace Corps volunteers. The Lesotho trip was a great example of BDC’s creatively partnering with another nonprofit to achieve its core mission of providing access to the arts for those who otherwise lack the opportunity. Moreover, Battery Dance learned to adapt to the given conditions and have a positive impact on the lives of the students.

Postlude: Battery Dance Company team met up with Daniela Gusman of Kick4Life in New York at the beginning of 2013 and future collaborations are envisioned

Despite just having three teaching artists to cover a nation the size of Texas, Battery Dance was able to pull off a two-city trip to Zambia. The journey to Zambia was part of the second leg of the 2011 African tour which also included trips to Nigeria, Lesotho, and Guinea. The group in Zambia was the trio of Carmen Smith, Mira Cook, and Bafana Mataea. Carmen flew to the town of Livingstone, on the Zimbabwe boarder to conduct her own Dancing to Connect program. Meanwhile Bafana and Mira stayed in Lusaka, the capital to conduct two DtC workshops. The DtC workshops in Lusaka each had 20 participants, ranging in age from 13-22. Some of the youth were either homeless or faced troubling domestic situations. Despite these conditions the students displayed enthusiasm and an eagerness to learn.

The Lusaka Playhouse was the venue for both the DtC workshops and final performance; it proved to be extremely well-suited for the company’s needs. Africa Directions, a local nonprofit that seeks to empower Zambia’s youth and raise AIDS awareness partnered with the U.S. Embassy to provide participants for the DtC workshops in Lusaka.

Carmen was confronted with several challenges in Livingstone, including time constraints and the unkept condition of Capitol Theater’s interior. However, with the help of Daisy Nalishuwa of the Livingstone Performing Arts Foundation (LiPAF) and Chando Mapoma of the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Carmen was able to coordinate and conduct a DtC workshop with 10 students, ages 19-30. In the end Capitol Theatre’s gorgeous exterior and majestic location on Victoria Falls proved to be a sufficient venue. Over one hundred and fifty people filled the theater in Livingstone to watch the DtC dance and Carmen perform two solos.

For the final performance in Lusaka, Carmen rejoined Bafana and Mira. The Lusaka Playhouse was packed with over 500 guests including U.S. Ambassador Mark Storella and local Zambian government officials. The students performed two DtC works; and the 3 BDC dancers presented 1 trio, 1 duet, and 3 solos. Barefoot, a local nonprofit dance group participated in the final performance as well. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the Zambia trip was the cultural interaction and discussions that occurred between the Battery Dance teaching artists and the DtC participants. While at first reluctant to engage in deep conversation, the students slowly began to open up and asked questions regarding contemporary American politics and culture. HIV/AIDS was also a salient subject in the dialogue. Despite recent progress in Zambia against HIV/AIDs, UNICEF says 13.5% of the adult population ages 15-49 is infected with the virus. The trust and friendships built through the Dancing to Connect Workshops and performances, not just with the participants but with the audience as well, is the underlining mission of Battery Dance.

During BDC's 2011 Malaysian tour, Hollander left Kuala Lumpur for 24 hours to visit the workshop that was taking place at Penang, with BDC’s Sean Scantlebury and ASWARA’s Lorna Hoong at the helm.

Again, the students were doing outstanding work, discovering their inner dancer while building their teamwork skills and self-esteem. It was extraordinary to see these young dancers leave the studio at Whiteaways Arcade (a part of Penang’s World Heritage Site), presumably to take a break, and then to step outside into the hallway and see them coaching each other and rehearsing their moves over and over again.

Hollander assisted in guiding arrangements for the final performance with Joe Sidek, Director of the George Town Festival, and Aida Redza, a Malaysian dancer and dance teacher, educated at the Rotterdam Dans Academy, who had spent months publicizing the workshops, gathering interested students from many different walks of life and socio-economic backgrounds, and negotiating space for the rehearsals. Joe managed to secure the historic Penang Town Hall for the performance and brought in lighting, sound and stage crews to support the show which, from all reports was well-attended and equally well-received.

Local Malaysian partners in Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuang and Kuala Lumpur offered their support in the tasks involved in organizing five separate cohorts of 20 students each to take part in DtC workshops and final performances. A list of partners is appended to this report. An emphasis was placed on reaching out to under-served communities including refugees, students at government schools, street children, orphans and so forth. Venues were located for each workshop – with the requisites of wooden floors, good ventilation, sound equipment and spacious dimensions. As the planning phase unfolded (between February and September), more and more people and groups gravitated to the program, expanding its outreach and scope many fold.