Happy New Year from Battery Dance!

Dancing to Connect performance by students from Millennium High School (NYC) and Ernst-Reuter-Oberschule (Berlin) at the Winter Garden in lower Manhattan, October, 2009

Photo by Barbara Tennstedt

Upcoming Events

Battery Dance Company is honored to perform on Thursday, December 3, at the fabled Waldorf-Astoria Hotel for Business Council for International Understanding's 25th Annual Gala. Special tributes have been created by the Company and Frank Carlberg Quintet to honor the Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Award recipients Roger Agnelli, President & CEO of Vale S.A. and Charles E. Phillips, Jr., President of Oracle Corporation.

A Wonderful Postlude to the Dancing to Connect 2009 Program

Upon their return from New York City, the Dancing to Connect students from Ernst-Reuter-Oberschule were invited to perform for Ambassador Murphy and a group of returnees from Embassy-sponsored visits to the U.S. This experience undoubtedly added an indelible memory for all.

Response to Dancing to Connect from Essen

The dancing project is for (our students) 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 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.

With greetings from everybody from “Stoppenberg” and again many thanks for this great project

I remain yours sincerely,

Reiner Düchting (Headmaster, Hauptschule am Stoppenberg, Essen, Germany)

Dancing to Connect Phase III

Apologies to all you BDC blog-followers. The rigors of the past week left no time for posting. So here's a quick review: 20 students from the Ernst-Reuter-Oberschule in Berlin arrived on October 21st and met up with their host families from Millennium High School. They fanned out across the Boroughs, but luckily, no one got lost and everyone showed up bright and early the next morning to meet Carmen for a tour around the Financial District and a round-trip on the Staten Island Ferry (the weather cooperated -- it was a gorgeous day!) In the afternoon, all 60 students involved with the program, Germans and Americans, were invited to the German Consulate to view a documentary on the Berlin Wall and to have lunch in the 13th floor dining room over-looking the U.N. and East River. On Friday, they began the sequence of 6-hour workshops over five days (yep, both weekend days were included!) in three teams of mixed German and American students. The photos give you a taste of the results: Smashing! The Winter Garden was nearly full to bursting for the 1 pm matinee show. The evening show was also well attended, with audience boosted by invited guests who joined German Consul General Horst Freitag in a lovely pre-theater reception at The Grill Room. Thursday was a day of hugs and tears as the Berlin group departed New York. Next dance steps for them will be a performance for Ambassador Murphy and a group of German Alumni from various State Department-sponsored exchange programs on November 16 at the US Embassy in Berlin! The dance goes on.... and on .... and on!
And now we'd like to call attention to the long list of partners and friends who made this possible! Huge thanks to The German Consulate in New York, Consul General Horst Freitag, Cultural Attache Thietmar Bachmann, Nina Midori Krull, Werner-Ciprian Fugel & Elke Huber; Rob Fenstermacher, Roxana Pleacoff, Anika Rigole & CDS International; Christian Haenel, Anne-Kathrin Fix & Robert Bosch Stiftung; Ricarda Lindner, Tim Rosenkranz & German National Tourist Board; Debra Simon, Karen Kitchen, Elysa Marden & Brookfield Properties' Arts>World Financial Center. An especially huge thanks to the incredibly hard-working Colin McEvoy of Millennium High School supported throughout by Principal Rob Rhodes, Jenny Krumpus, Alison Angrisani and the many students and families that danced, hosted and welcomed their counterparts from Berlin. We acknowledge the leadership and support of Barbara Tennstedt who organized the Berlin aspect of the project and Sigrid Nawroth and Jutta Laube, the teachers who chaperoned the students from the Ernst-Reuter-Oberschule, all of whom deserved to be named but space doesn't allow it. Behind the scenes and supporting us throughout were Steve Sokol of the American Council on Germany and Hans-Jakob Wilhelm, a member of Battery Dance Company's Ambassadors, as well as fellow Ambassadors Erik Patton and Allison Strouse and Chair Emeritus Zachary Snow. Mike Riggs did a yeoman's job of technical direction and lighting for the performances at the Winter Garden, and Allen, Tim and the other members of the tech crew also deserve our thanks.

First Day in Swaziland

20 young people turned up to work with Bafana and Sean over an intensive program that will culminate in a performance on Tuesday evening. From Bafana's report, it seems as if the group is friendly, willing and ready to explore new things. Interesting: the group is primarily male, one of the first times that we've had this mix.

Heading Home

It's over...! With a sigh both of relief and sentimentality. The performance this evening at Fontane-Haus in Berlin was over the top. The students pulled out all the stops with that special energy that comes from knowing that this is the end of a chapter. However, the book is yet to be written! Dancing to Connect will resonate in who knows how many ways?

Last Chance! See the Grand Finale of Dancing to Connect Germany 2009

Tonight's the night: 7 pm at Fontane-Haus in Reinickendorf, Berlin. Tickets are available at the box office. Come be inspired by the dancers from 5 Berlin and Brandenburg schools, as well as their mentors from Battery Dance Company and Drastic Action.

Good news: the Secretary of the State of Brandenburg announced from the stage in Potsdam that DTC would be funded in 2010. And the long and excellent feature on German television's popular Nachtmagazine show on Tuesday night guarantees that Dancing to Connect is known throughout the country!

Potsdam: they did it!

Tuesday evening's performance provided an insight into what young people can achieve when they are motivated and inspired. Each and every dancer on stage at the Nikolaisaal transcended his or her personal best, and together, the results were overwhelming!
See for yourself tonight at the Fontane-Haus in Berlin!

Tomorrow at 7 pm -- Curtain Time in Potsdam

Visit photographer Christian Jungeblodt's blog -- www.jungeblodt.com/dancing -- in order to see images from workshops of the past 5 days in Eberswalde, Wilhelmshorst and Wedding (Berlin)

Upcoming Performances in Potsdam & Berlin

Mark your calendars for the final German performances of Dancing to Connect:
TUesday, October 13, 7 pm, Nikolaisaal, POTSDAM
http://www.nikolaisaal.de/nsp/0910/veranstaltungen/091013_dancingtoconnect.php?lang=DE
Thursday, October 15, 7 pm, Fontane-Haus, BERLIN
http://www.boell-brandenburg.de/web/10_323.htm
Check out some of Christian Jungeblodt's terrific rehearsal shots here:
http://www.jungeblodt.com/dancing

Traversing East & West

Workshops have been going on since Tuesday in Berlin and Brandenburg. Today I visited Heinz-Brandt Oberschule in the former East Berlin section of Wiessensee and Ernst-Reuter-Oberschule in Wedding. Tadej and Carmen were working with the younger group, 13 and 14 year olds, who were battling with their adolescent self-consciousness. The boys were easier going, ready to jump into the process whereas the girls were not. Let's check back in a few days and see how this situation progresses. At Ernst-Reuter, the older students were much farther along. Robin and Sean had managed to lead them into a variety of choreographic explorations, most striking of which was a sequence of group dances in which each had penetrated the essence of a color that they associated with Berlin. Photos will come later. The slide show on the right was taken by Christian Jongeblodt of the workshop in Eberswalde, a small town in Brandenburg that has been somewhat notorious for its right-wingers. The workshop as illustrated by Christian's photos shows Sophie Bortolussi and Alessandra Larson building trust with the students who are in a special vocational training program.

Dancing to Connect: Berlin II

Sunny autumn weather greeted us in Berlin and Potsdam today as we set about the preliminaries for our workshops, 2 in Berlin and 3 in Brandenburg State.

We had a site visit at the very impressive Nikolaisaal in Potsdam in the morning followed by a lovely lunch with Inka Thunecke and her staff from the Heinrich Boell Foundation who are coordinating our programs in the Brandenburg schools. We then rushed back to Berlin for a press conference and an orientation meeting with teachers from all 5 schools, as well as with Barbara Tennstedt and her colleague Carla from Fippe e.V., who have spearheaded our program here for the second year in a row!

Galerie Hans Mayer

Untethered from their teaching responsibilities for a day or two, the Battery Dance and Drastic Action dancers took the opportunity to create new site-specific material in response to the art work in Duesseldorf's estimable Galerie Hans Mayer. The art cognoscenti flocked to the gallery tonight and witnessed the quizzical, athletic and/or meditative movement studies designed by Sophie Bortolussi, Robin Cantrell, Alessandra Larson, Cara Liguori, Bafana Matea, Carmen Nicole, Sean Scantlebury and Mayuna Shimizu. Barry worked with Hans and his staff to support the dancers' experimentations.

And now for something completely different...

If you are in the vicinity of Düsseldorf (Saturday, October 3), drop in at the Galerie Hans Mayer from 6 - 8. Nine of the fabulous dancers from Battery Dance Company and Drastic Action are staging a site-specific performance, responding to the gallery building itself as well as the stunning art that is on display by Jon Kessler, Robert Longo, Konrad Lueg and others. Click here for more details: http://www.amerikahaus-nrw.de/event-einzelansicht/events/105.html

Dancing to Connect Stuns Essen

A cheering crowd of 1,000 welcomed students from 5 schools in Essen and Duisburg.
Nerves were running high before the show. A t.v. feature that was purported to be about the dance project had turned out to be a degrading piece that used the student as bait. However the showmanship and high spirits of the students returned during the dress rehearsal and everything went off magnificently. Tears, flowers and mementos were exchanged at the end.

Performance Night in Essen!

Wednesday night at 8 pm: Essen is the place to be to see the culmination of the Dancing to Connect workshops in Essen and Duisburg. 100 students from five schools will display their choreography at the gorgeous Lichtburg, Germany's largest film palace:
Check this link for further details:
http://www.lichtburg-essen.de/vera_090930_dancing_to_connect.php

Best Dance Crew NRW!

For those of you who were skeptical, here's the hard evidence!
Jonathan joined German television dance stars Eva and Sisco as a Judge on Dance24.tv - BESTDANCECREWNRW...
Draw your own conclusions! Robin and Sean did a star turn in Sean's choreography as the special featured guests. Best Crew winners were Magic Explosion and Ku.ul J, and the Joker went to New Generation.

Sunday in Essen

Germans usually rest on Sunday, but many of the Dancing to Connect students have opted to rehearse again today! That's dedication for you. And speaking of dedication, all 10 teaching artists took part in a Company meeting last night from 10 - 11:30 pm in order to decide on the program order for the show on Wednesday, after having commuted to their various schools in the early a.m., taught all day long, and then prepared for their Sunday sessions today. Kudos all around!

First day of Workshops in Essen & Duisburg

After a welcome orientation session last night, the teaching artists roused themselves bright and early and set out on their paths to five schools spread out across two cities. At the Stoppenberg school, Carmen, Bafana and I met the Lord Mayor of Essen who greeted the students and told them how proud he was of their courage in setting off on a new adventure.

Farewell to Sachsen Anhalt; Hello to North Rhine Westphalia

The train ride from Bitterfeld in the East to Essen in the West was a 6-hour affair, but no one minded it. The scenery was out of a story book and the rest after the previous night's exertions was a blessing.

Reflections from Teaching Artists; Reflections from Local Teachers

It was new for our dancers to use their imagination while they are dancing – not just what the counts and steps are…. How to feel is new territory. One of our students said, “when I’m dancing, I cannot think” – we said we’re not asking you to think, rather to feel while you are dancing. The challenge of the week was to let the movement express a feeling rather than simply memorizing a movement phrase.

This same student: the exercise was to write a letter to someone they were separated from. In the letter they had to express love, fear, what they would like to change and what they dream of.

These letters were confidential but they had to tell the story of the letter in the form of movement or gesture. Gesture equates to meaning. One student did a gesture that represented to her breaking down a wall – however, she did it balletically with pointed toes and straight leg and high extension; which took us away from her intended meaning. She succeeded finally but had to be reminded, “don’t make it look pretty… find a way to express the emotion that was included in the letter.”

After videotaping the rehearsal, we had the students watch their own creation. Even then it was hard for them to perceive imagery in the movement. It could have been shyness or fear of being wrong. Hard for them to understand that there isn’t sometimes a correct answer.

In each school I’ve taught, it doesn’t matter the level. But there is always this problem of assuming there is a right answer.

Sophie and Alessandra


I really want to thank you and especially your dancers for being in Dessau. It was such a great experience- for our students and for us teachers as well.  The dancers not only performed their own pieces in the show, they cared for the students, helped them to get stronger, more self-confident and gave them the inspiration they needed to choreograph. That`s much more than only performing on stage. so thank`s a lot again and I hope we`ll meet again and can work together.

Gabriele Gruhn, Philanthropinum, Dessau

Full house!

Last night was the first performance of Dancing to Connect, German Edition IV!
A full-house of over 700 people including young children, teens, adults and seniors flooded the Kulturhaus in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, and from the sound of their applause, they were not disappointed.

Dessau-Rosslau; Wolfen-Bitterfeld

Visiting the dance workshops yesterday was a revelation as it has been in the past. Students summon up new ways of expressing themselves, teaming up, experimenting. Despite the natural shyness of many of the students, a glimmer of passion shows through. While in Halle on Friday, I was asked, "Don't you ever do a project that lasts more than one week?" I was rather surprised by this because it always seems like a major achievement when schools allow us to work for 6 days with their students (given the fact that these students are absent from their academic classes...)
However, here in this region, I see that a longer process would be advantageous. The extroversion required to dance and perform is not a natural attribute here. Each day new layers of reticence are peeled away and more of the spirit is allowed to surface. We're set for many surprises on Tuesday night when, at 6:30, the curtain will open at the Kulturhaus in Wolfen and five new pieces of choreography will be unveiled!

DANCING TO CONNECT, German Edition, Volume IV

Dateline: Dessau -- Our team of 12 has arrived in the former East German city of Dessau which is actually now the joined city of Dessau-Rosslau. The day after a 20-hour journey from New York, Barry Steele, our intrepid production designer and I went to the nearby Wolfen-Bitterfeld (yup, another joined city) where we reconnoitered with the technical crew at the Stadtisches Kulturhaus. Gabi Schuckelt, the wonder woman from the US Consulate Leipzig who coordinated all the details of our project here served as our chauffeur, translator and hospitality manager all rolled into one. As usual, Barry wasted no time in building team-spirit with the tech guys and promising them a full light plot by noon tomorrow. Meanwhile, the dancers were locating the local fitness center, and then were given a walking tour of Dessau by two delightful high school students who had practiced their English and carried out the role of tour guides with aplomb. We all ended up meeting with teachers and principals from all the schools that will participate in Dancing to Connect this week (I think there are at least 8 schools in all, representing 4 different cities). The meeting itself was a delight: Hosted graciously by US Consul General Katherine Brucker and Public Affairs Officer Jim Seward, we dined at the local Brasserie L'Appart and the delicious food and wines made a warm environment in which the orientation process could occur.

Thank you to the Gods of Weather

All the good energy paid off: Saturday's program was delivered in full with no pauses for rain!
The beautiful colors of dancers' costumes against the verdant green London Plane Trees of Battery Park was a sight to behold. Come and join us tomorrow for another day of wonderful dance.

Never mind that rain, we're going on as planned!

Despite the weather report, we're in Battery Park right now setting up the stage for today's Downtown Dance Festival! We hear things are going to clear up after 1pm today, so we may start a bit late. Bring an umbrella and join us for free dance underneath the trees. Today's performers include Eglevsky Ballet, Buglisi Dance Theater, New Chamber Ballet, Carmen Nicole, Naomi Goldberg Haas/Dances For a Variable Population, Figures in Flight, C-3 Tap Co-operative and Vissi Dance Theater.

Changes to the Program

If you're planning on coming to the Festival this Thursday August 20th or Saturday August 22nd, please note that we will be making some last-minute changes to the program!

Unfortunately, due to some unexpected visa issues, Kolkha, the folk ensemble from the Republic of Georgia, will not be participating in this year's Festival.

We'll be announcing the programs for Thursday and Saturday as soon as possible--stay tuned here or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/batterydance

See you Monday!

Festival Schedule Is Here!

The Downtown Dance Festival is only two weeks away! Take a look at our full schedule below.

Monday, August 17th - Friday, August 21st, 12pm – 2pm
Location: Chase Plaza, Nassau Street between Liberty and Pine

Monday August 17
Janaki Rangarajan
Battery Dance Company
Dance China NY

Tuesday August 18
Stefanie Nelson Dance Group
Vissi Dance Theater
Rebecca Kelly Ballet
The Chase Brock Experience

Wednesday August 19
Curated by the Indo-American Arts Council as part of the Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance

Thursday August 20
Kolkha

Friday August 21
Jamal Jackson Dance Company
isadoraNOW
C3 Tap Cooperative
Stefanie Nelson Dance Group
Naomi Goldberg Haas/Dances For a Variable Population

Saturday, August 22nd - Sunday, August 23rd 1pm – 4pm
Location: The Lawn at Battery Park, adjacent to State Street at Pearl Street

Saturday August 22
Kolkha
C3 Tap Cooperative
Figures in Flight
Naomi Goldberg Haas/Dances For a Variable Population
Vissi Dance Theater

Sunday August 23
isadoraNOW
Dance China NY
Rebecca Kelly Ballet
Figures in Flight
The Chase Brock Experience
Battery Dance Company
Jamal Jackson Dance Company

Spotlight On: Dance China NY

In the days leading up to the festival, we'll be doing featured posts on each of the 13 participating dance companies, so you can learn more about our talented roster of artists!

Today's featured company is Dance China NY.

As the traditional Chinese dance company in residence at the New York Chinese Cultural Center, Dance China NY's dancers and musicians include "internationally renowned artists from performance stages and academies throughout mainland China, Taiwan and the United States. DCNY's repertoire of traditional and contemporary folk and classical dances weaves a vibrant vision of China's ancient indigenous folk cultures across varied terrains of time and region - legend and reality."

Led by Artistic Director Qi Jiang, this year DCNY will be performing three pieces: Hubei Fan Dance, a traditional Chinese folk dance re-staged by DCNY; Power and Strength, originally performed by Shenyang and re-staged by DCNY; and Of the Dragon, an original piece choreographed by Jiang Qi.

This year marks DCNY's sixth appearance in the Downtown Dance Festival!
Performances are currently scheduled for Monday, August 17th at Chase Plaza and Sunday, August 23rd at Battery Park. After DCNY's performance at Chase Plaza, the company will be leading "Everybody Dance NOW!", our audience participation segment, so if you've ever wanted to try out some traditional Chinese dance, don't miss it!

Important Scheduling Change!

A little bit of unfortunate news on this otherwise lovely Wednesday--due to some unforeseen issues we've been forced to cancel the first weekend of our festival, at Governors Island.

Fear not, though: we're still on for our five weekday performances at Chase Plaza as well as two longer shows underneath the trees in Battery Park.

In other Festival news, we've added Stefanie Nelson Dance Group, isadoraNOW, and Kolkha, a folk group from the Republic of Georgia, to our roster! Kolkha will be flying 28 dancers and staff in from Georgia for two performances, on Thursday August 20th and Saturday August 22nd. They'll be performing a wide array of traditional Georgian folk dances, so don't miss it.

On Wednesday, August 19th we will once again be partnering with the Indo-American Arts Council to host a day of Indian dance as part of their Erasing Borders Festival. Stay tuned here for the list of companies performing that day.

We hope to see you there!

Planning for the 2009 Festival is Under Way!

Despite the June gloom, Summer is most definitely here and that means preparations for this year's festival have begun!

Well, to be honest, we started preparing all the way back in January when we sent out a call for applications. We then had the pleasure of reviewing over 90 unique and talented submissions which arrived by mail until the deadline on March 27th.

Our talented panel of judges convened and reviewed each submission, finally narrowing it down to a diverse roster of companies with a varied range of styles. Some of this year's participants include:

c3 Tap Cooperative
Jamal Jackson Dance Company
Dance China NY
Vissi Dance Theater
The Chase Brock Experience
Dr. Janaki Rangarajan
Rebecca Kelly Ballet
Naomi Goldberg Haas/Dances for a Variable Population
Figures in Flight

...and several more to be announced!

Keep watching this site for more updates on our progress. If you're interested in volunteering for our festival, please contact our festival intern, Soni, at intern@batterydance.org.