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.