Check out this clip from today’s Bonjour D’Algerie (national morning news show in Algeria
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Dance Diplomacy on the Airwaves in Algeria
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Algeria Update from Robin
Today was the last day of workshops, and my piece is finished....
Barely!
We were interrupted mid day by a press conference, and a camera crew and interview at day's end.
Everyone asks pretty much the same question: what style of dance will you be presenting?
I've learned that it's almost useless to answer since "modern" or "contemporary" seem to mean completely different things depending on what part of the world you're coming from.
Tomorrow we have a much needed day off... But only after we appear on Good Morning Algeria!
We've decided to go with "Moonbeam", "Body Morphic" and "She Loves Me" for our repertoire here. The director was not enthusiastic about our minimal costuming for "Black and White". In fact, he offered to let Sean wear traditional Algerian garb for the piece. Sean respectfully declined.
Barely!
We were interrupted mid day by a press conference, and a camera crew and interview at day's end.
Everyone asks pretty much the same question: what style of dance will you be presenting?
I've learned that it's almost useless to answer since "modern" or "contemporary" seem to mean completely different things depending on what part of the world you're coming from.
Tomorrow we have a much needed day off... But only after we appear on Good Morning Algeria!
We've decided to go with "Moonbeam", "Body Morphic" and "She Loves Me" for our repertoire here. The director was not enthusiastic about our minimal costuming for "Black and White". In fact, he offered to let Sean wear traditional Algerian garb for the piece. Sean respectfully declined.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Sean's workshop - finding a happy medium between hip hop and folk dance!
Sean reported:
Sunday went well! I had a great time with my group. I had 15 adults in my workshop (none of whom speak English.) Half guys, half women. The guys were breakers but some of them had ballet and jazz training (surprise) The women are all folk dancers with some ballet. We had a good time together and I hope all of them come back tomorrow. One of the women spoke to me through Fatma from the Embassy Public Affairs Section who was acting as translator. She said that she was scared at first because none of the girls had taken hip hop before and looking at the guys in the beginning flipping around and doing all of these crazy tricks, she thought that it was going to be like that throughout the whole day. But I was able to encourage the guys to explore beyond their breaking habit and now we have what looks like a modern/contemporary piece so far. So everyone can join in!
Sunday went well! I had a great time with my group. I had 15 adults in my workshop (none of whom speak English.) Half guys, half women. The guys were breakers but some of them had ballet and jazz training (surprise) The women are all folk dancers with some ballet. We had a good time together and I hope all of them come back tomorrow. One of the women spoke to me through Fatma from the Embassy Public Affairs Section who was acting as translator. She said that she was scared at first because none of the girls had taken hip hop before and looking at the guys in the beginning flipping around and doing all of these crazy tricks, she thought that it was going to be like that throughout the whole day. But I was able to encourage the guys to explore beyond their breaking habit and now we have what looks like a modern/contemporary piece so far. So everyone can join in!
Algeria, Day 3
Robin reports: I had a conversation with one of the dancers yesterday. He told me that he aims very high, but often in this environment, the higher you reach, the more likely someone will be there to knock you down. My group agreed that this was an interesting theme for a dance piece. They were very excited to get to work on it today. They threw in lots of emotion. I'm proud. We finish up tomorrow. Wish us luck.
Farid is the featured dancer in the second photo. He is exceptional!
Dancing to Connect: ALGERIA!
Robin and Sean arrived in Algiers on Saturday and work started on Sunday. They are already into the thick of the Dancing to Connect project with two different groups of dancers. This is BDC's first time back in North Africa after our phenomenal experience back in 2004.
From the photos that Robin sent over today, it looks as if the work is going beautifully. More soon!
Summing it all up: Dancing to Connect in Ghana
This is a last program note before I do the official reporting in the State Department system. Thank you, again, for making available to us an absolutely wonderful program with Sean Scantlebury and Robin Cantrell. They achieved a tremendous body of work during their short stay, and they touched many lives to inspire and encourage dancers, teachers and supporters of dance. They had a very high caliber of dancers overall to work with, which made possible the rather astounding achievement of practically a new dance a day culminate in flawless performances yesterday. With only one quick run-through yesterday morning (including lighting and sound), the performance went as smoothly as if it had been months in planning. This is a tribute to everyone involved. The result—a perfect cultural exchange program. Everyone participating was very happy, there were some life-changing moments for some, and, hopefully, some new collaborations were created.
Again, this was a wonderful collaboration between Battery Dance, ARS/Paris, PAS Accra and the University of Ghana at Legon, whose brilliant, dedicated leader, Prof. Oh!Nii Kwei Sowah, brought together Ghana’s key dance companies in a first-time ever collaboration.
All the best,
Ellen Irvine
Cultural Affairs Officer
Friday, February 12, 2010
Updates from Africa!
Sean and Robin have just finished up a whirlwind week of programs in Ghana--check out a few photos below!
Dancing to Connect students performing in Accra, Ghana
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
