Using art to reach out to people

A series of free, open workshops, led by the US-based Battery Dance Company, will be targeting social inclusion through dance later this month. Here Jo Caruana chats to the man behind the movement.

Dance Battery has created and presented a new choreography each year and has toured 60 countries in six continents since it first launched.

The idea that cultural initiatives can reach out into the community and touch lives isn’t a new one, but it is an ideology that is fast gaining ground locally.

From dramatic workshops with prisoners to special programmes that work with women in disadvantaged areas, more and more practitioners are using their art to reach out to people – both within their performances, and beyond them.

The American-based Battery Dance Company is one such organisation. Founded in 1976 in New York City’s lower Manhattan district, it seeks to pursue artistic excellence and social relevance, both in the US and overseas.

The company creates and presents a new choreography each year and has toured 60 countries in six continents since it first launched.

More and more practitioners are using their art to reach out to people – both within their performances and beyond them

As part of its remit, is takes arts education to New York City public schools, as well as to young people around the world. It also collaborates with musicians, composers and designers, and started the Downtown Dance Festival, which is now the city’s longest-running public dance festival.

Jonathan Hollander is the company’s founder and artistic director, and the man behind the upcoming dance collaboration, Dance Connect, with the US Embassy in Malta.

He first moved to New York as a teenager and secured a scholarship with legendary dancer and choreographer Merce Cunnigham. He went on to dance with many experimental choreographers, including Twyla Tharp, as well as to study classical piano, sculpture, painting and theatre – in addition to ballet, jazz and modern dance.

Among his career highlights Hollander cites his stints as a Fulbright lecturer on dance in India and his time as a Fulbright senior specialist in Malaysia.

“I worked with incredible dancers, choreographers and designers on that project, which has always been the most fulfilling part of my life professionally.

“Plus, having my wonderful family by my side over the years has been incredible. My younger daughter, who is currently completing her first year in architectural college, will be accompanying me to Malta.

“Watching her and the other dancers in the company grow into talented, self-motivated choreographers teaching other artists, has been an inestimable pleasure,” Hollander says.

Hollander will be leading the team behind the Battery Dance Company’s series of free workshops. The project targets young people aged between 16 and 25, and encourages them to tackle social issues and bridge gaps through dance.

These workshops are open to complete newcomers, as well as to those who have already studied dance in the past. The process sets out a new course every time and challenges those present to experiment and grow.

“Everyone is welcome,” Hollander says. “But they must understand that this is hard work, as well as fun. Those people joining us must commit to attending every hour of every workshop because new things emerge all the time and we don’t want anyone left behind.”

The project will use a tried-and-tested method that puts the tools of choreography in the hands of the participants. Hollander makes it clear that his choreographers won’t be there to stand at the front and demonstrate, but that they will create teams and get everyone to contribute, no matter how much or how little prior experience they have.

Over the 20-hour workshop, a new piece of choreography will emerge through the collaboration, and the finished product will be presented at a public performance on Friday. It is hoped that the standards will be very high, as they have been in past performances, and, of course, the Battery Dance Company will flex their limbs too.

“We are so looking forward to this,” Hollander continues. “I would say the Malta project can be traced to three powerful women – Winnie Hofstetter and Joanna Zingariello at the US Embassy, and Daniela Gusman, the head of Kick4Life and a Maltese native – as well as Daniela’s lovely parents.

“I find that even when institutions are cooperating, it is the people within them that make or break a project – and these individuals have all knocked themselves out to put all the puzzle pieces in place for our programme.

“We have also found some great cooperation from Jo Butterworth at the university; it’s clear that her philosophy of pedagogy and dance are in great synchronicity with ours!”

Hollander believes that the project – just like any cultural initiative – “nourishes the soul”. He maintains that, even though some people feel shut out, everyone should feel they have a licence to practise and experience the arts.

Thus, his company takes a very democratic approach to creating their work.

“I recently heard business people say that the arts experiences they had had in their youth were pivotal in making them the confident, creative people they grew up to be, whatever their profession. Even huge American corporations now offer dance and arts training for their employees, helping them to think in original ways and source creative solutions to problems. Everyone should be allowed to embrace the arts.”

This way of thinking is now an ideology the company hopes to spread here, starting with this workshop.

“We are most grateful to our Maltese partners for opening their facilities to us. We are so eager to start working with Maltese young people, and our advice is simple: eat well, get some rest and we’ll give you an experience you won’t forget!”

Dance Connect will be held between tomorrow and Friday. Participation is on a first-come, first-served basis. Those interested in signing up may contact usembmalta@state.gov for more information.