Battery Dance TV Presents DANCE DIPLOMACY WITH JONATHAN Featuring Junious Brickhouse

Battery Dance launched Battery Dance TV on March 27, 2020 at batterydance.org/dancetv/ to provide free live dance classes and programming for the general public by Battery Dance and affiliated local and international artists through a regularly scheduled program. Faced with the cancellation of its New York City public school dance classes and the postponement of its State Department Nigeria tour, and with its popular dance studios closed, its staff members went into high gear (from living rooms and kitchens), creating online content. In its first 8 weeks, Battery Dance TV has had nearly 200,000 views from people in 133 countries.

Sundays feature a mixed schedule beginning with an interview program at 9am and noon hosted by Battery Dance's Founder Jonathan Hollander, Dance Diplomacy with Jonathan. He has brought together dancers, culture leaders and diplomats from the U.S. with their counterparts from North and South America, South Asia, Africa, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific Regions, examining how the pandemic is impacting them and sharing inspiration along with challenges. International guest artist classes and solo performances are presented later in the day at 2pm and 4pm respectively.

July 12 - Interview with Junious Brickhouse, a leader in the field of hip-hop diplomacy, who founded and directs Urban Artistry and is director of Next Level.

"We have so much to learn from Junious, a dancer from an early age who served abroad in the U.S. Military on his pathway to becoming one of America's leading cultural diplomats." "Hip-hop has become the most popular genre of art among youth around the world and Junious has shared hip-hop in far-flung places such as Cameroon, Bolivia, Myanmar and Egypt, while also following a deeply personal quest for discovering his family's roots in the American South and the Transatlantic slave trade," said Mr. Hollander.

July 19 - Interview with Philip Breeden, Retired Senior Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Department of State, currently serving as Vice President of Administration at Institute for American Universities (IAU) and American College of the Mediterranean in Aix-en-Provence, France with a branch in Barcelona, Spain.

"Phil's U.S. foreign service experience in Tunisia and France and his current work in the field of international higher education give scope for a wide-ranging conversation about the ways in which Americans and their international counterparts learn from each other. With his characteristic humility and down-to-Earth style, he exemplifies the best in American diplomacy in its institutional, government and citizen forms," said Mr. Hollander.

Battery Dance has announced the extension of its Mindful Movement sessions for frontline healthcare workers through July and possibly beyond. These 15-minute sessions, instituted in May, are offered eight times per week. Improvisation and musical theater dance classes and special afternoon classes for kids are also extended as part of Battery Dance TV's regularly scheduled offerings which include:

• morning warmup/stretching/conditioning exercises to start your day off right

• mid-day classes in contemporary dance with afro, ballet and jazz fusion elements

• evening classes in varied ballroom styles

• a daily 4pm short video by dancers performing in their living rooms or immediate neighborhoods

Battery Dance also plans to expand its distance learning and programming by including online classes in lighting and production design, and classes in arts administration and cultural diplomacy. In the future, the Company plans to add short performances by youth around the world who will create short dances based on a specific weekly theme suggested by the Company.

Morning Classes & Instructors

Flow - Vivake Khamsingsavath

Stretch & Strength - Mira Cook

Conditioning - Sean Scantlebury

Afternoon Contemporary Classes & Instructors

Jazz Fusion - Jill Linkowski

Ballet Fusion, Improv, and Musical Theatre - Bethany Mitchell

Storytelling & Repertoire - Hussein Smko

Afro Fusion - Sean Scantlebury

Evening Ballroom Classes & Instructor

Cha Cha, Salsa, Waltz, Fox Trot, Tango, Rumba, Swing - Razvan Stoian

Mindful Movement Sessions

Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 8pm - Mira Cook and Vivake Khamsingsavath

Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 6:15am - Ashley Fargnoli

Tuesday, Thursday at 12:15pm - Bethany Mitchell and Razvan Stoian

Registration necessary: https://batterydance.org/givingback/

To post a comment, you must register and login.