Deisha Tamar

October 21, 2011

The Jakarta Post

(as published here)

Art should be free. 

In the modern world where money is everything it is a rare occasion when really good art is free. But, the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy and the Department of State’s Performing Arts Initiative brought a great dance group all the way from America, and the performance was free. 

Founded in 1976, the Battery Dance Company has performed in over 40 countries worldwide and is currently based in New York. With its mission to teach, present and advocate in the field of dance and with the motto “dancing to connect New York and the world”, it has supported over 200,000 public school students through its Dancing to Connect program. 
Believers: The Battery Dance Company has a mission to teach, present and advocate in the field of dance. Courtesy of US Embassy

The company believes in bringing free classes, lecturers and performances across geographic and linguistic borders to relate with people through dance.

The company has also produced 100 original pieces of choreography, created by its founder and artistic director Jonathan Hollander. With five outstanding dancers, the Battery Dance Company has choreographed many fresh contemporary dances and one of them was showcased on Oct. 10 at Teater Jakarta, Taman Ismail Marzuki.

For one night, Teater Jakarta was packed with over 1,000 people who were keen to watch one of America’s best dance companies. The show was introduced with a speech from US Ambassador to Indonesia Scot Marciel. 

The dance itself was separated into two parts; the first part, Autobiographica, consisting of 10 different acts mixing ballet with hip hop and other contemporary dance forms.

Autobiographica started with ballet, the dancers in black costumes, lulling the audience into theidea that this was going to be just another ballet performance. 

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