May 17, 18 – WWII 80 Years After- dance performance with Battery Dance Company, New York and 120 students
Saturday, May 17, 2025, 7 p.m. in Art’Rhena, Vogelgrun
Sunday, May 18, 2025, 2 p.m. in Art’Rhena, Vogelgrun
Please note the booking platform in Art’Rhena, which will open shortly –
limited seats, free admission, donations welcome
80 years of the end of the war – dance performance
Battery Dance Company NY & Blaues Haus Breisach
To commemorate the end of the Second World War, the Blaues Haus Breisach memorial and education center has invited the dancers of the Battery Dance Company from New York to lead French and German young people in dance workshops. During the week from May 12 to 16, they will work together on choreographies that take up the biographies of people who were affected by Nazi injustice in Alsace and Baden and can connect with the young participants’ own experiences. The history of others in space and time becomes clear and can be experienced physically.
The globally recognized method of Battery Dance, “Dancing to Connect” (DtC), offers the young participants the opportunity to tap into their creative sources. It enables them to process the complex shared history of Baden and Alsace as well as Franco-German relations and their significance today. These workshops take place around the 80th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany and the liberation of the occupied and annexed territories. They offer young people the opportunity to engage with historical events beyond words and history books.
The bridge near Breisach takes center stage. Once a border, deportation route and dividing line, the bridge is now a symbol of connection, European friendship and cooperation.
The internationally renowned Battery Dance Company, which has developed a new profile since “Dances for the Blue House” in 2006 and is recognized in more than 60 countries around the world, is committed to cultural exchange and uses dance as a means of international understanding. Its founder Jonathan Hollander was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for his commitment in 2018.
On 17 and 18 May, the choreographies created will be presented to the public at the Franco-German cultural center Art’Rhena, located directly on the Rhine bridge near Breisach. The event on May 18 will end with an open-air naming ceremony for the Julius Leber Bridge and a cheerful parade.
The dance workshops are taking place as part of the Franco-German remembrance project “Brücke für die Zukunft/Pont pour l’avenir”. The project was initiated by the Blue House Breisach and is supported by the “Remembrance, Responsibility, Future” Foundation with funds from the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Further information:
brueckefuerdiezukunft.de
batterydance.org
blaueshausbreisach.de
Documentation Dances for the Blue House /Tänze für das Blaue Haus in Freiburg und Breisach 2006
