Rebecca Davis, founder and Artistic Director of Philadelphia-based Rebecca Davis Dance Company, volunteered in Brcko, Bosnia-Hercegovina during summer 2009. Interested in working with youth in post-conflict countries, Rebecca partnered with Bosnian-based Svitac (Firefly) to establish a two-month dance program for Serb, Croat and Bosniak (Muslim). The creative process and final performance work evolved from the theme of reconciliation and the issues facing youth all around the world today.
Photo Credit: Celesta Duivenvoorde
Nas Svijet: 2010 Summer Dance Exchange Program for YouthClick here to view our some photos from our Winter Workshop
Ending “Evil?” Youth Dancing in Bosnia-Hercegovina
July 31, 2009
The Box
Inside a box, we put a balloon and a pin. On the balloon was written the word zlo, which means "evil" in Bosnian.1 Twenty-six kids dancing to the song Scream by Michael Jackson lined up behind the box. Then, perfectly on time with the musical phrase, 13 year-old Nikola Mari popped the balloon and all the dancers jumped into their final pose. A surprised and engaged audience broke into applause as the ensemble took their bow. Their two-months of hard work had paid off.
So Much for Expectations
When I arrived in Bosnia-Hercegovina (BH) in June, I really couldn’t have imagined what would transpire over the next several weeks. Never did I think that our dance class would swell from 8 students to 26, with ages ranging from 4 to 30 years old. Male hip hop breakers were training alongside an African dance teacher and a Finnish volunteer mastering Baroque dance. This enthusiastic, eclectic group transformed an idea about reconciliation into the fruition of a multi-ethnic youth group dancing together about the same issues that face youth right here in Philadelphia.
Photo Credit: Celesta Duivenvoorde
A Short Background
Although it is – and should be – common knowledge, a short recap of recent events in Bosnia-Hercegovina helps to provide context to this dance work. BH is located in the Balkans and is bordered by Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. For centuries, three distinct ethnic and religious groups have lived side-by-side: Bosniaks (Muslims), Serbs (Orthodox), and Croats (Catholics). A smaller proportion of the population is comprised of Jews and Roma (gypsies).
Ethnic tensions peaked in 1992 with the outbreak of a horrific war characterized by ethnic cleansing and massive land destruction. Up to 1.8 million people were displaced. As with Rwanda and Darfur, the international community failed to effectively act and genocide occurred in UN-designated safe zones. The flawed 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement now serves as BH’s national constitution even though no official local translation of it exists. 2
In this aftermath, families, youth, victims and politicians are faced with the task of reconciliation. The country is divided into three-parts: the Federation of BH, which is predominantly Bosniak and Croat; the Republic of Srpska, which is inhabited by Serbs; and Brčko District, which is a mixed composition of all three ethnic groups. For this reason, my work with youth was based in Brčko.
Rules of a Youth Center
I don’t know what I was expecting, but on my first day in Brčko, I was shocked for two reasons. First, the facility called Omlandinski Centar (Youth Center) is beautiful. It has a large room with mirrors and a CD player that would be used for my youth dance workshops. But second, there "is a political situation right now" so the center closes at 4:00pm everyday. How is it possible for a youth center to close at 4:00pm?
As time went on, I heard very personal stories about how hard people had worked to have this center created after the war. Now, to finally have a good, safe, clean place for kids to go that is simply "locked" was heartbreaking. One young girl was at the Center from 9am to 4pm everyday because her mother locks her out of the house during the day in the summer.
Photo Credit: Celesta Duivenvoorde
The Popularity of Dance
There must be something very special about dance itself because word quickly spread throughout Brčko that an American had come to teach jazz and ballet. Within a couple of weeks, my workshops had grown to about 20-30 kids, 99% of whom had never seen a professional modern, jazz or ballet performance, let alone taken a class where they could actually learn how to do the steps "we always see on youtube."
When I was working with Armela Mujanovi, a particularly committed 15 year-old, I asked how long she had been dancing; she was so good that everyone was impressed. She stared back at me for a moment, and I thought she didn’t understand my very poor Bosnian, Then she said, "Well, I never had a dance class before you came."
Na Svijet = Our World
This summer, there will be a Children’s Festival held in Brčko, and it was decided that we should prepare a dance performance for it. In collaboration with the students, we created a six-part work entitled Na Svijet (Our World). To start the process, I asked each of the students to answer two questions:
- What is the most important thing to you in your life?
- If there was one thing in the world you could change, what would it be?
The answers the students gave provided the choreographic impetus for each of the parts: porodica (family) and prijatelistvo (friendship) were important to them; ljudi (people), da rata ne bude (no more war) and
zlo (evil) were things they wanted to change.
As we worked through the choreography, I was astounded at the rate of improvement and the emerging feeling of an ensemble. The students could easily follow my warm up, some were already doing double pique turns, and all 26 of the students mastered the ballet jump pas de chat ("mačka" in Bosnian, as little Ivana Min yelled out daily)!
Teaching a portion of the classes in Bosnian language also helped me bond with the students – often in humorous ways. For example, I had a tendency to mispronounce the phrase “sa muzikom” (with music) and mix up "ćevapi" (a national meat dish) with "čarape" (socks). Personal note: when in doubt, always stick with the international word: "super".
An Enlightening Conversation
Even while I was immersed in my teaching, I found myself questioning whether dance really could play a tangible role in reconciliation. As if in answer to my doubts, the following dialogue transpired between two of my students after rehearsal. Armela is Bosniak and Maa Bacanov is Serb.
Armela: Rebecca, I wish you were staying in Brčko longer because then I could invite you to celebrate the upcoming Muslim holiday with my mother and me.
Masa: In Brčko, we celebrate lots of holidays.
Armela: My favorite holiday is Christmas, but no one in my family celebrates it.
Masa: Well, Armela, I will invite you to come celebrate Christmas with my family this year.
I couldn’t have been happier to be sitting in the middle of that conversation and saying nothing except, "don’t forget about rehearsal tomorrow!"
Photo Credit: Celesta Duivenvoorde
The Performance
At the end of July, the students performed Na Svijet for the first time. To see how these diverse kids had grown to become part of one ensemble, sharing a common experience, is the most rewarding moment of my teaching career yet.
The dancers themselves told our story when they stood together with Nikola, and he popped the balloon representing zlo (evil). Imagine the power of a united youth when ending evil is the one thing they want to change in the world.
After the show, Armela turned to me and said, "I never thought I could do this. You believed in me. Thank you." But now, as an international community, don’t we have that responsibility to believe in each and every Armela all over the world?
Rebecca Davis
www.rebeccadavisdance.com
1 The language of Bosnia-Hercegovina is called different names by different ethnic groups: Serbo-Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian or "local language."
2 Delamer, I., & Rabkin, M. 2006. "Transitions to Democracy – Bosnia and Herzegovina." The Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen’s University.
