Letter to the Missoulian
BBB Jury Statement in the Missoulian
Romanian Dancers Steal the Stage in Missoula
Story on KPAX - January 10th, 2018
Gene Kelly's Wife Honors Dancer's Legacy
Story on NBC Montana - January 9th, 2018
Ballet Beyond Borders Combines Dance and Diplomacy
Missoula.com - Ballet Beyond Borders Gala Finale
Saturday, January 13th, 2018 @ 6:00 pm – 11:59 pm Dennison Theatre
$25-100
http://www.rmbt.org/bbb/
Ballet Beyond Borders Gala Finale is the celebration and culmination of five important days of global cultural exchange and the results of the international dance challenge and diplomacy conference. International stars and BBB winners will perform in styles ranging from classical ballet to hip hop. Don't miss this truly spectacular event...
Missoulian Feature Photo: Pushing the Borders of Ballet
Caption: Solieh Samudio and Melissa Gaona, dancers with the National Ballet of Panama, perform a Cuban dance, "Muñecos," or Dolls, Wednesday afternoon during the Pas De Deux Ballet competition on stage at the University of Montana Dennison Theatre. The dancers are attending the Ballet Beyond Borders, a five- day international dance challenge and workshop in Missoula.
Dance Studio Life Magazine: Ballet Beyond Borders
Montana Dance Festival Has Global Reach
By Bonner Odell
The snow-capped mountains surrounding Missoula, Montana, might seem like a surprising backdrop to a dance festival featuring some of the world’s most elite dancers and teachers. But Missoula is the birthplace of the Vienna International Ballet Experience USA (VIBE USA), which last year alone drew more than 6,000 people between participants and audience members.
Spread over five chilly January days, the annual festival includes an Art of Diplomacy conference, a film series, a gala, and special events exploring an ongoing theme: the role of the arts in global communication. At the heart of the festival is a dance competition, the Grand Prix Dance Challenge, which offers students and professionals the chance to compete in ballet, contemporary/modern, and an open category that has drawn talent in Native American, hip- hop, and Chinese folk dance, to name a few—the 2017 Grand Prix featured 200 competitors.
Stand-out participants have received scholarships to study with international schools, but all the dancers who take part in the festival leave with something valuable: a cross-cultural education, professional and personal connections, and memories to last a lifetime.
“I met so many amazing people, from Portugal, Romania, Ethiopia. We all fell in love with Missoula.” —Giovanni Giordano
From Montana To The World And Back Again
The story of how an international ballet festival landed in cowboy country is inextricably linked to that of its founder, Charlene Campbell Carey. Campbell Carey studied ballet at American Ballet Theatre and danced at Radio City Music Hall. After decades of choreographing ballets, operas, nightclub acts, and industrials, Campbell Carey moved from Los Angeles to Missoula in 1998 and founded Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre (RMBT), a school and a company celebrating the spirit of the American West. “I am more inspired creatively here than in a big city,” says Campbell Carey of Missoula, home to the University of Montana.
Over the last two decades, Campbell Carey’s troupe of pre-professional and professional dancers ages 12 and up has evolved into an acclaimed international touring company. An invitation to represent the U.S. at Austria’s prestigious Young!Tanzsommer dance intensive in 2002 opened doors for further travel. In 2005 RMBT went to Italy, where dancers studied at Balleto di Roma. The following year, Campbell Carey contacted Montana senator Max Baucus to pitch the idea of the company representing Montana in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics. Baucus, who is now retired, supported the trip, and has since partnered with RMBT to present performances for foreign diplomats in Montana and abroad.
Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre’s cultural flair has been warmly received. In Beijing, the company presented Western-themed ballets with cowgirls alongside a rope-tricking Montana rodeo champion and a Native American fancy dancer from Montana’s Salish and Kootenai tribes. It also performed sections from two classic Chinese ballets in tribute to its Chinese hosts.
“The primary goal is to take our culture to the rest of the world and promote understanding,” says Campbell Carey. “Technology has advanced rapidly in recent years, but there is still a tremendous chasm in the world. The most real and lasting form of communication is still people to people.”
The seeds for VIBE USA were planted in 2014 in Austria, where Campbell Carey’s dancers opened the Salzburg Festival and competed in the Vladimir Malakhov Grand Prix. At the competition, Campbell Carey met Vienna State Opera Ballet principal dancer Gregor Hatala, who went on to found VIBE as a Vienna-based competition in 2015. In 2016, Hatala invited the Missoula school to host the premiere of VIBE USA. Campbell Carey accepted, but envisioned something more far-reaching than a competition alone. A team of RMBT staff and volunteers helped bring Campbell Carey’s broader vision to life. They raised all the necessary funds, recruited dancers and jury members, scheduled master classes in a range of styles, and organized community events.
Any dancer registered as a competitor can take master classes, which are taught by visiting teachers and take place on the University of Montana campus. The competition itself spans four days, with an awards ceremony, gala finale, and party on Saturday. Visiting competitors stay in Missoula hotels or with host families arranged by festival organizers.
“I got to meet a bunch of different teachers from all sorts of places, and see all different types of dance, which is really important.” —Ruby Jenni
Dancing Across Genres
The festival’s reach extends beyond the studio and the stage. The Art of Diplomacy conference, created in partnership with the University of Montana, draws college students, faculty, and community members to its performances, panel discussions, and lectures. Conference events are held in the evenings, and are free and open to the public. Last year’s topics included the role of the arts in fighting adversity, strengthening communities, and promoting women and democracy.
After winning two gold medals in the VIBE USA Grand Prix, South African dancer Andile Ndlovu, who dances for Washington Ballet, returned last year to serve as a conference panelist. “I think I brought awareness [about] how an African boy with his distinct identity can pursue an art form that is totally not his heritage,” he says. “It was a great experience [despite] temperatures I have never experienced in my life.”
The festival’s film series provides another outlet for dance viewing and dialogue. Last year’s series featured nine international dance films. Among them was Strike a Pose, about seven male dancers on Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour, some of whom were carrying the secret that they were HIV-positive. Dancer Carlton Wilborn, featured in the film, attended the Missoula screening and served on a panel about HIV awareness.
As of press time, organizers had not released the film titles for the 2018 festival. They had, however, confirmed that Patricia Ward Kelly, wife of dance legend Gene Kelly, will present a one-woman performance about the life of her late husband at the festival’s opening night. Above all, Campbell Carey says, the festival “is a place to share stories. Even our jurors are chosen with this in mind. We pick individuals who can do more than grade dances from 1 to 100, but who also have a story to tell.”
“The primary goal is to take our culture to the rest of world and promote understanding.” — Charlene Campbell Carey
A Choreography Of Connections
If the festival serves as a forum for stories, it has also changed some of them in storybook fashion. Many dancers have come away from the Grand Prix with scholarships to prestigious dance schools, enabling them to realize their dreams. Giovanni Giordano, a 21-year-old Italian ballet dancer, is among them. He described the experience as magical.
“I will never forget standing in a circle onstage with dancers from all over the world before the curtain opened at the gala performance,” Giordano says. “No one was out of this magic circle. We were all just there, enjoying the moment, enjoying the bond we share through dance. I met so many amazing people, from Portugal, Romania, Ethiopia. We all fell in love with Missoula.”
For Giordano, the magic didn’t end there. After watching him compete, VIBE USA juror and former National Ballet of Canada prima ballerina Chan Hon Goh awarded him a scholarship to study at Goh Ballet Academy, which she directs in Vancouver, British Columbia. “It is one of the most beautiful memories of my life,” says Giordano, who moved into his first apartment in Vancouver last fall, having never lived outside of his home in Italy. “I did not win first prize, but if I had, it would be just a medal for the wall. But this experience has changed my whole life.”
When he participated in VIBE USA, Giordano stayed in house owned by a vacationing RMBT- connected family, along with five fellow Italian dancers, one from Portugal, and one from Brazil. The group ate meals together—they all spoke some English and became fast friends. “I see them on Facebook often,” says Giordano, “and just sending them a message is beautiful because I know they share the same affection.”
Giordano learned about VIBE USA through his teacher in Italy, Guy de Bock, whom Campbell Carey met on the company’s first trip to Italy. Other competitors find their way to Missoula through the event’s international liaisons, who recruit in Russia, Eastern Europe, and several Spanish-speaking countries. In some cases, Campbell Carey discovers dancers through clips they post to her Facebook feed.
This is how she learned of Dandara Amorim Veiga. An extraordinary Brazilian dancer with no way to pursue her dream at home, Veiga traveled to VIBE USA in 2016 with the help of donations Campbell Carey raised. She gave a stunning performance and tied for the grand prize. Afterward, ballerina Annarella Sanchez awarded her a scholarship to study at her school in Portugal, Academia Cubana de Ballet e Danca. From there Veiga received a scholarship to The Ailey School, and now dances professionally for Ballet Hispanico.
Missoula dancers have also experienced the festival’s life-changing potential. RMBT dancer Ruby Jenni, 13, has been dancing at the school since age 3, and competed in the 2016 and 2017 VIBE USA Grand Prix Dance Challenges, where she was a finalist both years. Her performance at the 2016 event won her a scholarship to compete at VIBE Vienna. A student at Missoula International School, Jenni speaks fluent Spanish and served as a translator for Sanchez and some of the other Spanish-speaking judges at last year’s competition. After seeing her perform in 2016, Sanchez offered Jenni a scholarship to study in Portugal, where she spent the 2017 fall semester.
“It’s always good to make connections because you never know how they might play into your career if you plan to be a dancer,” says Jenni. “I got to meet a bunch of different teachers from all sorts of places, and see all different types of dance, which is really important.”
For Campbell Carey, that kind of exposure and opportunity to connect are what this project is all about. As RMBT enters its 20th year, she and the board have decided to rebrand the festival as Ballet Beyond Borders, effective January 2018. “With BBB, we are doing what RMBT has always done, encouraging our dancers to take their dancing beyond borders. I think of Ballet Beyond Borders as encompassing all of our cultural exchange projects, with the competition as the annual culmination.
“It’s a tapestry of relationships,” Campbell Carey says. The festival “is an ongoing project with the goal of connecting all these people so they can help each other in the future. When we choose what dancers to sponsor, we ask ourselves, ‘Who is going to take this scholarship and give back to the community in Brazil 10 years down the road, or maybe tell their story to an American child so she knows she is not alone?’ This way, when the competition ends, there is no end to the ripples.”
BBB runs January 9–13. See rmbt.org for info. --
KGVO Radio Talk Balk Live Featured guests: Charlene Campbell Carey and Patricia Ward Kelly
Missoulian: Ballet Beyond Borders brings hundreds of dancers to Missoula
CORY WALSH cory.walsh@missoulian.com
Jan 5, 2018
An international ballet conference is back for a third year with a new name.
Ballet Beyond Borders will bring dancers from around the world to Missoula for five days of competitions, workshops and lectures.
The event was founded in 2016 by the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre, a Missoula-based school that brings its students abroad. The conference was formerly called VIBE, or the Vienna International Ballet Experience, held in conjunction with the Vienna Ballet.
RMBT founder and director Charlene Campbell Carey said the new name reflects the connections and projects that the event has cultivated year-round.
Many of festival's events are intact: at the Grand Prix Dance Challenge, dancers of all ages and styles will compete in front of professional judges. At the Art of Diplomacy Conference, academics and artists will come together for panel discussions about the crossover in their fields and causes, and the gala opener and closers will have performances from professionals.
Carey said the grassroots support for a new type of event for western Montana has been strong. Dancers have returned for multiple years after seeing the responses and hospitality, and Missoula residents have shown enthusiasm for the art-form, from church groups to folks in ski gear.
"It's all different types, a very broad, broad cross-section of what makes Missoula, Montana," she said.
Opening night
This year, the opening gala will be held at the Wilma at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9. Patricia Kelly, the spouse of the dance legend Gene Kelly, will give a one-woman performance about his career.
Carey said Kelly's dancing and story-oriented choreography and status as an American icon made him the perfect subject for an international dance event based in the U.S.
"Everybody knows the image of Gene hanging from the light-post and his great work with 'An American in Paris,' " Carey said.
While most of the events are free, the opening gala is ticketed. To purchase, go to the Top Hat box office, thewilma.com or call 877-987-6487.
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Grand Prix Dance Challenge
While registration is in flux, Carey predicted that about 200 performing artists are coming, the majority from outside the U.S., including South and Central America, Asia, Africa and Europe.
They'll compete in their respective categories from Tuesday through Friday in the University of Montana's Dennison Theatre. The public is welcome to attend, free of charge. However, the judging isn't emceed.
On Tuesday, the open category dance challenge is from 9:30 to 11:50 a.m., followed by the contemporary category from 1:10 to 5:10 p.m. On Wednesday from 9:30 to 11:50 a.m. is the ballet groups and ensembles and junior solos. After lunch, from 1:10 to 3:30 p.m., are the junior solos and ballet duets. On Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to noon are the classical children, students and senior dance challenge. From 1 to 2 p.m. are more senior solos, and professional solos are from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
The finals are Friday. The estimated times are open categories from 10 to 11:50 a.m.; the ballet from 1:10 to 4:30 p.m., video of competitors who couldn't attend in person from 4:30 to 5 p.m. and a gala sneak preview from 5 to 5:30 p.m.
The big gala finale with awards and performances is 6 p.m. at the Dennison Theatre. Tickets are available at bit.ly/2CiibJY.
Art of Diplomacy Conference
A conference on art and culture will take place with the Art of Diplomacy Conference from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, in the University Center Ballroom.
One notable speaker is Merritt Moore, who pursued a doctorate in quantum physics while developing a professional career as a ballet dancer. Faculty from Ballet Hispanico and Centro de Artes Escenicas de Panama will join Rafael Chacon, UM professor of art history and international lecturer, to examine the power of viral dance across Latin America. For a complete schedule or to register, go to mansfieldconference.org.
KPAX: International dance competition kicks off in Missoula next week
Posted: Jan 05, 2018 1:09 PM MST Updated: Jan 05, 2018 1:09 PM MST By Augusta McDonnell
MISSOULA - Hundreds of dancers are descending on Missoula next week for a competition that brings them from all over the world to compete.
It is called Ballet Beyond Borders, and it the event is true to its name.
One young ballerina, 13-year-old Arianna Pazmino from Ecuador, received a scholarship to come to Montana for the first time and dance. “I hope to take away every single correction and opportunity that they gave me here, to Ecuador, to do better dancing, and find a career,” she said.
She will be performing three ballet pieces next week in both contemporary and classical styles.
But it is more than just a competition. Ballet Beyond Borders is also considered by its directors to be a humanitarian effort because it explores how dance and diplomacy combine.
This event was previously called the Vienna International Ballet Experience that began in 2016. It's facilitated by the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theater in Missoula.
The organization is celebrating their 20th anniversary with the name change because they say, ‘Ballet Beyond Borders’ represents the mission of their work now.
“So you don’t need a skill set to come into the theater. That is part of the Ballet Beyond Borders experience -- it should touch you. You’re going to have favorites, maybe it's a body type, maybe it is the music, maybe it is the choreography, maybe it is all of the above. But, you should be leaving, with an experience that is going to stay with you,” said Charlene Campbell Carey, the artistic director of RMBT and president of Ballet Beyond Borders.
All but two of the events are free due to sponsor support.
Tickets are available to see the wife of singer Gene Kelly, who will be sharing personal stories about his life Tuesday to open the event, and the Saturday Gala. Both events will be held in the evening at the Wilma Theater.
Missoula Independent: FEATURED - Ballet Beyond Borders dancer Merritt Moore taps science and art
January 4, 2018, Sarah Aswell
Merritt Moore has surprised her share of Harvard University security guards. When she was pursuing her undergraduate degree at the Ivy League school, she was often in the physics lab late at night, after performing in double features of The Nutcracker with the Boston Ballet. In the mostly abandoned building, she would be conducting science experiments in full coat, gloves, and mask, while doing arabesque positions and foot exercises during the downtime.
It’s just one of the tiny ways that Moore has balanced her dual passions—professional ballet and quantum physics—while excelling at both. After finishing at Harvard, the multitasking wonder graduated from Oxford University last month with a PhD in Quantum Optics, all the while performing with English National Ballet and London Contemporary Ballet Theatre. Now that she’s turned in her dissertation and gotten her degree, she is throwing herself into dance full-time, which includes an upcoming trip to Missoula for Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre’s annual program, Ballet Beyond Borders.
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Most people are baffled that she can excel at two such disparate and difficult disciplines, but Moore thinks everyone could benefit from splitting their time between interests.
“I use one to take a break from the other one,” she says. “They complement each other. When my brain is burnt out from doing physics, I’m so excited to be in the dance studio, and each moment feels like 100 percent.”
While she admits that pursuing two passions takes a huge amount of time and commitment, she’s also found that it’s the only way she can excel at either. She has tried to quit ballet multiple times in the past, to make more room for her science career, but each time she’s found that it’s hurt the rest of her life, from her physical health to her studies to her outlook.
“It’s easy to become stuck with all of your negative thoughts and doubts, in both dance and physics, but especially in ballet,” she says. “You can get wrapped up in criticism. But because I have something else in my life, I’m just excited. I care about the music and the movement, and none of those worries are stopping me. I see people who have the potential to be incredible dancers, but you see the dark cloud of uncertainty and insecurity over them.”
Also, art and science, Moore says, aren’t that different at all. In fact, they need each other.
“It drives me crazy when people say, ‘This kid has an analytical brain and this kid has a creative brain,’” she says. “It makes no sense! I don’t switch from one brain to another. To be dancing, you have to know about forces and torque and your center of mass to really improve. And in the lab, you have to be creative and imaginative and think outside the box. Maybe you can solve all the problems in the textbook without being creative, but what about new discoveries and really improving the world?”
Ballet Beyond Borders takes place across Missoula from Tue., Jan. 9, through Sat., Jan. 13. Tickets available through the Top Hat. Visit rmbt.org for more in
Ballet Beyond Border Challenge Coming Up
Dance Informa: BALLET BEYOND BORDERS CHALLENGE COMING UP
Posted on: 12/30/2017 7:00AM
Now celebrating its 20th year, the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre (RMBT) recently announced a host of global dance stars headlining the upcoming Ballet Beyond Borders Grand Prix Dance Challenge, to be held the week of January 9-13, 2018. This year dancers from Brazil, Mexico, Kazahkstan, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Romania, Korea, Panama, Italy, China, the U.K. and from across the United States will meet in Missoula, Montana for the Ballet Beyond Borders challenge.
Among the highly anticipated performers is Patricia Kelly, the wife of deceased dance legend Gene Kelly. Patricia’s performance will showcase Gene’s genius as an American innovator, director, choreographer, dancer and diplomat. She will kick off the week of events at 7 p.m. on January 9 at the Wilma. Tickets are available at The Top Hat, online or by phone at (877) 987- 6487.
Another global star joining Ballet Beyond Borders is Merritt Moore, who recently earned a PhD in quantum physics from Oxford and is also a professional ballerina who has danced with The English National Ballet, Boston Ballet and The Zurich Ballet. In 2010, Moore was named to
Glamour Magazine’s Top Ten College Women. Constantly told she could not pursue both of her passions in physics and ballet – Moore is an inspiration to young women in both fields.
“Ballet Beyond Borders builds upon the past two years of success with the Vienna International Ballet Experience and takes it one step further. Attracting visitors of all races, cultures, social and economic backgrounds is our strongest form of public diplomacy,†said RMBT Artistic Director and Ballet Beyond Borders President Charlene Campbell Carey. “Bringing the world to Missoula for five days of world-class dance competition and diplomatic exchanges is the heart of our mission and we are thrilled to be sharing this with the community.â€
Additional must-see stars include: Baktiyar Adamzhan, an award-winning principal dancer at the State Opera and Ballet Theatre “Astana Opera†in Kazakhstan who won the highest award of the international choreographic competition in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2017 and was also the Grand Prix winner at the Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition in New York earlier this year; Julia Duarte, a 14-year-old rising star from Sao Paolo, Brazil who will be competing in every category; and Celine Armellin and Emiliano Candiago of Venice, Italy, who recently won first place in contemporary duet at the Opus Ballet competition in Florence.
Ballet Beyond Borders will also include practical discussions on the role of dance in building constructive global relations at The Art of Diplomacy Conference, hosted by the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Center.
For more information, visit www.rmbt.org/bbb.
Ballet Beyond Borders Brings International Competiton to City
KGVO: BALLET BEYOND BORDERS BRINGS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION TO CITY PETER CHRISTIAN
December 28, 2017
The upcoming Ballet Beyond Borders Grand Prix Dance Challenge will be January 9 through 13 in Missoula.
President and Executive Producer Charlene Campbell said there are premiere dancers coming to Missoula from all over the world.
“Dancers from 27 different countries will be participating, along with academics, diplomats and the entire Montana community will be engaging about the role of the arts in global communication,” said Campbell. “Dancers are natural diplomats because we don’t rely on dialogue.”
Campbell said one of the premiere guest artists will be Patricia Kelly, the wife of the legendary late dancer, choreographer and actor Gene Kelly.
“I wanted to brand our certain breed of ballet diplomacy as specifically American,” she said. “What could be more American than the legend and the great artist Gene Kelly? It’s a perfect fit for Patricia to be here and to tell all of her great stories about her husband and his role not just as a dancer, but also as a choreographer and a director and all the other facets of his genius, so she’s coming to open the festival.”
Kelly will be part of the Ballet Beyond Borders opening ceremony at the Wilma Theater on January 9, and tickets to that event are available here.
All the dancing competitions are free and will be held at the University of Montana, along with the closing ceremony gala at the Dennison Theater on January 13.
Sponsors for the event include the Washington Foundation, the Gallagher Foundation, Northwestern Energy, Southgate Mall and others. Learn more about how to become a BBB Ambassador by clicking here.
Lively Times: Ballet Beyond Borders | World-Class Dance Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre summons a Ballet Nation to Missoula Jan. 9-13 New & Notable
Dec 22, 2017
Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre celebrates its 20th anniversary season and the world premiere of “Triple B – Ballet Beyond Borders” Jan. 9-13, 2018 in Missoula.
The inaugural event builds upon the success of RMBT’s pilot collaboration with the Vienna International Ballet Experience (VIBE, USA), held in Missoula in 2016 and 2017. BBB presents world-class dance talent for five days in Missoula, with the goal of inspiring both the dancers and the public to develop new connections and understanding about the world on a global stage.
“While excellence is our goal, we also seek to preserve the heritage we passionately share. We will strive to improve, protect, inspire, and connect the next generation of young artists with professionals of the highest caliber and with mentors that align with these ideals,” says Charlene Campbell Carey, founder of RMBT and executive director of the event.
“Dance is a cultural phenomenon and dancers are natural diplomats, so Ballet Beyond Borders is a Ballet Nation that serves as a catalyst for promoting cooperation and easing conflict by creating mutual understanding and using dance to advocate for human rights, justice, and global peace,” she says.
BBB is open to professional and amateur dancers and students from around the world and offers daily workshops, stage experience, cultural programs and a diplomacy conference, in addition to the competition.
BBB participants mark their footprints along a lesser-known trail in what Campbell describes as “a quiet and picturesque ballet neighborhood and a community aligned with your core values.”
“Please bring your dances and your stories, your technique, and your artistry to our ballet nation and western frontier,” she adds.
Among the highlights:
Opening Night: Patricia Kelly, Gene Kelly’s wife, offers “Gene Kelly the Legacy,” 6 p.m. Jan. 9 at The Wilma. Her one-woman show celebrates her husband’s legacy as an innovator, director, choreographer, dancer and diplomat.
The Dance Challenge: Dancers learn daily, Tuesday-Friday, from an array of accomplished teachers, including Charla Genn, currently on the ballet faculty of the Juilliard School; Broadway veteran Leslie Stevens; award-winning South African dancer Andile Ndlovu; Caridad Martinez, a former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Cuba; Merritt Moore, a professional ballet dancer and quantum physicist; Charmaine Hunter, a former principal ballerina of Arthur Mitchel’s Dance Theatre of Harlem; and many more.
Public School Cultural Exchanges: The Missoula Writing Collaborative joins an international cadre of dancers for presentations Jan. 9 at Lewis & Clark and Rattlesnake schools in Missoula and Jan. 11 in Dixon on the Flathead Reservation.
The Art of Diplomacy: How the Arts Empower and Transform Our World: Dance performances and talks by leading experts from around the world explore how the arts shape international relations, build bridges across different communities and promote cross-cultural understanding, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Jan. 13 in the third-floor University Center Ballroom.
Learn how dance is transforming science and medical research; how Cuba took the Latin American dance scene by storm, and how dance is saving and empowering youths in South Africa. Listen to world-class coaches offer tips on how to become and succeed as an international performer and a global leader, and see dance performances from Panama, South Africa, Korea and Montana.
Film Festival: Nanette Melville screens her film, “Nrityagram: For the Love of Dance” and a trailer for her new film on dance in Cuba at 6:30 p.m. in the UM Masquer Theater. Melville is a filmmaker and photographer and has worked for The New York Times, the National Ballet of Cuba, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Juilliard.
The Gala Finale: International stars and BBB winners will perform in styles ranging from classical ballet to hip-hop at 6 p.m. Jan. 13 at the UM Dennison Theater, with an after-party for all participants at the University Center Ballroom. The finale is the celebration and culmination of five days of global cultural exchange and the results of the international dance challenge and diplomacy conference.
For details, visit rmbt.org/bbb or call 406-549-5155.