Dancing to Connect

Connecting the world through dance

The Dancing to Connect initiative was founded in 2006 by Battery Dance Company, a New York City Dance community, and was sponsored by the US Department of State and the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The key goal of the initiative is to bring youths together from both sides of a ' pressing conflict' and bring them together in a series of workshops, helping to engage them in teambuilding and creativity through dance. The initiative is currently operational in 26 countries across the world and aims to expand this number to fifty by 2017. One of its highlights so far has been the Israeli-Palestinian-German Dancing to Connect 2011, bridging the Israeli-Palestinian divide. Widely regarded as a success, the initiative is a good example of New school' Cultural Diplomacy, conducted by private organisations and civil society rather than by governments.