Wien Modern Dance inTime: Rückblicke

Vienna meets ... Diplomacy on stage with Andrea Raw

ACD – Agency for Cultural Diplomacy DanceArts platform in cooperation with Brazillian Modern Dance Congress has appointed Ms. Andrea Raw, dancer, dance teacher, and choreographer from Rio de Janeiro to act as a cultural ambassador for ACD – Agency for Cultural Diplomacy dance arts platform WienModernDance, for Brazil.
This event took part on the 13th of July 2017, 5 pm-7.30 pm in the Raum für Tanz, Neubaugasse 31 Wien 1070.

After an introductory speech from Ms. Raw, our guests have participated in the ACD – Dance Ambassadors Award Ceremony.
Ms. Raw has been introduced by ACD- president Ms. Tatjana Sehic. Afterward, Ms. Raw took part in the „feather challenge“, a symbolical action that has been created by the ACD-president to demonstrate the process of sending and receiving the welcoming gift, and interests for cooperation.
In her interview with Ms. Sehic which will be published via ACD-media pages, Ms. Raw has underlined the importance of sustainable work and creation of opportunities, as well as the importance of cultural exchange for professional development and network growth across regions.

ACD- Ambassador certificate with two-year free ACD- membership has been presented to Ms. Raw with gifts from the ACD team which contains the multilingual bag from the House of the European Union where the ACD team is preparing the project for the European Day of Languages in September 2017, a book about Austrian ballet dancer Fanny Elßler written by ACD- fellow Mr. Toni Berlakowich, and information materials about Rosalia Chladek society, whose members are practicing dance education which has been created by Austrian modern dance pioneer Rosalia Chladek.
Ms. Raw also has brought gifts from her dance fashion and Modern dance congress (a bag, t-shirt, and lyotard) for Ms. Sehic as a sign of appreciation and gratitude for her Award and as promotional articles which can raise awareness in Austria about her professional work in Brazil.

Ms. Sehic and Ms. Raw have studied together at the Martha Graham contemporary dance school in New York City. Long-term friendships have sustained all geographical distances and years of further professional development. After an introductory speech about multilingual dance composition and Lila dance syllabys on Ausdruckstanz (methodology deriving from Austrian pioneers such as Gertur Bodenwieser and Smiljana Mandukic -Vienna born dancer, dance pedagogue, and choreographer with a national background in Slowenia and Serbia) led by Ms. Sehic, participants have joined the lecture-demonstration based on modern dance resources, created by American modern dance pioneer, Ms. Martha Graham and led by Ms. Raw. In this way, Art as a common ground for the development of cooperations across nations and cultures has been celebrated through active participation.

Vienna meets- --Diplomacy on stage event delivers an illustrative practical example of cultural diplomacy led by professionals from dance arts to enhance intercultural exchange through modern dance languages across time and geographical space. 

ACD-ambassador and member, Ehsan Baghaie Heravi have documented the ACD-Award ceremony and talk session with his foto camera and has participated with the contribution to multilingual dance composition in his native language.
This event has been spontaneously created as Ms. Raw has expressed a wish to visit Vienna on her trip to a dance event in Vilapiana, Italy, which is organized by Antonio Fini, a colleague from the Martha Graham contemporary dance school NYC.

Our team and participants could share a fruitful time in Vienna together and visit some places in the evening, such as Burgring, Parlament, Vienna city hall, Hundertwasser house.

Ms. Raw has documented her impressions and has shared photo images via her social media pages with words of gratitude to our team.

ACD-team has also nominated Ms. Bettina Schöber, an Austrian dancer who currently lives in Abu Dhabi to become ACD- a cultural ambassador for dance arts.  Ms. Schöber could not attend the event and finish her interview about her intercultural dance experiences this time due to her familiar reasons, so our team is looking forward to the next opportunity to welcome Ms. Schöber to our team and to share her story with our members, visitors, and audiences.

This initiative has been created by the ACD-president Ms. Sehic with the aim to spotlight relevant examples and raise awareness about the contribution of professionals from civil society organizations and communities, in particular from art fields, whose engagement has a significant impact on the improvement of intercultural/international relations through intercultural exchange.

ACD- Ambassadors are active members whose engagement will contribute to the wider dissemination of quality information and experiences from various fields of action, regions, and countries and connect people and cultures.

Our cooperation will continue in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, by the next Modern Dance Congress, organized by Ms. Andrea Raw.

Vienna, 20th July 2017 Tatjana Sehic