wfn.org | WCC dance drama

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release No. 00-21
For Immediate Use
21 July 2000

WCC DANCE DRAMA "PEACE TO THE CITY"
GOES ON TOUR FOR THE DECADE TO OVERCOME VIOLENCE

An unexpected combination, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and a dance theatre troupe will get together on Saturday, 2 September at the Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany, to  present an aspect of the Council's work in dance and music.

Sponsoring the troupe is a WCC network called "Peace to the City". It was formed during a campaign that began in 1997. In that year, peace initiatives in seven cities -  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Boston, USA; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Durban, South Africa; Kingston, Jamaica, and Suva, Fiji - joined together. The cities were all highlighting creative, community-based models for reducing conflict and violence and building bridges of reconciliation between people and groups.

In Hanover,  "Peace to the City" will tell the story of these seven cities. It will be the dance drama's first public performance as well as the first time in the 50-year history of the WCC that the Council has called upon the performing arts to present its message to a mass audience.

"Peace to the City" is an artistic contribution to the DOV - the Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010), in which the churches all over the world are participating.

Together with the dancers of "Marzia Milhazes Dança Contemporânea" and the "Trio Aquarius", the producer, Brazilian theologian and artist Luzmarina Campos Garcia, has created a dynamic 20-minute production that challenges churches and civil society to consider how violence is manifested in their various contexts worldwide.

Following the Hanover premiere, "Peace to the City" will go on tour around Europe from 18 September to 2 October.

In July 2001, "Peace to the City" will be performed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for over 3000 participants at the annual assembly of Church Women United, the US ecumenical Christian women's organization, and afterwards will tour North America.

Would you like to schedule a performance of "Peace to the City" in your city or region?
For more information, please contact:
Sara Speicher
WCC Information and Public Relations Team
ses@wcc-coe.org 

Photos of the production as well as a project summary are available on the WCC website: <http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/dov/dance-e.html>

Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010)

At the Eighth Assembly of the WCC in Harare, Zimbabwe, delegates representing more than 300 WCC member churches brought the Decade to Overcome Violence  (DOV) into being. The Assembly declared that on issues of non-violence and reconciliation, the WCC should "work strategically with the churches... to create a culture of non-violence". 

The Decade, which will be launched world-wide in February 2001, will build on already existing initiatives around the world, and will offer a forum for sharing experiences and establishing relationships so as to learn from one another.

The "Peace to the City" campaign culminated at the WCC Assembly in 1998 and now continues as a network. Ten cities have so far joined the network:

- Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Bethlehem, West Bank
- Boston, USA
- Braunschweig, Germany
- Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Durban, South Africa
- Kingston, Jamaica
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Suva, Fiji
-Tuzla, Bosnia

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter, Media Relations Officer           Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53   	Mobile:  (+41) 79.284.52.12

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The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 337, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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