On 21 June 2018, Trinity Laban dancers and musicians came together at the US Embassy in London as part of the US-UK Fulbright Commission’s 70th Anniversary celebrations
Trinity Laban was invited to create a new performance work to reflect the Fulbright Commission’s dedication to cross-cultural collaboration and mutual understanding.
The immersive and interactive work Journeys – co-devised by Dean of Dance Sara Matthews, Co-Lab Director Joe Townsend, and current Trinity Laban Fulbright Scholar Roman Baca – was presented at a special reception hosted by US ambassador to UK Robert Wood Johnson.
Reminiscent of wandering minstrels, five instrumentalists from across Trinity Laban’s Faculty of Music in collaboration with twelve dance-artists from Transitions Dance Company moved in various groupings through the guests and around the US Embassy’s impressive spaces, generating improvised real-time responses to American and British popular music and the theme of journeys.
Roman Baca, co-devisor of Journeys, is Trinity Laban’s current holder of the Fulbright-Trinity Laban Award.
“I was honoured to be a part of the creative team that brought Journeys to the new US Embassy. Together, through music and dance, we realised Senator Fulbright’s vision that ‘the greatest power of such intellectual exchange is to convert nations into peoples and to translate ideologies into human aspirations’. Collaborating with amazing Trinity Laban artists who hail from all over the world is a dream come true.” – Roman Baca
“The rich partnership that has developed between the US-UK Fulbright programme and Trinity Laban was beautifully exemplified last night at the US Embassy when dancers and musicians performed a specially choreographed interactive piece for the Fulbright Commission’s 70th anniversary reception. We are delighted to again be working collaboratively with Trinity Laban and salute Fulbright Scholar and choreographer Roman Baca who has cemented the relationship.” – Penny Egan CBE, Executive Director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission
Trinity Laban is the only UK conservatoire to offer a Fulbright Scholarship: the Fulbright-Trinity Laban Award in Music & Dance, which offers US citizens the chance to pursue postgraduate study at Trinity Laban.
