West Hartford Artistic Director Receives National Award

The Arts and Healing Network recently awarded Ballet Theatre Company’s Artistic Director and General Manager Roman Baca for his efforts creating war related dance pieces, combining military veterans with dance, and seeking artistic and cultural diplomacy in Iraq.

Baca, a U.S. Marine Iraq War Veteran co-founded the Exit12 Dance Company in 2007 upon his return from Iraq and subsequently embarked on a soothing journey to help fellow veterans and to visualize inspiring conversations regarding worldly differences.

Read more from the press release below:

Baca has a personal perspective on the healing power of movement and has recreated this vulnerability in a classroom setting for fellow veterans to experience. When he returned to the US following his own deployment, Baca sought the wise advice of his wife and eventually found internal freedom again. Through dance Baca trained his mental health, and this emotional experience through movement inspired him to help other veterans accomplish the same.

Together they created pieces that relived the intense experiences of deployment, such as a patrolling marine who loses his alert mindset and gets injured due to his daydreaming and longing for love. Another piece includes “Homecoming,” where enthusiastic letters between his family were shared side stage while the dance revealed the longing behind the unspoken words. Baca’s work aesthetically portrayed a soldier’s reality and in turn has helped many veterans accept their trauma through their strength and coordination.

The U.S. Government’s Cultural Diplomacy Program provided Baca and his dance partner a grant to lead a dance workshop in Northern Iraq with thirty local young adults. “It was incredible to see what they came up with after five days,” Baca says. The youth created a dance portraying what it was like living through the war, what they believed the Americans thought of them, as well as their hopes for a better future.

Baca is the Artistic Director of both Exit12 Dance Company in New York and the Ballet Theatre Company in Hartford. Choreography to “Yarjuun” was created by the Iraqi youth and then incorporated into the Ballet Theatre Company’s spring repertory of “The Sleeping Beauty and Dances from Around the World” in May. Elaborate international dances were performed to create a cultural bridge between the audience and the history behind the movement.

The Arts and Healing Network offers information and resources for using art to heal oneself and encourages the remedial power of the creative process. The network recognizes Baca’s focus on internal healing and community understanding, and looks forward to seeing his future accomplishments.