Montgomery College Presents Exit 12 Dance Company (Video)

Montgomery College’s Frank Islam Athenaeum Symposia presents “From Ballet to Bullets and Back” with Roman Baca and the Exit 12 Dance Company Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. in Globe Hall, Germantown Campus. The fall 2013 Speaker Series includes timely, stimulating topics delivered by today’s leading experts in international affairs, the arts, politics and economics. The performance and lecture is free and open to the public.

Roman Baca, a former Marine, and his Exit 12 Dance Company will voice through their performance the courage and conflictedness of young men and women engaged in war, specifically Iraq and Afghanistan, and the pride and apprehension of their parents.

After traveling around Iraq in a Humvee, carrying an M-16 through Fallujah and encountering terrified parents and children while on combat duty, Roman Baca came home in 2007 suffering from stress. Having been a classical ballet dancer in college and before enlisting, he knew that in movement he could express what he could not talk about.

Roman founded Exit 12 Dance Company as a way through movement to “educate audiences about the reality of war, advocate diversity and mutual understanding through cultural exchange, and champion the dignity of all persons.”

In addition, Mr. Baca has volunteered with The Mission Continues in New York City, an organization that provides community service fellowships to post 9/11 veterans so that they can continue to serve their community and country.

Recently, Baca returned to Iraq to teach dance to two groups of young men and women, ages 16-24. One group spoke Arabic; the other Kurdish. At the beginning, the groups sat at opposite sides of the room, not communicating with each other, except for snide remarks. At the end of the five days of dance, they sat together in the courtyard, singing songs and mingling sociably. Dance and Roman Baca had brought them together. As Baca explained to the 250 Iraqi people attending the culminating dance performance, he had served as a marine in Iraq and had come back with art—the Exit 12 Dance Company.

Video of Roman Baca

Schedule of remaining speakers:
Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.: Dr. Maria M. Dakake, Chair of Religious Studies, George Mason University
Women in Islam Muslim women are often the topic of controversy, particularly in the Western world. In this lecture, George Mason University professor, Dr. Maria Dakake, will discuss many of these issues, including the choice of wearing a hijab, what the Qur’an says about women, women’s rights, and the role of women in society. This program is hosted with the MC Germantown Library, as part of the Bridging Cultures Muslim Journeys grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association.

Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.: William Chang: Classical Pianist and MC Music Professor
Classical Piano Concert William Chang, Montgomery College Germantown music professor, will present a music recital featuring four classical piano compositions: Invitation to the Dance, op. 65 by Carl Maria von Weber; Rondo a capriccio, op. 129 (Rage over Lost Penny) by Ludwig van Beethoven; Scherzo, op. 31 by Frederic Chopin; and Carnaval, op. 9 by Robert Schumann.