Artists for World Peace, Inc.

I’ve been studying hip hop/ jazz dance under Christiane Crawford for the past 15 years. As a documentary filmmaker, I spend much time out of the country, so when I return to San Francisco, Christian’s class has been a rare consistency in my life, a meditation.

Christiane embodies the dancer as poet and promoter of peace. If she ever had a bad day, I wouldn’t know. She comes into the studio with the energy to accept, to support, and to empower. I’ve walked into her class troubled by petty details of domestic life or the trauma of having witnessed a human rights crisis and leave without fail lighter.

I think acts of sharing, of non-judgment, of accepting and of celebration of and in oneself are all proponents of peace.

When I became involved with the Peace Belt movement, of course I thought of Christiane immediately. I was thrilled when she agreed to participate and was humbled by the energy, devotion and raw spirit she put into her choreography. To see her was awe-inspiring.

Please visit Christiane’s website www.ccworkit.com and contact her for a dvd of her performance.

S. Smith Patrick

I had the honor of wearing the Peace Belt in a show called ‘Street to Stage 2,’ which is dance that originated on the street and then developed into performing art. My style is Hip Hop/ Jazz, a mix of the two. It’s a very percussive, powerful, athletic style, so wearing the belt created a paradox for me. I had to eliminate a huge amount of the movement that I generally do. It took me a long time to find a vocabulary that works with the belt. It was such a wonderful process of discovery and I had to hone into what I could do wearing this beautiful symbol of peace.

I worked on the piece for about three months all together. I also wrote a spoken word piece, and that was also a challenge. San Francisco audiences are very progressive, so you’re really preaching to the choir when it comes to World Peace. It’s important not to be condescending or to try to make your point.

I decided that my spoken word piece was going to be about my personal internal journey in searching for peace, and it connects very much with what’s happened in my life for the past few years – a desire and a search for spiritual renewal and a release of anger. I think that’s really what our whole world needs as well.

The Peace Belt was also very heavy, and made a lot of noise which also presented challenges to be overcome and to be worked with. So what I came out with at the end was something very different than any other kind of work that I’ve done, and it was an enormous pleasure. I feel like I’m connected to history for the first time in my career as an artist by getting to wear the Peace Belt. I’m part of a long list of choreographers and artists, all of whom are searching for a way to express their feelings about peace and connect to other people who are of a like mind.

Christiane Crawford