Stefanie Batten Bland - Artistic Director, Company SBB
Stefanie uses dance to tell compelling stories. In 2008, she lived in France, and it was there that she founded (by accident!) Company SBB, an interdisciplinary dance theatre company that creates futuristic worlds for places, spaces and films. Shortly after its conception, Stefanie moved her biz to NYC and has continued to captivate audiences ever since. She also finds time to teach at Montclair State University Theatre & Dance, and is currently working as Casting Creative & Movement Director for the 2021 immersive production Life & Trust by Emursive. Read on to learn more about the heart, vision and motivation behind her multifaceted hustle.
The Basics:
Hometown: New York City
Current city: New York City
Alma mater: Goddard College
Degree: MFA, Interdisciplinary Arts (Concentration: Performance Creation)
Very first job: Busser, Soup & Salad Bar
Hustle: Artistic Director, Company SBB; Assistant Professor, Montclair State University Theatre & Dance
The Interests:
Babe you admire and why?
Eartha Kitt. She’s a significant [Black] performer who moved within white-led theatre, TV and film spaces—all while proving roles can and should be played by the most talented person. She created her own way through casting boxes and biases with creativity and strength.
What book(s) have you’ve gifted the most?
“The Black Dancing Body: A Geography From Coon to Cool” and “The Africanist Aesthetic in Global Hip-Hop: Power Moves” by Brenda Dixon Gottschild.
Dream concert to attend?
Madonna
What’s a ritual you have to psych yourself up before a big performance?
In our dance theatre company we usually circle up and say we know we have the gift of few, so let’s give it to many. Then we give pinches and kisses and say “merde” and “toi toi toi” for the show.
The Hustle:
Tell us about your hustle.
I move between dance in various ways. I no longer hustle. I find the hustle in NYC a trap that is laid by folks inside as well as outside the industry, trying to perpetuate a degrading and dependency-based lifestyle for artists. My family life is supported by my partner, photographer JC Dhien. I say this to say that if I do this—so does he. Right now during COVID, we usher kiddos off to learning spaces, either pod or daycare if not at our house, and then shift to one of the films we currently have in production. If not that, then I’m remote working with my company’s administration and exploring how we are shifting the now ‘21 season from live into either 2022 re-bookings or dance-cinema alternatives. If not that, then I’m working with Emmursive Productions on development and creation of upcoming projects. I am also Assistant Professor at Montclair State University, where I am passing the baton—of my performance/creative legacy through dance-theatre training—down to dance and theatre students of the next generation.
When did you first realize that you were passionate about dance and theatre? When did you decide to pursue it professionally, and what steps did you take in establishing yourself as a choreographer?
I am a second-generation artist. My father was/is a well-known composer in jazz and tonal classical spaces, and my mom is a known author in adult and children nonfiction. We kids were never forced to follow in their footsteps, though none of us became Wall Street brokers, LOL. We were simply invited to be artists, surrounded by a type of living and creating that was an extension of life. I was really political as a teen, as at that time we were living in LA and all the cool kids from my group went to the arts high school. I was like OK, I need to go there. I auditioned under dance as I had done lots of it as a kid on and off. I went in, and was hooked—like a bite from a mosquito.
What first sparked the idea for Company SBB? What was the process of achieving that vision?
Creating Company SBB was a total accident. I was still living in France, and was the head choreographer at the Paris Opéra Comique for the Josephine Baker show. The director gave me the option one night to make my own show, and some friends and I got together and made a piece: “Let’s Hang Out Like Wet Clothes.” The show was bought and toured and I realized we needed an organization to protect and pay us. I had dabbled in a couple of works prior to that, but that really sent me off in this direction. I was feeling as much accomplishment as a maker as I was as a performer, and that meant something to me. I wanted to make more opportunities for people, not just performers, to feel that they belonged—even for a short period of time.
How have your past professional and academic experiences and lessons prepared you for the work you do today? How have they not prepared you?
Past and present life inform everything. COVID has come at a time that has found me exactly where I should be. I have worked with such greats of the last and this century—from Bill T. Jones to Pina Bausch to Pal Frenak, PunchDrunk and Georges Momboyes—and I see that this little girl who grew up in a paper factory loft in SoHo was created to deal with this time and moment in our lives. I see space, cultural heritage, cinema all in ways that offer access and offer dialogue around our humanity. I feel that I am here, right now to facilitate spaces where we can—through storytelling—be with and for one another.
What’s been the most rewarding project you’ve worked on since creating Company SBB?
“Look Who’s Coming To Dinner” I think it is our most sophisticated piece. Inspired by the 1967 Stanley Kramer film starring Sydney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, the work pays tribute to those who paved the way toward acceptance in love and life. Set around a transformative dinner setting, seven dance-theatre artists excavate interlaced universal traumas through imagery and ritual as they seek a seat at the table. I think my favorite part of this piece was when I wrote to Columbia Pictures and received the rights to work with the dialogue in sound scoring—for free! Sometimes you just have to ask.
Your job requires lots of creativity and an eye for unique stories. What do you do to make sure the creative juices are always flowing? How do you combat creative burnouts?
I don’t have burnouts. I don’t know why, except that I listen to the work and follow it. I am a big believer in ritual, pacing and discipline. I am private about my family and wide open about my public work. The work is in the work, and when a commission or piece isn’t right, it might be hard—but I know when I should say no. Perhaps that is why I haven’t burned out yet, because I’ve somehow known how to follow and create the work I’m supposed to be a part of.
How has being a WOC impacted your professional experience? What can we do to create more supportive and inclusive work environments inside and outside of your industry?
I have always physically as well as vocally inquired about why and how we define our European-based casting biases. I think now is the moment to step up and create the leadership, casting models, costume departments etc. that address that story can of course be inspired by a certain person and/or event—but that the best talent should play the role. From there, it’s up to us all how to best support a performer to tell a story. Its 2020 folks, I don’t care if it's a period piece or on Mars. Everyone is everywhere and that should be seen.
Guillaume Segouin
What’s one thing you’re proud to have accomplished in your career thus far?
That we continue to work with our French and American artists even though COVID has distanced us. We have been able to perform for the UN, for example, through the various meeting platforms and as such have reached even larger audiences.
Who are some women in your field that you look to for inspiration?
Josephine Baker, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Pam Tanowitz, Twyla Tharp, Pina Bausch
Career and/or life advice for other babes?
Know your worth, fight for it, saturate space with your talent and say NO when it isn’t right.
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