Brooklyn, NY – Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre (YSDT) announces their Fall 2024 season which includes performance and community engagement programs in Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Virginia.
“As we reflect on the immense loss, devastation and heartache that continue to reverberate in Palestine and around the globe after more than a year of violence, YSDT honors the unwavering resilience of the people who continue to endure, and the countless voices who refuse to be silenced or erased in the face of overwhelming odds. This season, we remain committed to amplifying these voices and preserving their truths. We know that through these stories, we resist dehumanization, reclaim narratives, and imagine new ways of being in the world.” – Zoe Rabinowitz, Executive Director
Last Ward returns to the US (after traveling to NYU Abu Dhabi in 2023) for two performances at Duke Arts Presents November 15-16, 2024 at 7:30pm as part of a week-long residency that includes class visits, a student performance, and public workshops. Hailed by The New York Times as “an uncommonly deft combination of dance and verbal theater”, Last Ward follows one man’s journey towards death in a hospital, where the ritual of doctor visits and family calls transform into an increasingly bizarre landscape of tragedy and humor. In Arabic with English subtitles.
November 18-19 YSDT will be Guest Artists in Residence at the University of Virginia Drama and Dance Department, which will host class visits, community workshops and other public programs.
“She keeps falling but doesn’t give up… you could watch her for hours.” – Jörg Worat, Neue Presse
Losing It makes its US Premiere – after touring to more than 25 cities in Europe since 2021 – at the Fine Arts Center at UMass Amherst on December 4, 2024 at 7:30pm. Losing It explores what it means to grow up under occupation, and how the trauma of previous generations manifests in the body through movement and sound. At UMass, the company will also present Noah, a solo which centers themes of love, courage, and regret through one man’s personal history, make a class visit and offer a workshop.
YSDT will share a film screening of two original works 3 x 13 and Losing It alongside an artist talk, contemporary workshop and dabke workshop November 21-23 at JACK in Brooklyn, NY as part of the first edition of the UNDOXX Festival, curated by zavé martohardjono, Maya Simone Z., and Jamie Chan, uplifting the work of artists facing censorship.
DETAILS
Last Ward
Date: November 15 & 16 at 7:30pm
Location: Reynolds Industries Theater, 125 Science Drive, Durham, NC
Tickets and more information
Written and Directed by: Amir Nizar Zuabi
Choreographed and Composed by: Samar Haddad King
Performed by: Waseem Alzeer, Kristin Clotfelter, Khalifa Natour, Yukari Osaka, Zoe Rabinowitz, Arzu Salman, Mohammed Smahneh
University of Virginia Guest Artist Residency
Dates: November 18-19, 2024
Location: Charlottesville, VA
UNDOXX Festival: Film Screening & Workshops
Dates: November 21-23, 2024
Location: JACK, 20 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Tickets and more information
November 21 @ 6-8pm: Contemporary Dance Workshop
November 22 @ 7:30pm: Film Screening: 3 x 13 and Losing It
November 23 @ 2-4pm: Community Dabke Workshop
Losing It (US Premiere) and Noah
Date: December 4 at 7:30pm
Location: Bowker Auditorium, 100 Holdsworth Way, Amherst, MA
Tickets and more information
Losing It
Co-Created by: Samar Haddad King and Samaa Wakim
Choreography and Performance by: Samaa Wakim
Music and Performance by: Samar Haddad King
Noah
Created and Choreographed by: Samar Haddad King
Written by: Samar Haddad King and Sean King
Performed by: Mohammed Smahneh
Music by: Various Artists
ABOUT
Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre (YSDT) creates invigorating performance and education programs that expand access to – and promote understanding through – the arts. Founded in 2005 by Samar Haddad King in NYC, YSDT has a repertoire of 30+ original works performed across NYC, regionally, and abroad in 18 countries across four continents. Since 2011, the company has worked transnationally between NYC and Palestine, and is committed to uniting diverse artists and audiences in the creative process, rooted in the belief that art should be liberating, transformative, and accessible to all. For more information, visit: www.ysdt.org.
FUNDING CREDITS
These programs are supported in part by funding awards from the Center for Arab American Philanthropy, Howard Gilman Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts.
The development of Last Ward was supported through creative residencies at: Dance Initiative, Launchpad (Carbondale, CO), Baryshnikov Arts Center (NYC), Chaillot – théâtre national de la Danse (Paris), Al-Hakawati, Palestinian National Theatre (Jerusalem), Middlebury College (VT) and Jacob’s Pillow (MA); and with financial support provided by: Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Covillo/Lynch Family Foundation, MAP Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation; and FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance). Last Ward is made possible with funds from the Howard Gilman Foundation, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council.
Losing It was developed as part of the Goethe Institute project “Un|Controlled Gestures?” (2019-2020).
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