UNDOXX: Community Dabke Workshop with Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre

Join Mohammed Smahneh (aka Barges) of Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre (YSDT) for a workshop on dabke, a Levantine folkloric dance traditionally used in cultural moments of celebration and resistance. This Dabke Workshop blends contemporary dance and theater with traditional dabke tools (including rhythm, footwork, unison movement) to invite improvisation and play within the traditional form. This workshop starts with an anatomically mindful warm-up and builds skills including technique, strength, stamina, rhythm and improvisation. The practice of dabke is inherently intertwined with social justice movements, and conversations around the use of dance and art in social justice movements will also be incorporated into this event. YSDT honors diverse perspectives and abilities of workshop participants and will offer new tools for creative expression.

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.

Mohammed Smahneh (aka Barges), a self-taught hip-hop and contemporary dance artist, has won various break-dance battles in Palestine and performed in many international and local projects including: Badke, a co-production between KVS, les ballets C de la B & A.M. Qattan Foundation (2013-16, Belgium); B choreographed by Koen Augustijnen and Rosalba Torres (2017-2019, Belgium);  Nomads Dance Camp directed by Dina Abu Hamdan with choreographers Jorge Crecis, Taoufiq Izzediou, and Samar Haddad King (2014, Jordan); Naji Ali with Botega Dance Company directed by Enzo Celli (2009, Italy); and was a champion in Floor Wars Battle (2012, Denmark). Mohammed has been a member of YSDT since 2013.

Across three weeks, UNDOXX will present performances, films, and new media works, conversations, teach-ins, and resource-sharing events for artists seeking tools to navigate the shifting landscape of censorship in the arts. Censorship of artists in the U.S. is currently surging as a powerful force, yet it is not unprecedented. By bringing together global majority artists, queer artists, marginalized artists who have understood its inner workings for generations, UNDOXX will spark conversation and generate resources for artists and audiences in the U.S. to understand censorship in the arts, its history, and its current evolutions. UNDOXX will make space for people to learn in community and present work by censored artists as their primary intervention.

For more information check out: www.jackny.org/undoxx-2024

Host or Publisher JACK