Body Watani in Water by Leila Awadallah at TU Dance Center - April 16

Body Watani (body-as-homeland) is both an improvisational movement practice and an emerging contemporary dance form. A site where improvisational research guides practitioners into their personal ‘body watani’ through spending time with ancestries, contemplating our complex relations to land / water / home, and activating embodied memories into dancing. Developed by Leila and Noelle Awadallah, two Palestinian American dancers, this contemporary form also finds roots in dances of Arabic / *SWANA (South West Asia North Africa)/ Mediterranean geographies through specific movement techniques, music of the region, and cultural / political content to engage with that deepens our relation to Body Watani’s context.

The first half of the workshops will begin with writing prompts, conversations, and improvisation research. Participants are invited to choose how they physicalize the material (dancing, sitting still, everything in between). In the second half, we will share more about our new work, TERRANEA, through teaching movement materials that incorporate elements of our technique and we will teach repertoire from the upcoming performance, premiering May 5-7 at the Candy Box Festival. Participants are welcome to witness or participate as they see fit.

In Collaboration with TU Dance, Body Watani will host a workshop focused on WATER. Ancestral waters, fluid memories, relations to bodies of water as we ourselves are bodies of water. The material will move through the following: What memories are held and carried by waters? What can we learn from the water? What is it to depart and return via waterways? Grappling with the histories and also ongoing realities of bodies moving across water, the imposition of laws and lines on a fluid space, and the loss amongst waves. We will sink into the many complexities and swim together – through.

These workshops are for all levels, all abilities. We welcome everyone from professional dancers, to anyone who wants to deepen their relationship to the movement inside their particular body.

April 16, 2022 | 11:00am-2:00pm | Cost: $10

Location Info

TU Dance Center
2121 University Avenue West
St Paul, MN 55114

website

Contact Info

Daonna Lewis
education@tudance.org
651-724-9807