TERRANEA: hakawatia of the sea is a performance that weaves a contemporary mythology about Terranea, a sea spirit who gathers those that have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea. Developed collaboratively along the Lebanese and Sicilian coasts, in the lakes of Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota, US), and with Palestinian water wells and streams in mind, this dance performance integrates oral histories around bodies of water while delving into the memories water itself can hold. Dancers, musicians, and writers come together to imagine how to embody the lessons of this essential element. At the same time, we contemplate how our bodies are affected by absurd and deadly blockages, on land and in water, that impede free-flowing movement. Whereas in its past, the Mediterranean was a space of free and fluid migration, the sea is now marked with invisible borders and demarcations of power, with detrimental effects.
Through choreographies, this piece asks our bodies: How to unravel the ‘stuckedness’ that builds up and sinks deep under our skin? What grief exists at the moment of departure and which bone does it shake? Where are the songs of our ancestors stored, and how might we listen to their rhythm? What life giving connections can we find, of this earth and of the mythical realm? What is the memory of the sea?
Artists:
Body Watani Dance Project Performers: Leila Awadallah, Noelle Awadallah, Nakita Kirchner, Emma Marlar, Sharitah Nalule, Erica Jo Vibar Sherwood
Second Wave | Guest + Local Performers: Fei Bi Chan (陈菲碧) , Aaliyah Christina, Phaedra Darwish, Chloe Grace Michels, Camila Rivero Pooley
Original Music composed by Renée Copeland with vocals by Amal Kawaash, oud by Clarissa Bitar, and percussion by Peter James Roduta
Mythology authored by writer Romy Lynn Attieh, translated by Rana Issa, read by Leila Awadallah, Wafika Loubani, and Farah Basyouni
Body Watani Dance Project is led by Palestinian American dancers / artists Leila and Noelle Awadallah. It is both an improvisational movement practice + an emerging Arabic-rooted contemporary dance form and the name of their ensemble dance company based between Minneapolis and Beirut. (Watani translates to homeland in Arabic). The Body Watani movement practice is a container with soft edges, where improvisational research guides practitioners into their personal ‘body watani’, or body-as-homeland through spending time with ancestries, contemplating our complex relations to land / water / home, and activating embodied memories into one's own dancing. Body Watani performances explore contemporary movement that unravels from living and embodied relationships to Arabic / SWANA / Mediterranean lands by way of traditional dance techniques, music of the region, and cultural / political contentemplations. The work is informed by many teachers and honors a long lineage of influences, yet manifests from the specific artistic compass of the lead artists being diasporic Palestinian daughters of a land (far away) under occupation, while being born and raised on a land (here) under occupation - Turtle Island. Learn more at leilaawadallah.com
