Za'atar
Named for a blend of Middle Eastern spices, Za’atar was an evening featured three dynamic, female, SWANA/Arab American, contemporary dance/performing artists: Leila Awadallah, Sharon Mansur, and Leyya Mona Tawil. Each utilizes interdisciplinary and experimental approaches to create evocative dance/performance/visual environments while addressing distinct aspects of Arab culture and identity, drawing from Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese heritages. This event also featured solo work by each artist as well as a newly devised collaborative trio and was presented in January 2019 at the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts, in Winona, Minnesota.
THULATHI (TRIO)
Created and performed by Leila Awadallah, Sharon Mansur, Leyya Mona Tawil
Thulathi, the Arabic word for trio, is a new collaborative performance work by Awadallah, Mansur and Tawil. Created specifically for this Cedar Tree Project: Za’atar event, Thulathi marks the first time these three artists have collaborated altogether. Mingling and integrating their individual and shared perspectives as artists, women, Arab Americans, and human beings.
http://pagetheatre.org/#event|the-cedar-tree-project-zaatar|5933
THULATHI (TRIO)
Created and performed by Leila Awadallah, Sharon Mansur, Leyya Mona Tawil
Thulathi, the Arabic word for trio, is a new collaborative performance work by Awadallah, Mansur and Tawil. Created specifically for this Cedar Tree Project: Za’atar event, Thulathi marks the first time these three artists have collaborated altogether. Mingling and integrating their individual and shared perspectives as artists, women, Arab Americans, and human beings.
http://pagetheatre.org/#event|the-cedar-tree-project-zaatar|5933
Bios & Descriptions of solo works featured in Za'atar:
Photo by Isabel Fajardo.
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About Leila Awadallah:
LEILA AWADALLAH is a Palestinian-American dancer, choreographer, film maker and interdisciplinary performance artist born in the Midwest and based in the Twin Cities. Thematically, her creative work unfolds within the intersections of Palestinian stories and diasporic Arab-American identity. Her works have been shared throughout venues and community spaces in the Twin Cities; most notably at the Walker Arts Center, Southern Theatre, Pangea World Theatre, Mizna’s Arab Film Festival, Rawi Arab Literature Conference, Soap Factory, TPT: Twin Cities Public Television, and Dear Gaza. Leila has shared work through the Cedar Tree Project in Winona, MN and in ACDA at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Internationally, her solo work was presented in Beirut at the BIPOD Festival and Tyre at the Lebanese National Theatre. She works with Diyar Dance Theatre in Bethlehem, Palestine supported by the Jerome Travel grant (2018) and returned to produce an international artist residency (2019). She was a Springboard 20/20 fellow (2018) and a SAGE Award recipient for her work in film (2016). Leila danced with Ananya Dance Theatre (2013-19) and co-created Kelvin Wailey (2015-2019). She holds a BFA in Dance and a minor in Arabic Language and Literature from the University of Minnesota. www.leilaawadallah.com |
YISSH: Yalla Imshi! Shway Shway Habibi (Hurry lets go! slow down my darling)
Created and performed by Leila Awadallah - YISSH; the deep urgency to run towards Palestine, and the patience required in the time it takes to slowly [re]connect. YISSH; an embodied resistance known particularly through the tension of Palestinian-American existence. YISSH; a curated nostalgic imagining that evokes
untraceable longings. YISSH; where the absurd political collisions and violent silencings of here and there land on the body. YISSH is too many layers tossed together too quickly in a storm of reflection and activation.
Created and performed by Leila Awadallah - YISSH; the deep urgency to run towards Palestine, and the patience required in the time it takes to slowly [re]connect. YISSH; an embodied resistance known particularly through the tension of Palestinian-American existence. YISSH; a curated nostalgic imagining that evokes
untraceable longings. YISSH; where the absurd political collisions and violent silencings of here and there land on the body. YISSH is too many layers tossed together too quickly in a storm of reflection and activation.
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About Sharon Mansur:
SHARON MANSUR is a Lebanese American experimental dance and interdisciplinary artist, educator, curator, mover and shaker based in Keoxa, Winona, Minnesota. She is committed to dance as a transformational and healing catalyst for individuals and communities. Her performance/installation projects and dance films have been presented throughout the United States and abroad, and she is the curator of The Cedar Tree Project. Sharon was a guest artist at the 2018 International Dance Day Festival Lebanon (IDDFL) at the Lebanese American University in Byblos. She was a 2018 McKnight Dancer Fellow and is currently a 2021 Springboard for the Arts Creative Economy Fellow. www.mansurdance.com |
Among The Cedars (poem of 9 verses), 2019. Photo by Sydney Swanson.
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AMONG THE CEDARS (poem of 9 verses)
Created and performed by Sharon Mansur. In spring 2018 Sharon was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the home country of her paternal grandparents. This new improvisationally based solo is a snapshot from her richly layered experiences during her first trip to Lebanon. Creative inspirations for this movement score include Lebanese artists Saloua Raouda Choucair, Kahlil Gibran, Joumana Haddad, Inaya Jaber, and Nadia Tueni.
When your eyes meet with my solitude, silence becomes fruit.
— Joumana Haddad
Created and performed by Sharon Mansur. In spring 2018 Sharon was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the home country of her paternal grandparents. This new improvisationally based solo is a snapshot from her richly layered experiences during her first trip to Lebanon. Creative inspirations for this movement score include Lebanese artists Saloua Raouda Choucair, Kahlil Gibran, Joumana Haddad, Inaya Jaber, and Nadia Tueni.
When your eyes meet with my solitude, silence becomes fruit.
— Joumana Haddad
ALL WE COULD GIVE WAS OUR WATCHING, 2019. Photo by Sydney Swanson
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About Leyya Mona Tawil:
LEYYA MONA TAWIL, also known as Lime Rickey International, is an artist working with dance, sound and performance practices. Tawil is a Syrian Palestinian American, engaged in the world as such. Tawil has a 23-year record of performance scores that have been presented throughout the US, Europe and the Arab world. Tawil directs DANCE ELIXIR, TAC Temescal Art Center and Arab.AMP. |
ALL WE COULD GIVE WAS OUR WATCHING.
Choreography, sound score and performance by Leyya Mona Tawil. This is a new work that Tawil began during her fellowship at the Saari Residency in Finland. Through sonic and corporeal design, Tawil interrogates distance, as it relates to power and agency. Tawil searches for ways to understand what she can and cannot control through this quiet, steady treatise. The title of this work is quoted from the final line in writer Philip Metres’ Icon.
Choreography, sound score and performance by Leyya Mona Tawil. This is a new work that Tawil began during her fellowship at the Saari Residency in Finland. Through sonic and corporeal design, Tawil interrogates distance, as it relates to power and agency. Tawil searches for ways to understand what she can and cannot control through this quiet, steady treatise. The title of this work is quoted from the final line in writer Philip Metres’ Icon.