Summer Update - Video Release

SUMMER UPDATE


June 20, 2012

Since our performance in May at the George Washington University, we have been working on putting together a video that shares our experiences with the Nowruz Dance Initiative with you.

Below you will find a video we have compiled that goes through the process of developing an Afghan-American dance and that finishes with the Nowruz Dance Initiative's final performance last month.

With the support of so many members in the local and international community, we were able to share and enjoy a wonderful evening of music, dance, communication, and dialogue on May 10th. We thank everyone for their support in making it such a wonderful success.

Though the Nowruz Dance Initiative's initial project is complete, we hope that it will be one of many steps towards cultivating dance as a universal language. As such, we more than ever would appreciate any comments you may have on the video, on the ideas, on your experiences if you participated in the project at all, or anything else that comes to mind. Let us know what you think!

Thank you again and we hope you have come away with something interesting from the Nowruz Dance Initiative!

Nowruz Dance Initiative 2012

For the complete raw video footage of the dances from the event, more information about the event program, or any additional information about the Nowruz Dance Initiative in general, please contact me through the comments section below and I would be glad to share it with you.

Performance - May 10th

TWELFTH WEEK


05.07.2012

New performance location and date announced! I have the great delight in sharing that our dance has found a first home in an evening of Afghan culture organized by The George Washington University's Afghan Student Association. We are very much looking forward to performing this week at the following date, time, and location:

Moving Forward - Exploring the Forgotten Culture of Afghanistan
Thursday, May 10th 2012
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Marvin Center (800 21st Street NW, Washington DC, 20052)
     *Specific room number to be announced on Wednesday, May 9th

Please follow the Facebook link below to let us know you'll be there! We look forward to seeing you there if you're able!
http://www.facebook.com/events/276657359093872/

How do you dance?

TENTH WEEK

04.30.2012

This post is more a reflective post on the attan dance we had the chance to learn more about last week and to practice. In continuing to do some background research on the dance, I hoped to learn more about the different settings in which the dance is used, how it is used, and what different movements are practiced. YouTube has been an excellent source of visuals from the past several years, and has a great array of different attan dances in various settings, some choreographed, some spontaneous, some celebratory, some in preparation for difficult war situations, some performed by women, some by men, some by both, some that use scarves as props, some that don't, some that take place to the beat of the tabla, some that are accompanied by song... the list can certainly continue at some length with each contributing an interesting element to the language of the attan. 

Attan dance (credit to artist "Somer" for the artwork)

My first thought was to post some samples of the different kinds of attan dances, but to select some simply wouldn't do the others justice! I urge you thus to take an adventure to www.YouTube.com and explore the diversity of dance yourselves. The picture to the right is an attempt to portray different elements of different attan dances.

My concluding thought on this post is this: Like any language, dance can be used in different ways and can be motivated with many different intentions. It is thus our universal responsibility as movers (every person moves in some way or another) to exercise consciousness in our movement choices and the way we use movement 

to communicate ourselves to others, and the subsequent impact we have on those we communicate with. Of course, this idea can extend to any type of communication or interpersonal relation, and I thus encourage you to think about how this might apply to both your movement choices (hand gestures, facial expressions, dances, etc.) and other aspects of the way you go about communicating with others (words, actions, thoughts, etc.). 

For example, you (and I!) might begin by thinking about one moment earlier today in which you (or I) shook hands with someone and how that person reacted. Did the strength of your handshake influence the way the other person saw you? Did he or she seem to draw a conclusion about your person based on that handshake? Maybe not. Similarly, we could begin by thinking about a moment in which we have felt particularly angry or frustrated with another person. How did we say the words that we used? Did the words we used with that person effectively get across what we hoped to say? Maybe, maybe not.

As always, I welcome your thoughts. 

Dancing in New Ways and Spaces

NINTH WEEK


04.24.2012


What an adventure! This week was the first time we all got the chance to meet the owners of Zamani Gallery and practice the dance in the space they were kind enough to provide. We also had the chance to practice with one of the owners who is a phenomenal tabla player and instructor. Following our rehearsal at the Gallery on Tuesday, we had the opportunity to sit for a while and learn more about Afghan culture and music from both owners. They shared three songs from Kabul, Afghanistan with us and explained that there was once a street in the city renowned for its plentitude of musicians that would have practiced all day long and competed for customers that would go searching for music for weddings and other celebrations to that same street. We also learned a lot more about the attan dance, about the importance of its rhythm, and about its origins. Where we understood that it had originally been a war dance, even before it became a war dance, it was practiced in Athens, Greece (hence the name "attan" or "Athens" in Farsi - آتن). It was a delight to learn so much more about different elements of Afghan culture. Thank you to those who made it possible to learn more!


04.28.2012


Our usual Saturday rehearsal took place today. Today was particularly exhilarating as we discussed ideas that had been brought up on Tuesday, as we rehearsed for different spaces, and we played with new movements. We enjoyed thinking about the potentials of the dance and how it could grow and change to fit new venues and purposes. The two videos below detail both parts of the dance, the composite dance of the Punjabi, Indian, North American, South American, Pakistani, Afghan, and German movements that stemmed from discussion about "American dance" we held several weeks ago, and the attan section we experimented and explored further this week. Both are in rough form but act as helpful tools to understand the structure and movements of the dance. Enjoy!

Section I of the dance (composite section).

Section II of the dance (attan section).

Feel free to share you're thoughts with us! We always welcome your perspectives and we thank you for your continued interest!

NOTE: Change in Performance Date

CHANGE IN PERFORMANCE

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the date of the performance will be changed to a later date (likely one of the following weekends). I apologize for any inconvenience, and hope that you will still be able to join us for the performance. We will keep you posted on the date as soon as it's set!

Finding a Venue

EIGHTH WEEK:

04.14.2012

This weekend’s rehearsal came after the excellent news on Thursday that a venue and a performance date have been set! The performance will be held at the Zamani Gallery in Georgetown (3145 Dumbarton Street NW, Washington DC). The Zamani Gallery features a wide selection of different pieces of Afghan artwork and craftsmanship from many parts of Afghanistan (http://www.zamanicollections.com/index.html), and we very much look forward to working with the Zamani Team who have been very kind to offer Afghan dresses and live music to accompany the dance the evening of the performance. After having the opportunity to visit the gallery yesterday (Friday), I am very much excited to begin rehearsing in the space!

The official performance information is as follows:

Date: April 29, 2012

Time: 5:00pm-7:00pm

Location: Zamani Gallery,

    3145 Dumbarton Street NW

    Washington, DC

    20007

We look forward to seeing you there if you are able to attend!

By way of rehearsal, this week we worked on thinking about how to rearrange the dance some to fit the space we will be performing in. Below, please find a brief video detailing the basic format and structure of the dance. Not all dancers are present in this video and the video serves as an informative video diary more than as a video displaying final performance material.

Video from rehearsal (rough format).

We, as always, welcome any thoughts or perspectives you may be willing to share!

What Participants Have to Say

SEVENTH WEEK:

04.07.2012

This week we established who would like to and be able to perform at the Nowruz Dance Initiative’s performance in Washington at the end of April. It was determined that four individuals would be able and willing to perform, and that these individuals would be those requested to continue attending rehearsals. For those who preferred not to perform or were not able to, but who still expressed interest in participating in the Initiative, discussion was held as to how this might be best accomplished. It was determined that those participants who still wished to be involved would be welcome to write about their experiences with the Initiative to be shared on the Initiative’s Blog.

One participant hoped to share the following:

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"To preface, I'm not a dancer at all. I never really danced much, and I didn't even go to prom because I wanted to avoid the dancing aspect. However, I have found that the Norwuz Dance Initiative is really invigorating. I think dancing in with an ensemble of people who all decided to create and develop our own dance is fantastic. Moreover, it's great for those people out there with a creative gene that typically remains unexplored and unused. All in all, I think the Norwuz Dance Initiative is a great project, and I'm excited to see how the final product of our efforts will look!"

-       Nowruz Dance Initiative Participant

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Thank you to the above participant for his words, and I look forward to learning more about participants’ experiences and continuing to build the program!

The remainder of the rehearsal was spent in learning the remainder of the compiled dance with one participant having to depart early. We finished learning the piece this week. We look forward to learning from Charity Help International soon which venue has been identified for the fundraising event at which we will perform in honor of AFCECO.

Though not the Afghani national flower, the tulip comes close! In the US, the tulip also has strong symbolic significance as a flower related to Spring and rebirth. A short video clip of tulips outside the dance studio where we rehearse every Saturday!