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Washington Report, January/February 2006, page 70 Waging Peace El-Funoun Dancers Dazzle DC
THE Palestinian dance troupe El-Funoun performed “Dancing Tragedies and Dreams” at Washington, DC’s historic Lincoln Theater on Dec. 2. Their stop in the nation’s capital was the second in a three-city tour which included performances at the United Nations and Lincoln Center in New York, and in Dearborn, Michigan. The event was sponsored by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s DC Area Chapter (ADC-DC), the Network of Arab-American Professionals (NAAP), The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development, and United Palestinian Appeal (UPA). Speaking at the Palestine Center prior to the performance, choreographer Omar Barghouti and director Khaled Katamesh described their work as “evolutionary dance of the oppressed.” They were joined in the audience by the Bara’em, or Buds, El-Funoun’s youth troupe, who are on tour along with the adults. A founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, Barghouti explained why El-Funoun does not “dance with the oppressor.” Cooperative projects with Israeli dancers which are not based on a shared effort to end the occupation, he said, are “seeking only an illusion of peace.” Such projects portray the cause of this conflict as “psychological rifts,” he pointed out, rather than a fundamental issue of colonialism. Maintaining that peace will “only prosper after oppression has been shattered, not before,” Barghouti said that “we [El-Funoun] advocate a cultural boycott of Israel exactly as the one against apartheid South Africa.” El-Funoun brings a “message of resistance and undistinguishable hope” through their dance, Barghouti said. While most of the other dance troupes in Palestine and the Palestinian Diaspora are strictly folkloric, he noted, what distinguishes El-Funoun’s dance style is that, while “folk inspired,” it “goes well beyond that and has universal influences.” “Dancing Tragedies and Dreams” not only reflects the beauty of Palestinian culture, but also the unity of the Palestinian Diaspora. This concept is based on the troupe’s policy not to distinguish among Palestinians in exile, those inside the pre-1948 borders, or those who live in the West Bank and Gaza. The troupe includes members representing all these experiences, and makes use of “different accents and embroidery patterns” from a range of Palestinian villages, be they destroyed or occupied, in their performance. Rooted in traditional Palestinian dance (debke) and culture, with international influences, El-Funoun has demonstrated that “you can still be Palestinian and be rooted, but also be contemporary,” Barghouti said, pushing Palestinian dance from a “museum” mentality to cultural evolution. The thousands of people packed into the sold-out Lincoln Theater were not disappointed. The choreography was excellent and expressive, the costumes and backdrop were beautiful, and the dancers pushed the limits of what people have come to expect from a “Palestinian” dance troupe with interpretive interludes that were sparse and intricate. Although, as Barghouti said, they “dance the essence of the nakba,” they also are creating new dreams for the Palestinian people, and life. For more information about El-Funoun, visit their Web site at <www.el-funoun.org>. —Matt Horton |
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