Please join us for a one-week workshop process with teaching artist, Leila Awadallah. Leila’s works emerge from physicalized reflections and questions around the notion of body-as-homeland by integrating lands, ancestors, and embodied memories’ with traditional Arabic dance forms and historical / present day engagement with both political and settler colonial impacts on bodies / movement / spaces / places. Her research, artistry and activism locates in the context of indigenous Palestine as well as more broadly in Mediterranean and SWANA regions. The week will culminate in an informal studio sharing and discussion. Participants have the option to join for the workshop component only or join for optional morning technique classes.
Workshop Schedule:
Monday, 8/2 & Wednesday, 8/4 at 11:45am-1:15pm and 2:00-4:30pm
Tuesday, 8/3 & Thursday, 8/5 at 11:45am-12:45pm
Friday, 8/6 at 11:45am-1:15pm and 2:00-4:00pm
Tuition: $215
Optional Open Classes (9:30-11:30am):
Monday, 8/2 – Ballet with Abdo Sayegh-Rodriguez
Tuesday, 8/3 – Modern with Alia Kache (Artistic Director of Kachal Dance and former Rehearsal Director of Ailey II)
Wednesday, 8/4 – Ballet with Abdo Sayegh-Rodriguez
Thursday, 8/5 – Modern with Toni Pierce-Sands
Friday, 8/6 – African Dance with Shaylin Watson (dancer with EVIDENCE, A Dance Company)
Open Class fee: $15/class (Please pre-register via email at education@tudance.org 24-hour in advance. Payment for Open Classes will be received at the door)
Leilawa (Leila Awadallah) is a Palestinian American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker based between Minneapolis and Beirut. In 2019 she began developing Body Watani, an emerging dance project and practice reflecting on notions of home/land through movement research and performance. Now in creative partnership with her sister Noelle Awadallah, they will premiere Body Watani’s first piece, TERRANEA at the Candy Box festival. Leila has received multiple fellowships, grants and residencies to research her practice and create original works; most notably the Jerome Hill Fellowship (2021-2023), Amalgam Residency (2021), Arab American National Museum Residency (2020), Jerome@Camargo Residency (2020), Springboard 20/20 Fellowship (2018-2019), Daring Dances Choreographic Residency & Fellowship (2019), and the Jerome Travel & Research Grant (2018). Her performances and films have been presented extensively in the Twin Cities, the broader Midwest region, and in Lebanon. She received two awards for her performances in festivals at the Lebanese National Theatre (2019). Leila’s artistry as a performer and choreographer is rooted in the formative experiences of working with Ananya Dance Theatre (2014-2019) and co-creating the Kelvin Wailey dance project, as well as her BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota.