The Invisible Dog Art Center is thrilled to present a dance performance by Nidal Abdo and collective nafass, as part of Albertine Dance Season and with the support from Villa Albertine.
Intention by Nidal Abdo
“My work reflects on the relationship between our bodies and the territories in which they evolve. I am interested in bodies that are exiled, deterritorialized, displaced. Our bodies are shaped by our habitus. We are rarely conscious of what drives them, and what pushes them to act a certain way. Unintentionally, we are responding to social expectations that dictate our behaviors. As children, teenager and adults, we replicate specific movements without knowing what pushes us to perform them, sometimes with discomfort, disconnect, or discordance. Nevertheless, we need routines to make one with society and with others. threefold dimension of my identity leaves me wondering: what kind of relationship do I have with my own body? Am I certain I ever owned myself and have I ever belonged to the right place? I was born in Yarmouk, the largest Palestinian camp in Syria, a city inside the city intended as a temporary haven. Therefore, I am longing for a land that I have never known. I am the child of a stateless father born in Syria and a Ukrainian mother, later on, I was forced into exile by the war. Exile generates an intense process of dispossession. In order to be able to settle into a new place, and to be socially integrated, I have to conform to a new routine. Thus, I need to adopt new movements and “mimic” a behavior that puts me off.”
Born in 1989, Nidal Abdo is Palestinian by his father and Ukrainian by his mother. From the Yarmouk camp in Syria where he was born he started dancing at a young age at the Ballet Dance School of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus in 1999, then his journey began with the Syrian Enana dance company in 2005 to be a trained dancer in the beginnings until he became a professional dancer participating and traveling with the band in many festivals and in different countries.
To Caracalla dance company in 2010 danced there for 7 years. He gained many experiences in different types of dance such as Marta Graham's style, Modern Jazz, Contemporary, and folkloric dance. he ended up in Paris, France, where he completed his diploma in Modern-jazz, at the National Institute of Dance in Paris ̈Center National de la Danse ̈He founded the Collective Nafass in early 2018 in France. he is a member of l'atelier des artistes en exil He participated with Nafass in European and Arab festivals, with his first show “What If Tomorrow”.
The Collective Nafass
Since 2018, the Nafass diversified collective brought together multi-national artists to visualize and perform theatrical experiences in regional and global festivals. Nafass - is an Arabic word which in English stands for "Breath" - is a very essential practice in the style of dance the Nafass Collective performs... With every movement they breath in creative visualization and choreography of real-world syndromes and behavioral challenges, and breath out artistic storylines combining the art of the body language, music, and visual scenography.
www.nafassdance.com
Dancers Nidal Abdo, Cynthia Dariane, Katell Ollier
Music : Osloob
Visual Artist & Scenography : Khaled Alwarea
Costumes : Rahmeh Zughaiar
Duration: Approx 40mn
The performance will be followed by a Q/A with the artists
Production : atelier des artistes en exil. Coproduction : Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival | avec le soutien du fonds de dotation Porosus, de la Caisse des Dépôts, Face Foudation (FUSED), La Pratique, Atelier de fabrique artistique, Théâtre Romain Rolland de Villejuif, La Briqueterie CDCN
Nidal Abdo, with Collective Nafass as Artists-In-Residence at Chez Bushwick in August 2023.
Admission
Free with RSVP
Location
51 Bergen St.
The performance is part of Albertine Dance Season and received support from Villa Albertine
