“Nur Garabli sets up the first workshop of Day 2 by describing the conflicts at work within her own body as a Palestinian resident of Israel. Her efforts to reclaim folk dance Dabke from cultural appropriation gives us a lot to think and talk about throughout the rest of the day (and week) but we begin with a practice based on its grounding, weight-shifting movements that connect us to the earth. Dancing in a circle (a tribal form that facilitates vigilance against predators), we lunge, dive, squat and twist as we explore Dabke’s farming roots with movement grown from the actions of planting, watering and harvesting. Holding hands, we recreate some of the choreography from Garabli’s recent work, Arabesqua, which she later explains plays on two identities, evoking the western balletic interpretation of the word arabesque as well as the geometric, ornamental designs it describes in Islamic art. Her reflections open up a rich seam of thought around folk dance as embodied archive, act of resistance, agent of decolonisation and a means to advance mutual understanding. They also reveal her own struggles as an artist living under occupation – political, physical and psychological.”

Karina Buckley

https://aerowaves.org/blog/moving-borders-workshop-at-la-briqueterie/