To attend all three sections of the event, purchase your all-day pass using the following links. Passes are available for either Beginners or Intermediate Dabke workshops.

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FROM £8-£16. To see full ticket pricing, click Book Now.

 

Section 1: 12pm – 2:30pm
1.1 How We Walk: being apart/being a part
This participatory workshop is a chance to explore some meanings in how we walk in the world and how in spite of our different experiences we can ‘walk together’.

‘Take it step by step’, ‘just one step at a time’, ‘just put one foot in front of the other’. We may be fortunate enough to be able to do all of these things, and take it for granted, but we do them differently because of who we are.

As the writer Matthew Beaumont, inspired by the work of Frantz Fanon, argues in his most recent book, How We Walk, ‘our standing, walking body holds the social traumas of history…our posture and gait reflect our social and political experiences as we navigate the city under capitalism’.

Anna Seymour is a Dramatherapist, academic and theatre maker with communities in struggle. She visited Palestine in 2023 and from this profound experience learned about ‘sumud’ the steadfastness that dignifies the Palestinian people. She seeks to promote this through her therapeutic theatre practice.

 

1.2 Rooted in Resistance: A Movement Exploration

We have on this earth what makes life worth living: on this earth, the Lady of Earth, 

mother of all beginnings and ends. She was called Palestine. Her name later became

Palestine. My Lady, because of you my Lady, I deserve life. 

(Mahmoud Darwish, On This Earth)

How are we rooted in this Earth – physically through our interaction with the soil beneath us, and metaphorically with the land we fight for? Guided by poetry from the Levant, visualisation, and somatic practices, join a journey to honour our bodies that carry us and our dedications that ground us, tracing roots across distances and through time, remembering that:

Despite our Great distance, existence unites us. 

(Fadwa Tuqan, Existence)

Annie Newsam is a somatic practitioner who combines dance, academic research, and activism to create spaces where people come together through movement to share their stories and explore self-representation. Her work focuses on building dialogue through embodied forms of communication.

Photo credits: Ali Khadr (@beardvoyage)

 

All proceeds from this event will go to the charities supported by the Viva Viva Palestina exhibition.

Viva Viva Palestina Collective Instagram

If you have any access requirements, please contact our box office team on 020 7613 7498 or email