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Join us for an afternoon of poetry by Gazan writer Yahya Ashour and solo dance performances by:

Sarah Housepian

Vivake Khamsingsavath

Jillian Linkowski

Zaki A’Jani Marshall

Amy Saunder

Razvan Stoian

Durgesh Gangani, International Guest Artist

About the Program

Battery Dance conducted workshops and a performance in the Palestinian Territories in July, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Palestinian Affairs.  Soon after, Yahya Ashour came to the University of Iowa from Gaza as a fellow of the International Writing Program.  With this program, we introduce Yahya to our New York audience and our dancers respond to his poetry with their original creations.

About Yahya

Yahya Ashour is a poet from Gaza City and a fall resident of the University of Iowa’s 2022 International Writing Program. His children’s book That’s Why Ryan Walks Like This (2021) won the Arab Children’s Book Publishers Forum Award.  His published work includes the poetry collection You’re A Window, They’re Clouds (2018) and contributions to five books with other writers in Arabic and English. His writing has appeared in numerous online magazines translated into English and French. He is currently working on a new poetry collection. 

Photo by Rebecca Miller 

Join us at the National Dance Institute Center for Learning & the Arts for EMDOD’s Fall Performance, featuring some of New York’s hottest choreographers and celebrating the work of EMDOD Founder/Artistic Director and NDI’s Artist-In-Residence, Fredrick Earl Mosley!

Click Here for Tickets

The program for this performance includes:

Adrienne Hurd’s World Premiere

Battery Dance (“The Wind in the Olive Grove” by Saeed Hani)

Brooklyn High School of the Arts (Michelle Smith’s World Premiere)

Fredrick Earl Mosley’s “Take Five”

Fredrick Earl Mosley’s World Premiere

Kanyok Arts Initiative (Clifton Brown’ World Premiere)

National Dance Initiative (Kay Gayner Choreography)

The Wind in the Olive Grove

Saeed Hani explores the sense of home that Hofmann’s paintings “Olive Grove” and “The Wind” evoke for him. The artworks relate to the natural beauty of Syria and the spiral of war that has forced a generation of artists to flee. “The olive tree is a symbol of my Syrian homeland and reminds me of a time of innocence during my childhood, when no one could conceive that events would tear the country apart,” he said. “In utter contrast is Hofmann’s representation of wind which represents for me the upheaval and chaos that descended on my country and forced me to leave.” These strong emotions are channeled into “The Wind in the Olive Grove.”

Saeed Hani

Saeed Hani, a Syrian-German dancer, choreographer, and the director of Hani Dance Company, was born in Syria and received his early training at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus. After his graduation, he joined the prestigious Caracalla Dance Company in Beirut, Lebanon. In the fall of 2015, he moved to Trier, Germany and founded his company, HANI DANCE, in 2016. In his work, Hani explores concepts such as power, dynamism and the mind using tools such as nude art, contemporary dance, and visual art. Hani has worked with Battery Dance over the past three years in the context of “Dancing to Connect for Refugee Integration.” His work, “Wind in the Olive Grove” premiered in New York City in the Spring of 2022 as a part of Battery Dance’s collaboration with the Renate, Maria, and Hans Hofmann Trust.