Two bodies lie curled in long dry grass, one in green dress and the other in red dress. Logo reads: Red Eye Theater Curated Rental.

Photo: Erica Ticknor

Body Watani Dance Project Presents:

TERRANEA: hakawati of the sea

(Curated Rental)

Thursday, April 6, 7:30 pm

Friday, April 7, 7:30 pm

Saturday, April 8, 7:30 pm

TERRANEA: hakawati of the sea is a dance performance searching for memories inside diasporic bodies to reflect on notions of home while simultaneously asking -- what does the water of the Mediterranean Sea remember? In blurring researched realities and mythology-making, TERRANEA examines Palestinian experiences of occupation, refugee crisis (of land AND sea), and politics around movement and nation within this body of water; only to depart into dream. A sea spirit, Terranea, emerges as mother for those lost in waves,  — welcoming souls of migrants into a fluid and mythical shared space, world-making endeavors towards imagining a collective home.

TERRANEA: hakawati of the sea is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Arab American National Museum and NPN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org

Leila Awadallah (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and film wanderer based between Minneapolis and Beirut. Her work in movement centers the body and its' relation to land / place / peoples, rooted in the context of her own skin as an indigenous Palestinian, Arab-American, SWANA, Sicilian and mixed Mediterranean diasporic being. She is the founder of the Body Watani (body-as-homeland) dance project and practice in collaboration with Noelle Awadallah. Body Watani's first work, TERRANEA is supported by National Performance Network, Goethe Institute, MSAB, ARENA, Links Hall and the Arab American National Museum. She is a McKnight Dancer (2022) Jerome Hill (2021-2023), and previously a Springboard 20/20 and Daring Dances Fellow. Leila's work have been supported through research residencies and performances at the Hammana Artist House, Amalgam, and Lebanese National Theatre (Lebanon), Camargo Foundation (France), Arab American National Museum (Michigan), and most widely across spaces and places in and around her home in the Twin Cities. Mentored by Ananya Chatterjea, she trained, taught and performed with Ananya Dance Theatre as a company member (2014-2019). Leila received a BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota.

Covid Policy

High-quality masks are required to be worn by audience at all times.