5.1.2010

Al Rai

“fil mish mish”…Yaa Samar!

By: Hussein Daaseh, Translated by Nadia Haddad King

Like a ray of light coming out of the arid desert, performance of The Store by Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre presented a dramatic, symbolic and rhythmic tale giving the audience a sense of what the environment in America is like today.

The power of the theater, the power of the music, and the power of dialogue shared by the company, flowed as if it were a contemporary film in 3D, leaving the audience mesmerized in their seats.

Can dance have the same effect as film? Samar says that although the differences are there, she creates for dance as if she is writing a film. For her, the direct relationship between them is emerging, bringing live performance art and media together.

The Store was performed last Thursday at the Hussein Cultural Center with the backing of the Cultural Section of the US Embassy during the Zakharef in Motion festival. In one context, it stands at a political and creative crossroads between contemporary art and an understanding of the vitality of American and Arab relations. Through lighting design, choreography and stage direction, the choreographer and her company created an intellectually, creative, and artistically layered story with projection of Arabic text over spoken English in this three dimensional theater piece. The characters emerged from a huge reservoir of entertaining stories and tales from their lives and their varied roles in current American society. This community on stage represented the potpourri of people in America including those that stand up against the war in Iraq and who support personal and public freedoms.

Samar Haddad King did not embrace just one single theme or medium, but used many to develop the story on stage: contemporary dance, rhythmic music, and continuous dialogue to express freedom of the female, democracy, unemployment, and relationships between couples inside work and home; and society outside the store.

What is beautiful about Samar’s characters is their awareness and sensitivity of life in an open, large and global society in the US. Among them is an Arab character, and those from eastern, Latin, Chinese, and other areas known to the audience through the various accents and dialects heard.

Hakim, the storekeeper, in the end was not ready to leave America and mentions that though he lives somewhere else, the bond with his family still in his homeland is strong and unbreakable. He dreams of change…but again fil mish mish, It can be done but it’s not easy. Powerful dancing enhances beautiful dialogue highlighting the many hidden stories of life. The rich vitality of the music enriches the spirit and many hidden meanings in Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre’s work.