after the last red sky

Work

After the Last Red Sky is a dance performance and ritual gathering to hold the weight of—and imagine healing for—the Palestinian sky. A sky where violence hovers and falls on Palestinian bodies. A sky carrying a folk belief of a whale eating the lunar-eclipsing moon. A blood-red sky. In this work we ask what it means to dig down into the rubble of decades of attacks on Palestinian Aliveness to re-member our sky. To move through grief and rage together in community, so we don’t collapse under its weight.

This new work by Body Watani Dance project is created by a trio of Palestinian dancers and musicians: Leila Awadallah, Noelle Awadallah, and Tarek Abdelqadar. They engage in an evening-length embodied scream at the sky that demands change from below it; calling on community to gather; falling through a work that is transforming and warping traditions of Arabic dances and music into sorrowful, joyful, rageful reclamations of life.

We dedicate this work to GAZA, to the unimaginable loss of Palestinian life in the ongoing genocide carried out by the israeli state and funded by the united states. To our community that stands in solidarity with ongoing and forever commitment to PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE, LIBERATION, ALIVENESS.

*Read more about the work through interviews and reflections by Body Watani’s writer-in-residence: José A. Luis here.

Image above by Sabrina Hammoudeh

Trailer: After the Last Red Sky.    Full video available on request. Email bodywatani@gmail.com

Artists & Collaborators

CHOREOGRAPHY
Leila & Noelle Awadallah

MUSIC
Composed by Tarek Abdelqader
Featuring guest artists Michelle Kinney and Tim O’Keefe (recorded)
and Tarek Aboueid (live drumming). Featuring recordings from the album Gaza Unedited.

DRAMATURGY
Emma Marlar

SCENOGRAPHY
Laichee Yang

SOUND DESIGN
Peter Morrow

LIGHTING DESIGN
Tony Stoeri

STAGE MANAGEMENT
José Luis

COSTUME DESIGN
D. Allen, with adjustments by Laura Osterhaus

TEXT
Leila & Noelle Awadallah, featuring words by Danez Smith, and Sakir Khader

CREATIVE SUPPORT
Mette Loulou Von Kohl and Fei Bi Chan

GUEST PERFORMERS
Aziz Bisanz (opening grounding), Anniessa Antar, Erica Jo Vibar Sherwood, Tarek Aboueid, Emma Marlar, Willie Nour, Andrea Shaker, Zaynab Mourad, Kealoha Ferreira, Asha Rowland, Sagirah Shahid, Claire Wilcox, Fei Bi Chan

GRAPHIC DESIGN:
Jamal Awadallah

PHOTOS:
Sabrina Jasmin Hammoudeh

VIDEOGRAPHER:
Jordan Lee Thompson, trailer edited by Leila Awadallah

Gratitude to additional people who have directly supported this work:
Rosy Simas for offering space to gather.
Maggie Bergeron for holding us. Val Oliveiro & Red Eye for support in multiple contexts including/beyond Curated Rentals.
Macalester and Ballare student casts for developing ideas for this work.
Grief & Rage Circle for sharing the weight.

THANKS TO OUR FUNDERS & SUPPORT:

After the Last Red Sky  was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation, as well as additional support from NCCAkron and Keshet Center for the Arts.

Body Watani Dance is the recipient of a Technical Residency at Keshet Center for the Arts, with lead support from the National Center for Choreography-Akron (NCCAkron).

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Sharon Mansur/The Cedar Tree Project for supporting this work.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.