Body Watani
After the Last Red Sky
Friday, April 16, 2027 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, April 17, 2027 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, April 18, 2027 at 5:00 PM
West Coast Premiere
Run time: 70 minutes
An evening of experimental Arabic dance centering Palestinian grief, rage, and life.
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, performers 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, to not collapse under its weight.
This work by Body Watani Dance project (2024) is a creative collaboration of a trio of Palestinian dancers and musicians: Leila Awadallah, Noelle Awadallah, and Tarek Abdelqadar. An evening-length embodied scream at the sky that demands change from below it; transforming and warping traditions of Arabic dances and music into sorrowful, joyful, rageful reclamations of life.
Save the Date: Artist Workshop and Talk
Join the artists of Body Watani on January 31, 2027 for an interactive workshop, lunch, and conversation exploring the ideas and process behind the work. Sign up for our email list to be the first notified when workshop registration opens.
Curator's Note
"Leila and Noelle Awadallah, along with musician Tarek Abdelqader, convene us where sorrow, fury, and dream are shared in motion and sound rather than experienced alone. They treat the dancing body as a place of belonging and revolution that no occupation can revoke. Remembering becomes a form of resistance, and a way of staying present together."
– Zaquia Mahler Salinas, ODC Theater Resident Curator
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Body Watani Dance is a project and practice rooted in Palestinian dances and storytelling, manifesting as interdisciplinary and experimental performance and community/public activations. It is a space to research movement languages of Arab-rooted folk dances such as Dabke and Baladi, while investigating how improvisation guides movement towards a deeper understanding of the body-as-homeland. The work is held by sister dance duo, and co-artistic directors: Leila and Noelle Awadallah — daughters of a Palestinian refugee lineage, born on Turtle Island, residing in Minneapolis, Mni Sota Makoce (MN).
Body Watani Dance project is rooted in a sea of relatives, collaborators, and teachers. Learn more at bodywatani.com, @bodywatani, @leilawa.aa, @nawaawadallah.
Read more about the work through interviews and reflections by Body Watani’s writer-in-residence: José A. Luis.
ODC Theater Presents: 2027 Spring Season
April 9 – May 2, 2027
Explore captivating artistry by acclaimed choreographers at ODC Theater’s 2027 Spring Season, featuring local and national experimental dance artists.
The season is curated by Chloë L. Zimberg, Creative Director of ODC Theater, and Zaquia Mahler Salinas, Resident Curator.
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, Sharon Mansur/The Cedar Tree Project, and 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. 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).