[Belfast] Traditional Dabka Dance & Discussions (Belfast Palestine Arts Festival)
Lajee Dabke Dance Troupe in Belfast on Sunday 24th July in the Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Road, Belfast. Free Admission.
Lajee Center’s young dance group have been performing since 2002 across Palestine and internationally. Dabke is a Palestinian traditional dance, commonly performed at weddings and cultural events with varying styles. Palestinian dabke has become an intrinsic part of the Palestinian struggle, where music and dance are used to communicate ideas about Palestinian life, rights, land and freedom. It transcends its cultural arts tradition to a performance of Palestinian struggle and resistance. Lajee’s dance group will perform an hour long show incorporating music and styles from all parts of Palestine. The majority of dancers started as children, attending lessons within Lajee, and have developed and grown into a talented, confident group in their early 20s, now teaching dabke to younger children in the centre.
Lajee Center is a grassroots creative community centre in the heart of Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, Palestine. ‘Lajee’ means refugee in Arabic. Aida Refugee Camp, where Lajee Center is based, is surrounded on three sides by the apartheid wall and is under constant Israeli military surveillance and control, and experiences daily attacks. Established in 2001 by a group of young people, Lajee Center has grown within the community and provides a dynamic space for education, community engagement, youth empowerment and social development. Central to Lajee’s work in the community is the protection, development and investment in Palestinian refugee youth and the rights of all Palestinians. The Center runs projects and courses on the arts, human rights, refugee rights and democracy education, photography and film, dabke dance training, music, English language and Palestinian culture and history. The activities programme aims to provide youth with a key to their future, and the conviction that they themselves are initiators of change. For more information please visit lajee.org