Dabke… as identity in movement
A dance that carries an entire homeland in its step, the voices of ancestors in its rhythm, and the pain of absence in the pulse of the foot.
15:00 - 17:00
Thoravej 29, København NV
Participation in the event is FREE, but please reserve a ticket as seats are limited. You can book your ticket here:
The artistic research
In the folk dance group Olivengrenen, they don't just dance dabke – they summon it, like a root longing for its first soil. Through their research, they unfold dabke as a living space for identity, where bodies carry stories of roots, loss, longing, and homecoming. They work with questions such as: How can a row of shoulders become a map? And how can a step regain what was taken from it?
During the residency, dabke is explored as both a practice and as bodily memory. The dance is understood as an archive that stores stories, migrations, and rituals in motion. And the body is explored as a carrier of memory and the diaspora's relationship to the homeland: Can rhythm be a bridge between here and there? Can a shared pulse create a place that feels like home – even far from the country?
The work incorporates research into Palestinian cultural heritage, social dance, ritual theory, and movement anthropology. It experiments with voice, breath, rhythm, ground contact, and formation – especially the iconic row of linked hands and shoulders, where community becomes physical.
The research is not a finished performance, but a journey through identity, memory, and longing, where dabke becomes a wandering home without borders.
The artists
Olivengrenen is a Palestinian dabke group based in Denmark. The group works with cultural heritage as a living practice and explore how dance can create space for identity, community, and memory in the diaspora. Dancers with different histories and backgrounds come together in a single rhythm that builds a bridge between their roots there and their lives here.
This group of artists have been invited into residency by a directs invite from HAUT's artistic leader Alex Blum.