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A Wall

Concept and performance by Rozina Shiraz Gilani.


'The Wall’ by Rozina Gilani is an Indian semi-classical narration of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
This piece depicts experiences of exile and resistance in 4 chapters: Pastoral life before 1948, Al-Nakba (the catastrophe) and mass expulsion of Palestinians, the First and Second Intifadas (to shake off; uprising) of ’87 and 2000, and current forms of resistance.
Gilani utilizes popular motifs, through physical, photographic and embodied representation, to share the story of collective trauma in the face of apartheid. Symbols to look out for in this piece are the muftah (key representing the right of return), keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf of resistance), Handala (Naji al-Ali’s political cartoon representing the refugee child with clasped hands), olive trees and of course….the slingshot.
All archived photography, wall art, music and poetry are made by cultural resistance artists living in Palestine and the diaspora.

 

American born, Rozina Shiraz Gilani, is an Indian performing artist, choreographer and instructor of Bharatanatyam

 

Trained in several classical and contemporary dance forms, Gilani specializes in Indian classical dance and completed her Arangetram (graduation/debut) ceremony in 2004 under the guidance of her guru Mrs. Dina Sheth. Over the past 13 years, she has worked on dance projects, productions & workshops internationally, in the U.S., Hungary, Palestine and Lebanon. 

 

Bharatanatyam breaks down into 'Bha' for Bhava (expression), 'Ra' for Raga (melody) and 'Ta' for tala (rhythm). Natya is Sanskrit for the art of sacred dance-drama. Bharatanatyam is a the oldest classical dance tradition of India and is comprised of dramatic story telling and pure dance movements reflecting different rhythms of the universe. The dancer uses expressive hand gestures, neck movements, and head movements as a way of communicating their narrative.

 

Gilani's work as a performing artist has gone hand in hand with her research focusing on representations of identity, collective memory and post-trauma in the Palestinian performing arts. Between 2008 and 2011, she conducted several workshops in Palestine, and later between 2012-2014 in Beirut, Lebanon where she used movement storytelling to explore the practice of creating personal and historical testimony. Moving beyond pure aesthetic, Gilani's work and instruction are informed by the uplifting of story and storyteller in the process of salvage ethnography, a political and justice-centered approach to fighting erasure and the censorship of resistance art. 

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