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El-Funoun photo by Mike Odetaalla

http://hanini.org/Elfunoun.html

Last Saturday night, I took my wife and 3 children to see the Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe, El-Funoun, for their one and only performance at an oversold packed house in Dearborn, Michigan. We had been anxiously waiting for more than a month for a rare chance to see these talented dancers perform here in the US. 

The dancers didn’t disappoint, they put on a world class, emotionally charged non stop show.  

While I watched the show, I kept peeking at my kids out of the corner of my eyes to see the expression on their faces. They were totally mesmerized by the talented dancers, their colorful costumes, and the music, which they were very familiar with. Even my 13 years old son, Omar, who had initially balked at having to go see “dancers”, was totally absorbed, smiling and clapping all throughout the show. 

As the show went on, and judging by the audiences enthusiasm and appreciation, I could not help but think of what the American public was missing out on by not being exposed to a side of Palestinians that is rarely shown or talked about in the mass American media which chooses to focus on violence, ignoring the much larger and more complex picture of Palestinians as a talented and diverse group of people who enjoy and practice the arts even under the most difficult of circumstances. In fact, they would be amazed to learn that as Palestinians continue to struggle for their legitimate rights and freedom, they resist their oppression at the hands of the Zionists in many diverse non-violent ways. 

Just by existing, living, crying, laughing, and yes, dancing, they are resisting the tyranny and oppression that has been hoisted on them for over 57 years.  

More pictures are available at my site. Click on the link below…

http://hanini.org/Elfunoun.html 

Mike

December 2, 2005

Dance Review | El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe

Palestinian Dreaming: Resistance and Joy

By GIA KOURLAS

El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe may have called its program "Dancing Tragedies and Dreams," but outside Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday night, the atmosphere was all flashing cameras and unabashed delight. A woman approached a circle of friends to exclaim, "I just saw my sister!" Clearly, the company, as its name indiscreetly hints, is extremely popular. But its polished assortment of dancers was attractive on many levels - and not simply because opportunities to see Palestinian dance are rare.

Presented by the Network of Arab-American Professionals of New York, El-Funoun is a nonprofit troupe based in Ramallah, on the West Bank. For its New York engagement (the company appeared at the United Nations on Tuesday and will continue on to Washington today and Dearborn, Mich., tomorrow), the group offered nearly two dozen dances, some based in folklore and others rooted in a more contemporary style. "People think of us as being in a box," said Omar Barghouti, who is the company's dance trainer and one of its choreographers as well as the tour's artistic director, "but Palestinian dance isn't just about one form."

The company, formed in 1979 to preserve Palestinian culture, was not always as revered as it is today. In its beginnings, occupation authorities viewed El-Funoun negatively. "We were persecuted in many ways," Mr. Barghouti recalled. "There were travel bans, and some of our members were arrested and accused of belonging to a subversive dance company." In the 1980's and early 90's, he said, that view began to shift as the company's reputation grew. "The challenge became, What type of identity do we want?" he said. "We see our dance as a form of civil, cultural resistance to oppression, and that starts with the occupation, but not just that - we are also against social oppression, so in our dances you'll see a lot of issues dealing with women's liberation, equality and democracy."

The current tour features 30 dancers, ranging in age from 11 to 42 (there are nearly 50 members in the actual company); obtaining visas for them was not a pleasant experience. "Must we talk about that?" Mr. Barghouti asked with a pleading smile. "We want to come back, and unfortunately now we'd better watch what we say. It's not like in the past. It was very hectic, very difficult."

But the effort was also worth it. The company's recent program featured joyful dances inspired by traditional Palestinian weddings, along with a series of works dealing with oppression and resistance. Though the company performed in New York in 1999, this engagement was the first to include such contemporary works, which, in many ways, were defiantly obvious. "Key to Peace - Exile and Dreaming of Return" featured dancers grappling with life-size keys. That they didn't literally hit the audience over the head with them was the work's only measure of artistic restraint. It was one prop away from Mummenschanz.

Another work, "43 - Exorcising Defeat," began with a single boot placed in a pool of light at the center of the stage. A dancer, clearly browbeaten and wearing a torn shirt, ran in frantic circles and collapsed to the floor. When he put on a boot, he assumed the role of oppressor, but in El-Funoun's optimistic state of grace, he found salvation in the final seconds by kicking it off to the side.

Still, El-Funoun remained unpredictable; even when the contemporary pieces seemed patently earnest, there was nothing artificial in the performers' enjoyment of dancing. From time to time, they may have lost their footing (or an actual shoe, in one case), but the dancers remained radiant, moving with a sweet and determined fearlessness.

None of the members of El-Funoun are compensated, not even Mr. Barghouti, who works as an engineer as well as an independent researcher. The company is a strictly volunteer organization. "Now, I'm on my own vacation time," he said. "But this group is ours. We do it for ourselves and for our conviction that this is how we contribute to the struggle for justice." 

Mike Odetalla..."A seed in the eternal fruit of Palestine"

Palestine & Iraq

Page 2

ORIGINALITY MOVEMENT
حركة إبداع

  Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel

Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky

The National Religious Party and the Religious Settlers

 As has been explained, an embryo is called a human being, because it has both body and soul. Thus, the difference between a Jewish and a non-Jewish embryo can be understood. There is also a difference in bodies. The body of a Jewish embryo is on a higher level than is the body of a non-Jew. This is expressed in the phrase "let us differentiate" about the body of a non-Jew, which is a totally different kind. The same difference exists in regard to the soul: the soul of a Jewish embryo is different than the soul of a non-Jewish embryo. We therefore ask: Why should a non-Jew be punished if he kills even a non-Jewish embryo while a Jew should not be punished even if he kills a Jewish embryo? The answer can be understood by [considering] the general difference between Jews and non-Jews: A Jew was not created as a means for some [other] purpose; he himself is the purpose, since the substance of all [divine] emanations was created only to serve the Jews. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" [Genesis 1:1] means that [the heavens and the earth] were created for the sake of the Jews, who are called the "beginning." This means everything, all developments, all discoveries, the creation, including the “heavens and the earth- are vanity compared to the Jews. The important things are the Jews, because they do not exist for any [other] aim; they themselves are [the divine] aim.”

After some additional cabbalistic explanation the Lubovitcher Rebbe concluded:

Following from what has already been said, it can be understood why a non-Jew should be punished by death if he kills an embryo and why a Jew should not be punished by death. The difference between the embryo and a [baby that was] born is that the embryo is not a self-contained reality but rather is subsidiary; either it is subsidiary to its mother or to the reality created after birth when the [divine] purpose of its creation is then fulfilled. In its present state the purpose is still absent. A non-Jew's entire reality is only vanity. It is written, "And the strangers shall stand and feed your flocks" [Isaiah 61: 5]. The entire creation [of a non-Jew] exists only for the sake of the Jews. Because of this a non-Jew should be punished with death if he kills an embryo, while a Jew, whose existence is most important, should not be punished with death because of something subsidiary. We should not destroy an important thing for the sake of something subsidiary. It is true that there is a prohibition against [hurting] an embryo, because it is something that will be born in the future and in a hidden form already exists. The death penalty should be implicated only when visible matters are affected; as previously noted, the embryo is merely of subsidiary importance.

Comments concerning and partial summaries of the above opinions have appeared, but with insufficient emphasis in the Israeli Hebrew press. In 1965, when the above was published, the Lubovitcher Rebbe was allied in Israel to the Labor Party; his movement had already acquired many important benefits from the government then in power as well as previous Israeli governments.

 The Lubovitchers, for example, had obtained autonomy for their own education system within the context of religious state education. In the mid-1970s the Lubovitcher Rebbe decided that the Labor Party was too moderate and thereafter shifted his movement's political support sometimes to Likud and sometimes to a religious party. Ariel Sharon was the Rebbe's favorite Israeli senior politician. Sharon in turn praised the Rebbe publicly and delivered a moving speech about him in the Knesset after the Rebbe's death. From the June 1967 war until his death the Lubovitcher Rebbe always supported Israeli wars and opposed any retreat. In 1974 he strongly opposed the Israeli withdrawal from the Suez area, conquered in the October 1973 war; he promised Israel divine favors if it persisted in occupying that land. After his death thousands of his Israeli followers, who continued to hold the views expressed in the above quoted passage, played an important role in Netanyahu's election victory by demonstrating at many cross-road junctions before election day; they chanted the slogan: “Netanyahu is good for the Jews.” Although subsequently strongly criticizing Netanyahu for meeting with Arafat, signing the Hebron agreement and agreeing to a second withdrawal, the Rebbe's followers continued their overall preference for the Netanyahu government.

Among the religious settlers in the Occupied Territories the Chabad Hassids constitute one of the most extreme groups. Baruch Goldstein, the mass murderer of Palestinians, was one of them. Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburgh, who wrote a chapter of a book in praise of Goldstein and what he did, is another member of their group. Ginsburgh is the former head of the Yoseph Tomb Yeshiva, located on the outskirts of Nablus. Rabbi Ginsburgh, who originally came to Israel from the United States and has good connection to the Lubovitcher community in the United States, has often expressed his views in English in American Jewish publications. The following appeared in an April 26,1996 Jewish Week (New York) article that contained an interview with Rabbi Ginsburgh:

Regarded as one of the Lubovitcher sect's leading authorities on Jewish mysticism, the St. Louis born rabbi, who also has a graduate degree in mathematics, speaks freely of Jews' genetic-based, spiritual superiority over non-Jews. It is a superiority that he asserts invests Jewish life with greater value in the eyes of the Torah. "If you saw two people drowning, a Jew and a non-Jew, the Torah says you save the Jewish life first," Rabbi Ginsburgh told the Jewish Week "If every simple cell in a Jewish body entails divinity, is a part of God, then every strand of DNA is part of God. Therefore, something is special about Jewish DNA." Later, Rabbi Ginsburgh asked rhetorically: "If a Jew needs a liver, can you take the liver of an innocent non-Jew passing by to save him? The Torah would probably permit that. Jewish life has an infinite value," he explained. "There is something infinitely more holy and unique about Jewish life than non-Jewish life."

Changing the words ''Jewish" to “German” or “Aryan” and "non-Jewish" to "Jewish" turns the Ginsburgh position into the doctrine that made Auschwitz possible in the past. To a considerable extent the German Nazi success depended upon that ideology and upon its implications not being widely known early. Disregarding even on a limited scale the potential effects of messianic, Lubovitch and other ideologies could prove to be calamitous.The difference in the attitudes about non-Jews in the Halacha and the Cabbala is well illustrated by the difference expressed specifically in regard to non-Jews who have converted to Judaism. The Halacha, although discriminating against them in some ways, treats converts as new Jews. The Cabbala is unable to adopt this approach because of its emphasis upon the cosmic difference between Jews and non-Jews. The Cabbala explains that converts are really Jewish souls consigned firstly to non-Jewish bodies as punishments and later redeemed by conversion to Judaism either because the punishment ended or because a holy man interceded. This explanation is part of cabbalistic belief in metempsychosis, which is absent in the Halacha. According to the Cabbala, a satanic soul cannot be transformed into a divine soul by mere persuasion.The ensuing discussion of Gush Emunim ideas and politics takes cognizance of the Lustick and Harkabi studies but relies primarily upon primary source material and upon analyses by Tal and other Hebrew-language writers.

Tal described and analyzed Gush Emunim principles by quoting extensively from writings of Rabbi Yehuda Amital, an outstanding Gush leader who was appointed minister without portfolio in the Israeli government in November 1995, by then Prime Minister Peres and who served in that capacity until June 1996. Peres described Amital as a moderate. In explaining Amital's views, Tal relied heavily upon Amital's published article, "On the significance of the Yom Kippur War [1973]." To illustrate Amital's emphasis upon spiritual yearning and the political-messianic stream of thought, Tal quoted the following:The war broke out against the background of the revival of the kingdom of Israel, which in its metaphysical (not only symbolic) status is evidence of the decline of the spirit of defilement in the Western world ... The Gentiles are fighting for their mere survival as Gentiles, as the ritually unclean. Iniquity is fighting its battle for survival. It knows tat in the wars of God there will not be a place for Satan, for the spirit of defilement, or for the remains of Western culture, the proponents of which are, as it were, secular Jews.Tal further interpreted Amital's and thus Gush Emunim's basic views:The modern secular world, according to this approach, "is struggling for survival, and thus our war is directed against the impurity of Western culture and against rationality as such." It follows tat the alien culture has to be eradicated because "all foreignness draws us closer to the alien, and the alien causes alienation, as is the position of those who still adhere to Western culture and who attempt to fuse Judaism wit rationalist empiricist and democratic culture." According to Amital's approach, the Yom Kippur War has to be comprehended in its messianic dimension: a struggle against civilization in its entirety

أم الروبابيكا لإميل حبيبي: وثيقة علي خشبة!

2005/06/05

رجاء بكرية
علي تساؤلات الذين بقوا في وادي النسناس تنثر مسرحية أم الروبابيكا، رائعة إميل حبيبي أضواءها.
وبمثل ما يرتعب المشهد علي وجه من يتذكر يرتعب وجهها. روضة سليمان في عمل مسرح الميدان الجديد تجيء كي توقظ ذاكرة الغيب تحت تأثير الهجس. ترسم بالصوت والسوط، بالضوضاء والضوء، بالسكتة والحركة وجه النكبة. تسوغ عودة غيابها برعدة العين مرة ونحيب الحنجرة مرة أخري.
هكذا ربما يجوز إيقاف الزمن، وتسريع حضوره عند أقدام حقائق لم تسعفنا الممارسة، نحن جيل ألما بعد، اللحاق بها.
في هذه المينودراما أحدنا يتذكر الآخر، الحقائق أو الزمن تماما حين تهرول أقدام المرأة التي علي الخشبة كي تلحق بالأماكن التي لم نلحق نحن بها. وحين تنجح في التقاط صورة كلوز لها تحشر أنت معها داخل الصورة، وتعثر فجأة، وربما عن غير قصد، علي الأماكن الخربة في ذاكرة أيامك.
علي غفلة تحس أنه إلي جانبك، إميل حبيبي، ومعه عناوين الكلمات التي كتبها، والتي حبسها رهن قلبه أو روحه. ليس سهلا أن توقظك مجرد عناوين من مرقد أبدك. لكن حين تستحيل العناوين إلي قفار مرعبة قد تقرر أن تتجاوز أبدك. أهذا ما حدث للحبر الذي ذهب مع إميل حبيبي إلي أبده؟ لست قارئة للغيب، ولكنني قارئة لحاضر الغائب، وذهابه إلي ما يشبه ضياع هند، أم الروبابيكا، وسواها من رجال ونساء. لكن الملفت في شكل هذا الضياع إصراره علي الالتقاء بذات تتفرق بقدر ما تتجمع، كأنها تريد بقدر ما ترفض أن تظل هلامية، وغير ملموسة.
لماذا إذن تبكي أماكن رعشـــك وأنت تهرول خلف هذه المـــرأة المخبولة، المجبولة من الهواجس وفيض من الجرائم الجميلة، وأنت متأكد أنك ماض إلي أماكن فقدت ذاكرتها، أو انفقدت مع ذاكرتها. ومهما صرختَ، أو قرعت لن تصل لأبعد من دمعك؟
وأنا اليوم لا أعرض إلي هذه التصورات الحزينة كي أفشي عدوي الحنين بقدر ما أحرض علي العدو إليه. في مسرحية أم الروبابيكا لا تعثر علي الحنين الحالم إنما تتعثر بحنين يزاحم الفسحة الضيقة المتبقية من مقعدك كي يطيرك إلي طرقات الوادي الضيقة، أسواقها، حيطانها، خيطانها، أبوابها ونوافذها، مخابزها وأناس خبزها. ويبدو أن انهيارك وعدم تماسكك أمام الصور المتلاحقة علي صفحة وجهها الغائم، بطلة المسرحية، روضة سليمان، لا يمكن أن تسجله غير امرأة انهارت بها أشياء قبل أن تنهار عليك.

ذاكرة الضوع، مكان الأمكنة في هذا الظرف الحالك بالذات، بين محرضات الإرباك والانثناء نحتاج إلي الذاكرة. نعم، لا وقت أصلح لنا منها. ولا يهم من يأخذ الواحد إلي الآخر، فلقد أَخَذنا إميل حبيبي من قبل كرا وفرا، غربة ووجدا، توقا وكرها، وإذا كنا نحتار، ونحن نتابع اخـتلاف الأمكنة علي المكان الواحد، وادي النسناس، في أيها الأجمل فذلك لأننا كباقين ومبعدين لا نزال متَنازَعين فكريا وحسيا بشأنها، ولأن أحدا غيرنا يفوض جراب عقله المسمومة بالتقرير عنا. هذا التنازع الفكري ـ الحسي يؤدي إلي الاصطراع في شخصية البطلة هند، روضة سليمان، علي نحو غريب ومدهش في آن، حتى أنه ينتقل بالعدوي إلي المشاهِد معبأ بأزمة مكانها الخانقة، ويقيم فيه. وكأنه يهمس لنا جميعا حينذاك، راجعون.. راجعون بمنطق الواثق من رجوعه.
ولعله من فروض الإحالات الدرامية الإشارة إلي أن هذا التزاحم الحسي في شخصية البطلة ينتثر علي شكل هواجس مستدعاة يخالط الحلم فيها الواقع علي طول المسرحية. ويريد أن يصير إلي تعبير تقريري عن وضعية أو حالة تؤطر المشهد بمرجعياته، وتحيله إلي لوحة متزاحمة بالألوان والأبعاد. ولعله من المهم أن نؤكد أن فداحة ارتطام الشخصيات داخل اللوحة الحاضرة بقوة، والغائبة بقوة أيضا تؤدي بها إلي التلاشي. والارتطام في هذا العمل تكتيك مفصلي في مبني التداعيات التي تفيض بها البطلة.

بعد امحاء اللون يمتليء المشهد بالكراسي الفارغة، وبالأقدام المكسورة، والطاولات المقلوبة رأسا علي عقب، المتراكبة والمتراكمة فوق بعضها بألوان باهتة تبعث علي القشعريرة والخواء. وربما لأجل ذلك يقرر عنك حينها قلبك وعينك. تبكي بحرقة وبشدة، عنك وعنهم. عن الكراسي والطاولات المكسورة والسليمة بتكتم شديد، كأنك خائف أن تقول لهم: لازلت أحن، ولا زلت أريد أن يكون لي بلد. ولعل اللوحة الممزقة بأقدام الكراسي حينئذ فقط تلمحك وتهتز بين قلبك وقلبك، ثم في عمق رأسك، ومعها رقصات المرأة التي لا تكف عن النواح، هند أو روضة. هذا الاهتزاز المتموج مع صول البطلة وجولها يحرض اليقظة علي البحث عن أيامها، وأن تبدأ بالعد: الأولاد الغائبون، أبناء الجيران، عبدالله، الحبيب الذي تزوج امرأة أخري وذهب، خصوصا لأنه الثابت الوحيد في متغيرات الأمكنة.
ولا بد لي في هذه المقاربة العجلة أن أعرض إلي المرافقة الإيقاعية التي فننها يوسف حبيش بحسية عالية، بفلسفة روحية، وامتلاء فكري عال بمضامين النص وأبعاده. لقد منح حبيش صرعة جديدة للإيقاع، هي صرعة الانتشاء باللحظات المعاشة، وزخمها برائحة المواسمية. إيقاعاته تحتضن بقدر ما تبعثر أزمة البطلة. تقربها وتبعدها، وحين يتداخل القرب بالبعد يرميها في خندق ذاتها.
التقنية الإيقاعية منسوجة في هذا العمل بعناية ودراية. لقد نجحت في تحوير مزاجية البطلة إلي حد بعيد، ودفعها إلي تجاوز حالاتها، بل والتنقل بمرونة فيما بينها. فساندتها حد الاسترسال، وحيث يجب، حجمتها حد الانقماع. ويجب أن نشيد بالتخصصية التي أشرنا في أكثر من مناسبة إلي كونها شرطا لخلق فن مختلف.

عودة إلي صاحبة الأداء لقد توزعت، روضة في مسرحيتها، فبهرت قلب النكبة وحلكة العتمة. بموجودات مكانها الخرب المعبأ بالدواشك، ومخلفات الحياة أيقظت عالما وأحيت فيه النبض. حضورها جسور، ومونولوغها إذ يقصر أو يطول شفاف وغائم، لكن السبق للقوة عندها علي الشفافية فوق الخشبة، ولعل هذا بالتحديد ما يميز انتماء الإيقاع الدرامي الذي خرجت به علي الخشبة، لونه الحاد، العميق والصارخ. هو بصمة حضورها للموسم المسرحي الجديد.

فاصلة النهاية

تعرض إلي قضية هامة تتعلق بمستوي الديناميكية العالية التي تستشف من أجواء العمل بين النص والمخرج يوسف أبو وردة، التي انعكست ايجابيا علي مؤدية الدور ومرافقها علي إيقاعات الزمن، حبيش.
ولعله من المناسب أن نضيف إلي أنها ليست المرة الأولي التي يجسد فيها أبو وردة هواجس أم الروبابيكا علي الخشبة. يحسب لإنجازاته أنها المرة الثانية بعد أداء الفنانة المسرحية الراحلة بشري قرمان. ولكنه اليوم ينجح في تفنين تكوين امرأة جديدة حسا وفكرا وتجربة، ولن أضيف، وإلباسها النص، بل وتطريز كينونتها علي مقاس النص. صوته، نبضه علي مقاس نبضها وانفلاتات عالمها بضوئه وعتمته.

المسرحية: أم الروبابيكا
الأداء المسرحي: روضة سليمان
عن: مسرحية إميل حبيبي، أم الروبابيكا
إخراج: يوسف أبو وردة
كاتبة وفنانة تشكيلية من فلسطين