As the Palestinian identity continues to be threatened with violent erasure, young Palestinians turn to their folk dance, the dabke, to assert their existence. From its humble beginnings as a worker’s dance, the dabke has come to represent an evolving history of cultural resistance, and is needed now more than ever. Dancing Palestine is a document of this embodiment of collective memory – as those who piece together a dabke choreography also piece together their identities. Together with the film – a performance in itself – the dabke is a testament to Palestinians’ deep love of life and an insistent act of contribution to the archive of Palestine in the present.
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Lamees Almakkawy
