Kickstarter

ANAR DANA: Helene Eriksen's Traditional Dance Theatre presents women's dance and culture from the regions of North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. ANAR means pomegranate and symbolizes the crystalline beauty of collective traditions...where each kernel is unique and luminous, yet together they form a fruit that is celebrated in the Middle East as a symbol of beauty, fertility and culture. The ancient traditions of these predominately Muslim societies are largely unknown in the West and are disappearing quickly in our globalized world. Our view of the cultures of the Muslim world are skewed by clichés, deep seated fears and current wars. ANAR DANA brings these breathtaking and inspiring traditions into a new focus for a wider audience through professional dance concerts with spectacular music and costumes.

Every year in September a new group of women begin on the ten-month long journey that is ANAR DANA: meeting once a month for an intensive twelve-hour weekend workshop.  This year's repertoire includes dances from the Khoresm region of Uzbekistan, from Iran's Bandari region of the Persian Gulf, from the mountains of Georgia, from the central Anatolian city of Elazığ, from the coffee house traditions of early 20th century Lebanon, to the deserts of the West Sahara. The women then spend the year learning technique, choreography, dance notation, yoga, music analysis, staging, costuming, stage make-up and historical and cultural background information for the dances.  They pour their hearts as well as a considerable amount of time, energy and money into creating an amazing show in June.  Check out the longer version of our video and hear what the dancers have to say about ANAR DANA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3dhL3LQ4b0

Why do we need your support?  We need funds for new costumes, advertising, printing of tickets and programs, theater rental, technicians fees and then the cost of documenting the show: filming, editing and producing a DVD so that we can share the fruits of our labors with our friends and fans across the globe. 

This is where you come in.  We need you! Any amount that you can contribute, however small, will really help us.  This is the beauty and communal power of Kickstarter after all:  Lots of small donations add up to substantial support for our work of presenting, popularizing and sharing these rich dance traditions with a wide audience at home and all over the world.  

Thank you!

Helene Eriksen
Artistic Director ANAR DANA