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UAE Debut

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre: The Last Ward

Contemporary Dance - With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels

Friday, February 10 @ 7:30pm, 2023

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Dance blends with theater in this highly-visual performance that reflects on the universal experience of facing death.

Last Ward follows one man’s journey towards death in a hospital room. Surrounded by the sterile mechanisms of modern medicine, the patient reflects on his life, relationships and connection to place, as the ritual of doctor visits and family calls transform into an increasingly bizarre landscape of tragedy and humor.

The evening-length performance was created in residencies at Baryshnikov Arts Center (NYC), Chaillot – théâtre national de la Danse (Paris), Al-Hakawati Theater (Jerusalem), and Jacob’s Pillow (MA), and features an international cast including guest artist Khalifa Natour performing a script in Arabic with English subtitles.

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre (YSDT)
creates invigorating performance and education programs that expand access to- and promote understanding through- the arts. A female/minority led organization, YSDT believes art should be liberating, transformative, and accessible to all. The company operates out of the United States and Palestine and is committed to uniting diverse artists and audiences in the creative process. Since 2005, the non-profit has produced more than 30 original works that have been seen in 10 countries across four continents. For more information, visit: www.ysdt.org.

Samar Haddad King, (Choreographer/Composer)
Artistic Director, YSDT, has been commissioned in the US and internationally with performances at NYC’s Baryshnikov Arts Center, Joyce SoHo, HarlemStage, Citigroup Theatre, Chicago’s Harris Theater, Jacob’s Pillow and international festivals: Palest’In & Out Festival (France), Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival, Seoul International Dance Festival, Spring Festival (Tunisia), and Theater der Welt Festival (Germany). She was a 2020 Resident Fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts (CBA) at NYU and a 2021 Toulmin Creator (CBA/National Sawdust). She recently created a large-scale public performance in Marseille as part of The Walk, performed at the Plage des Catalans, and frequently lectures on her transnational work.

Amir Nizar Zuabi, (Writer/Director)
is Artistic Director of The Walk, former associate director at Young Vic and alumni of The Sundance Institute Theater Program. An award-winning writer and director, his work has been commissioned and presented by Young Vic & National Theatre (London), Bozar (Berlin), Flanders Opera (Antwerp), Bouffes du Nord (Edinburgh), The Public & LaMAMA (NYC), Riksteatern Theater (Stockholm) and others. Zuabi has collaborated with King on eight projects including Last Ward. His play Oh, My Sweet Land, was part of The Arts Center’s 2016 Arab Voices: Here / There/ Then / Now staged play reading festival.

Written/directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi with choreography/music by Samar Haddad King

Lightning Design by Muaz Aljubeh

Digital Marketing Manager and Production Coordinator by Devi Penny

Performed by Waseem Alzer, Joy Carlos, Khalifa Natour, Yukari Osaka, Zoe Rabinowitz, Arzu Salman, Mohammed Smahneh, and Fidaa Zidan

  • Dance blends with theater in this highly-visual performance that reflects on life, relationships, and connection.

    Palestinian company Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre’s Last Ward follows one man’s journey in a hospital room; surrounded by the sterile mechanisms of modern medicine, the patient reflects on his life, relationships and connection to place, as the ritual of doctor visits and family calls transform into an increasingly bizarre landscape of tragedy and humor.

    The evening-length performance was created in residencies at Baryshnikov Arts Center (NYC), Chaillot – théâtre national de la Danse (Paris), Al-Hakawati Theater (Jerusalem), and Jacob’s Pillow (MA), and features an international cast including guest artist Khalifa Natour performing a script in Arabic with English subtitles.

    Includes a post show conversation with the artists moderated by Sana Odeh, Clinical Professor of Computer Science, Faculty Liaison for Global Programs of Computer Science, at NYU NY, and Affiliated Faculty, NYU Abu Dhabi.

    The inextricable connection between life and death is what Last Ward understands. The connection between words and dance, too.

    Brian Seibert, The New York Times