Uniting factor: Using dance to create harmony

PNCA holds workshop with regards to Daniel Pearl World Music Days

ISLAMABAD: Students at a dance workshop were taught how to connect with themselves as a means to connect with others, in order to create a more harmonious society.

The US Embassy jointly organised a dance workshop titled ‘Harmony for Humanity’ at the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) in collaboration with Kuch Khaas as part of the 14th annual Daniel Pearl World Music Day.

It was lead by renowned choreographer Nighat Chaudhry and dancer Imran Nafees Siddiqui, who instructed students on Sufi and contemporary dance.

The focus of the workshop was on using dance to advocate tolerance.

As many as 16 students were selected from 30 participants at an audition held a day prior to the workshop.

Some of the participants were working professionals and others were school goers.

The session was a build-up and divided into different stages. First, each dancer was assigned a separate space on the floor. They were then instructed to sit in silence to connect with their inner-self by closing their eyes and listening to the rhythm of their heartbeat and breathing.

Gradually, the dancers were asked to move around the space with their eyes closed and explore different movements of the hands and feet. They were then asked to move around dancing whilst interacting with one another, first in harmony then in conflict.

“You will move along dancing and as you interact with others and the others will respond to you through dance, like communities living in harmony,” instructed Chaudhry, the choreographer.

The choreography was set to the rhythm and tempo of instrumental music.

The purpose of this initial exercises was to make the dancers feel safe and to open themselves up.

“Once you learn to dive deep into yourself, you will dance more gracefully,” said Siddiqui, who also choreographed the participants.

Gradually, the dance students started performing less self-consciously and more comfortably.

The workshop taught students to connect with themselves so as to connect with others; something the choreographers feel ultimately contributes to a harmonious society.

The intensity of the dance exacerbated, as did the music. Performers assumed warrior poses as they pushed, pulled and intimidated their opponents with facial expressions and movements.

The dance finally came to an end, with each attendee said to have felt transcendent.

After the session, all the dancers and artists sat in a circle, and teachers asked students to share their experiences.

“It opened my mind to new possibilities, as if there is a much more harmonious way to live. A much more harmonious state than the one we keep ourselves in,” said one student.

“All the stress that had taken me over during the day has completely gone. I use dance as therapy, and this session was indeed therapeutic,” said Mominah, an attendee at the workshop.

The final dance ceremony will be held on October 3 at the PNCA.

Daniel Pearl World Music Days is an international network of concerts which takes place in the month of October since 2002 to commemorate slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2015.