The Ibdaa Dance Troupe is group of girls and boys who perform Palestinian traditional folkloric dance, or debka, as an artistic way of preserving and sharing their culture and history while simultaneously voicing the rights and struggles of the Palestinian people. Since the first generation of dancers came together in 1994, the Dance Troupe has toured throughout Europe, the United States, and the Middle East and has been featured in dozens of award-winning documentary films.

One of the most distinctive features of the Ibdaa Dance Troupe is how each group of dancers becomes the leadership for the next group, passing on their knowledge of the debka and theatrical choreography that are the core of the troupe's repertoire.   The current dance troupe is the fourth generation. They perform three pieces titled The Will , The Tent , and Political Prisoners that tell the stories of Palestinian farmers, refugees, and prisoners through graceful and sometimes painful dance, music, and song.

Ibdaa is working on a new dance piece, The Key , which will be ready in 2008. The dance will be part of the 60-year struggle for Palestinian refugees to return. Using real sounds from Dheisheh, The Key depicts scenes from life in Palestinian refugee camps past and present and incorporates perspectives from three generations of refugees. The symbol of the key will be present throughout the three segments of the show. In the beginning, families will be shown holding on to their original keys in hopes of a quick resolution and return to their villages. In this context the key represents the catastrophe generation wanting to return to their homeland. But in the second section, when Israeli occupation begins in the camps, bringing jail, detainment, curfew and violence, the key is to unlock the future. The third section will take the audience to present life in the camps and the contemporary experiences of the youth participants.   Here the key becomes symbolic for Right of Return and also for achieving the dream for equality. The young people have re-appropriated the key and made it a symbol for their hopes and dreams, not just the hopes and dreams of their grandparents and great-grandparents.

The dance troupe was the first Ibdaa program and is still used as the model for other activities because of the integration of education and leadership development in the program. Each group of dancers learns responsibility and the importance of giving back to their community. The older generations of dancers are now the foundation of the center, leading summer camps, art activities, and media classes as well as being involved in the day-to-day tasks.

The Ibdaa Dance Troupe in the News

(A sampling of where you can find news about the Ibdaa Dance Troupe online)

From Worldpress.org
From the Stanford Daily
From MRZine
From The Dance Insider