So You Think You Can Dabkeh: Dabkeh-Off: Dabkeh Showcase, Concert with Anas Tabash and More October 13, 2012

3:30pm / $10 - Workshop/demo by local dabkeh experts teaches variations of dabkeh from rural homeland villages to New York City’s hip hop flavored neighborhoods. Learn how dabkeh has remained a dynamic and vital part of everyday life.

5:00pm / $5 -"Staging Dabkeh: The Emergence of a Levantine Folk Art", presentationby ethnomusicologist Shayna Silverstein with discussant Christopher Stone, author ofPopular Culture and Nationalism in Lebanon: The Fairouz and Rahbani Nation.
Shayna Silverstein addresses the emergence of dabkeh as a folk art throughout the Levant. From the formation of state folk dance troupes in the 1950s and 1960s to dance theater (raqs misrah) in the new millenium, she will look at how dabkeh has been staged for domestic and international audiences over the past fifty years. Folkloric dabkeh celebrates the cultural diversity of the Levant at the same time that it preserves the traditions and customs considered common to village life.
7:00pm / $15 - Dabkeh-Off citywide showcase and competition features local student and professional troupes such as Shabab Al Hurreyya, Nujoom, and students from the festival’s Dabkeh Workshops with Ramzi Edlibi.

Official Website: http://alwanforthearts.org/event/894