39 days until Dance Ontario’s DanceWeekend’20! On today’s countdown we are featuring Arabesque Dance Company/Yasmina Ramzy.
Can you tell us little bit about your company/collective/school?
Founded in 1992 by Yasmina Ramzy, Arabesque Canada, home to Yasmina Ramzy Arts (formerly Arabesque Dance Company & Orchestra) is Canada’s leading Middle Eastern dance and music ensemble. Unique in the world. Its artistic vision embodies contemporary sensibilities steeped in ancient Arabian tradition. Arabesque Dance Company & Orchestra is currently changing its name to Yasmina Ramzy Arts (YRA), which will remain under the umbrella of Arabesque Canada.
The most recent production called “SAWAH” that the company presented included 45 dance artists, musicians and actors at the Fleck Dance Theatre for 6 presentations, some to almost full houses. This was the ninth successful production presented at Fleck Dance Theatre. As the only Canadian Middle Eastern touring dance company, YRA has had unique opportunities to be the only company to present productions in many Canadian cities and Los Angeles and New York. YRA began creating full length productions in 1996. Between 1999 and 2013,
YRA was the only Mid East dance company to be presented at Dance Ontario Dance Weekend, attracting some of the largest audiences of the event. YRA were the only Canadian artists to perform at the International Conference on Middle Eastern Dance in Los Angeles in 2001. One of the company’s highlights was to perform with Alabina and Bijan Mortazavi in Toronto on the Sony Centre stage. Arabesque YouTube clips have been watched over 1700,000 times. Because YRA is unique in the world, with a reputation for artistic excellence and integrity, people travel from far to attend the productions and artists move to Toronto to join the company from all over the world. Besides exploring new ways to express dance, one of the company’s main mandates is to share the rich and emotional dance arts of the Middle East in order to foster greater understanding of its culture/people.
What are showing at DanceWeekend’20?
Preview for upcoming production called “Al Qamar”. Egyptian style baladi and sufi dance with live musicians from Egypt.
Who are the performers/collaborators in this piece(s)?
Performing are the dance artists of the company Yasmina Ramzy Arts. Choreography is by Yasmina Ramzy. Also performing is the YRA Dream Company whose members hail from Barbados, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Windsor, Montreal, NYC, Grand Rapids MI, Thunder Bay and Toronto. Rehearsals have been conducted online.
Can you talk about your creative process? What inspires you?
Middle Eastern music and dance both modern and historical as well as the many styles are what inspire the choreographer. The inherent joy, deep emotion and spirituality have a deep pull on the choreographers heart for over 39 years even though she was born and raised in Toronto.
Please share your experience performing in a previous DanceWeekend and/or tell us what you are looking forward to at DanceWeekend’20?
With Arabesque, Yasmina Ramzy has been presenting at Dance Ontario Dance Weekend for 20 years and thrilled every year to share the stage with the amazing and diverse talent and dance styles from all over Ontario. Love the chance every year to catch up with old dance friends and share many great memories of how Culture Specific dance has grown over the years.
What is one surprising or interesting fact about your company/collective/school?
The company has been referred to as the United Nations of dance companies because of the diverse ethnic backgrounds of the members.
Do you have any up-coming performances/events you would like to share?
In May 2020, production titled “Al Qamar”.