April 19^th marked the beginning of the fifth Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival in Palestine. The festival will go on until May 8^th, during which time sixteen local and international dance companies will take to the stage in 25 stunning performances all across Palestine.

The festival is hosted under the organization of Masahat Contemporary Dance Network, which has dancers from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine among its members. During the festival, the featured dance companies will travel Palestine, making appearances in the cities of Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron.

As part of the festival, educational workshops for dancers will be taking place. The City Dance Ensemble will host a one-month education program in collaboration with the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and Sareyyet Ramallah. The workshops are meant to educate local dance groups, choreographers, and dance trainers in Ramallah Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nablus.

In addition to those workshops, the famous Italian dance company, Botega, will be hosting five workshops on various genres of dance. The end result of the later five workshops will be a joint performance of Botega and The Sareyyet Ramallah Troupe for Music and Dance, taking place in Italy in the month of June.

The Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival will also be acknowledging the  World Dance Day on April 29^th, which will be celebrated with a special evening of performances. There will be two shows dedicated for the youngest followers of dance. The City Dance Ensemble will be doing the popular “Jungle Books” and Siljeholm/Christophersen will be performing “Adventurous Adventure.

In addition to all this, 2010 also happens to be a very special year for the festival and there are two reasons why this is so. Firstly, 2010 marks the 80^th anniversary of the establishment of Sareyyet Ramallah, which is a Palestinian NGO, contributing to the building and development of the Palestinian society through work with Palestinian children. Secondly, the festival will also be celebrating the work of German choreographer PINA BAUSCH, who died last year. The role she played in the development of modern dance in Germany, and all across the world, can not be underestimated, and the festival will commemorate her memory with screenings of films and documentaries about her through-out the festival.

Written by Lucy Natek