Arab Arts night was a excellent presentation of music, dance, food and a film. Prior to attending, when I realized all that was offered for a mere $8.00 ($5.00 more for the movie), I was amazed. All that for such a reasonable price. What a great idea for getting people in the door. Grouping it all together is genius, it made me wonder why I haven't experienced it more often. It started at 6:00 and went to 11:00. Several people brought their kids facilitated by the early start and the inclusion of food. The event took place in the Rainier Valley Cultural Center which SEED owns. Rainier Valley Cultural Center is a located in Columbia City, in the southeast part of Seattle. The grand old theater building has an upper story with theater seats and a stage, downstairs is a banquet hall and kitchen.
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Audience dancing during Arts Gumbo, September 9, 2006 photo courtesy Larry Montgomery |
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Arts Gumbo, Arab Arts is one of a three part series in collaboration with SEED (Southeast Effective Development) and the Arab Center of Washington. SEED was in the first round of Arts Participation Initiative Grantees and the Arab Center has just been added to the Arts Participation Initiative for FY 2007. SEED is broadening its artists and audience by bringing in groups to collaborate on programming. The Arab Center of Washington had an information table with some items for sale at the entrance to the theater.
The audience appeared to be half with ties to the Arab community and half people that may have some connection with SEED or the Rainier Valley. So immediately the event was successful in bringing people together. The evening began with MB Orchestra. The five piece group featured internationally renowned oud (a lute-like instrument) player Maurice Sadak Rouman. He plays with his two sons and son-in-law. The group interacted with the audience encouraging us to dance and pretty soon about half were dancing in the aisles. The early start to the evening allowed people to bring their kids and they were dancing too. The Fatima Belly dance troupe warmed us up when the accompanied the orchestra on stage to perform. The graceful and athletic moves and beautiful outfits added a visual component to the orchestra's music.
Immediately following the Orchestra's performance was Debke dancing. Omar Batiste lead the audience in learning a line dance. Debke is performed by dance troupes at festivals and it is an important part of village life. A dance for everyone to enjoy together. The moves were simple yet easy to get out of step. It was fun to try the dancing and made the audience's interaction deeper and we worked up an appetite for dinner.
Bil-Hana Arab cuisine was prepared by Ziyad Zaitoun and served downstairs from the theater. The meal was rice, hummus, tabouli, pita bread and chicken. The proceeds from the meal were donated to the Lebanese Red Cross. It was delicious and they even encouraged people to go back for more.
While in line I met Husnia who is from Palestine and her husband is on the board of the Arab Center. She shared with me current news of the recent boat cruise and event at Lake Sammamish State Park. It's an exciting time for the Arab Center. Soon they will move into their first office space and continue their mission of promoting Arab heritage and culture. I ate with Kay Tarapolsi, Director of the Arab Center and her family. Having the food really made the event social and a natural way to learn more about the community.
Following dinner, there was the option of staying for the movie, Turtles Can Fly. The movie by an Iranian filmmaker, filmed in Iraq was excellent. The children in the movie are amazing in telling the story of their lives with moments of joy and sadness.
"Bahman Ghobadi's third narrative feature film, Turtles Can Fly is a bittersweet tale from the perspective of children in a small mountainous Kurdish village in the days just before and after the American invasion of Iraq. On the Iraqi-Turkish border, enterprising 13-year-old "Satellite" (Soren Ebrahim) is the de facto leader of a Kurdish village, thanks to his ability to install satellite dishes and translate news of the pending US invasion. Organizing fellow orphans into landmine-collection teams so they can eke out a living, he is all business...until the arrival of a clairvoyant boy and his quiet, beautiful sister. The film uses Kurdish language with English subtitles." From the Arab Center's website.
Having an event with food reminded me of the Grange events that I would attend with my family and my grandparents, a social, family friendly atmosphere. The studies done by the Rand Corporation for the initial funders of the Arts Participation Initiative showed that people participate in arts to meet and be with their friends and family. This being a perfect example with excellent programming and the bonus of the social gathering.
Now that I have attended one of these events at SEED, I would gladly attend and encourage my friends to attend the other two scheduled.
Site visit by Saya Moriyasu, September 2006.
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