Dance Meridian 2009

The NGO association Open Field presents the 3rd international festival of dance, music and mysticism DANCE MERIDIAN 2009, to be held in Prague on 16 to 26 October 2009. Open field explores dance cultures of central Asia and north Africa and interlinks them with contemporary dance, theatre, live music and poetry. The festival will offer 3 dance and music performances, a concert and many dance, visual art and creative workshops open to the general public. „In the same manner that a meridian connects places on Earth, dance, as a universal means of communication, will connect contemporary art with ancient traditions, poetry with music, the ordinary with the mystical, the hidden with the evident, Europe with Asia, the stories of every one of us”

This year’s festival is inspired by the book The Conference of the Birds (Mantiq-at-Tayr) written by Farid ud-Din Attar, a Persian poet and mystic of the 12th century. His book of poems is considered to be one of the most important works of Sufi literature and has been translated into many languages. The undying value of the work and its powerful and meaningful message inspired the organisers so that they decided to present the story in the form of dance productions created by 3 choreographers from different parts of the world – the Czech Republic, Belgium and Azerbaijan. The performances will be unique also in that they will be accompanied by original music written specifically on the given theme by composers and musicians from the USA, Iran, Iraq, Grece and India. Attar’s Conference of the Birds will also be presented at an open discussion with professor Luboš Kropáček of Charles University; the dance and art workshop will follow the theme as well.

The Conference of the Birds(Mantiq-at-Tayr) is a poetic allegory of Sufi journey towards enlightenment or towards one’s self. All the birds of the world gather and decide that their life is without order, something is missing, they need to worship someone. The hoopoe, the wisest of them, starts to tell them he knows such king, that we all have him very close but the journey towards him is very difificult and long. He lives on a mountain c Qaf and is called Simorgh. Nothing in the world can match the meeting with the king and nothing in life is more important than a single look of his. All the birds burst into joy and eagerly agree to search for him if the Hoopoe leads them. The Hoopoe starts to describe the difficulties of the journey. They must overcome seven valleys: Quest, Love, Insight, Detachment, Unity, Astonishment and Nothingness. The birds gradually start, one after another, to make excuses why they cannot undergo such journey. The hoopoe answers all the excuses with illuminative and sharp answers and most birds decide to set out on the quest.

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