Arts Academy Promotes Iraqi Reconciliation

By James Helicke
USINFO Special Correspondent

Arts Academy Promotes Iraqi Reconciliation

Erbil, Iraq -- Young Iraqi ballerinas in pink costumes gracefully glided across a stage to a concerto by Mozart as a veteran U.S. dancer watched their every step.

"Listen to the music," Quae Simpson gently told the girls, members of Baghdad’s only ballet troupe. "Watch your posture!"

The workshop was one of dozens at Iraq's National Unity Performing and Visual Arts Academy held in July in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil. The academy provided an opportunity for about 300 of the most talented performers from across Iraq to train with acclaimed U.S. artists, and reinforced a sense of unity, normalcy and hope through the arts.

Ten professional musicians and performers from the not-for-profit organization American Voices provided the free training to the Iraqi ballet dancers, folk dancers and musicians, classical musicians, jazz musicians and hip-hop performers. The program was supported by the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government Ministry of Culture. (See related article.)

"I’m a teacher. This is my passion and I have to share it," said Simpson, a Baltimore native who has been a featured dancer in popular New York musical productions. “I think it’s up to us to let people know we care.”

Mahasin al-Khatib, director of Baghdad’s Butterfly Ballet Company, added that the arts academy promotes reconciliation and national unity for Iraq.

"We feel there’s a strong love that binds us here together. Everybody is one on the stage," said al-Khatib, a Russian-trained ballerina. "I brought Kurds, Assyrians, Shia and Sunnis together. I wanted to bring all these people together, to unite the Iraqi people through dance."

However, she also acknowledged that pursuing her love for ballet has often been challenging amid violence in Baghdad. In 2005, on the day of a wedding for one of her brothers, another brother was killed. Her ballet group had been scheduled to participate in a cultural event in Cairo, Egypt, the next day.

"I was almost finished. But because of my love for ballet and the arts, I realized that life should continue. I needed to prove this, so I went," she said.

Many artists at the arts academy expressed optimism that the arts might contribute to healing Iraq’s wounds from conflict.

"I don’t care about war and fighting. I care about dancing," said Brwa Abdulrahman, a self-taught hip-hop dancer from the northern city of Sulaimaniyah. "It’s a reality that we lived in war. But we didn’t take part. We just danced."

The intense training -- sometimes beginning early in the morning and ending late at night -- culminated in two gala concerts that emphasized national unity.

A "Jazz Bridges Concert" on July 22 featured blends of Iraqi Kurdish and Arabic folk music with jazz themes along with traditional music and dance. A July 23 "National Unity Concert" concluded with a performance by a national unity orchestra that combined the talents of the Iraq National Symphony Orchestra and orchestras from the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.

Organizers also worked to ensure that the training and belief in the arts would not end with the close of the program. American Voices donated many musical scores, teaching materials, ballet slippers and other supplies that are difficult to find in Iraq. It was a gesture that the young ballerinas are unlikely to forget.

"They slept with their slippers under their pillows," al-Khatib, the ballet director, said of her dancers. "They were dreaming like Cinderella."

ENDS

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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