While the complicit company Gaga Movement Ltd* hosts their “GagaLab” workshop at Mark Morris in downtown Brooklyn, D4P will host our own LiberationLab! Our programming reflects an alternative approach to movement as liberation: liberation is not just something to feel in your own body, but something we must fight for in collective solidarity.

Tickets are available at all price points, with 100% of proceeds going to Rajeen Team, a dabke group of 15 young dancers in Gaza. Please donate what you can to support our fellow artists facing genocide.

If you can't make any events but still want to donate, you can do so here!

You can register once and select all events you plan to attend at the bottom of this form.

All events are in-person only, in Downtown Brooklyn, near the Atlantic/Barclays Subway station. Specific event locations will be sent to those who RSVP.

*Why boycott Gaga?
Gaga Movement Ltd is the Israeli for-profit company which licenses all official Gaga classes and workshops. According to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) call, Israeli institutions are boycottable if they do not publicly recognize the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law, and end all forms of complicity, including whitewashing or justifying Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights. Gaga Movement is a close affiliate of Batsheva Dance Company, which receives politically conditioned funding from the Israeli state and is described by The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs “the best known global ambassador of Israeli culture.” This exemplifies Batsheva, and by extension Gaga, as a tool in Brand Israel, a publicly stated campaign by the Israeli government to improve their image abroad.

To learn more about Gaga, Batsheva, and PACBI, review our article in In Dance.

LiberationLab Events:

Theorizing Ballet: Hierarchies, Pleasure, and Trust with Lindsay Brents - Mon 8/11 4:15-5:15pm
This event will start with a brief lecture about the history of ballet as it relates to state-building and then segue into a guided discussion exploring the uses of ballet today, why dancers value it, and how (or even if) the practice and performance of ballet can be turned in service of liberation.

Art Build + Art as Resistance Discussion - Mon 8/11 5:30-7pm
Join us to make your own Dancers for Palestine patches—or bring your own T-shirt to turn it into a DIY D4P shirt! While we create, we’ll have a discussion on what art as resistance means for our past, present, and future.

Everything You Have is Yours Film Screening and Discussion - Tues 8/12 8-10pm (doors open 7pm)
In Everything You Have Is Yours, NYC-based choreographer Hadar Ahuvia interrogates the roots of the Israeli folk dances she grew up dancing with her mother in the U.S. Confronting romanticized stories about her grandparents, settlers in 1930s Palestine, Ahuvia embarks on a personal journey to reckon with the founding mythologies and transgressions of Zionism. Through her work, a web of artistic portraits emerges— Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian dancers living in New York City grapple with the questions of what we inherit and what we embody to carry forward.

Dabke Basics with Nadia Khayrallah - Thurs 8/14 3-3:45pm
Learn the foundations of Dabke, a traditional dance practiced in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. We’ll cover the ways dabke can be practiced in social settings, in performance, or in protest.

The Choreography of Direct Action with Nikolai Mishler - Fri 8/15 2:30-4pm
A training on the nuts and bolts of planning a direct action, specifically as dancers. Whether you're in a black box or on the streets, choreography describes the mechanics of moving together in space to tell a story. What is the collective story we are telling? Who are we telling it to and why, and what is the visual and physical language we use to tell it? We will move through the stages of planning from initial campaign strategy and target selection, to the various roles and tasks, and on the ground support needed for a successful action.This interactive workshop will build practical skills to plan direct actions for Palestine, labor, or other liberation movements.

Cypher 4 Gaza - Sat 8/16 3-8pm
Cyper 4 Gaza is a global campaign to bring dancers together and get down in solidarity with Palestine, one cypher at a time. Join us for an all styles cypher with live DJs!

NEW DATE! Mycelium Movement with Djassi DaCosta Johnson - Wed 8/20 3:30-5pm
Mycelium Movement is a melange of QI Gong, Khemetic Yoga and "pelvic girdle enlivening" dance based in the Afro-Diaspora traditions of "3s" (salsa, cha-cha & samba). As a classically trained modern dancer, I developed this class rooted in my work as a Doula for the past 22 years, helping women and new mothers access their creative womb space, release tension and raise their vibrations. The class is accessible for all people at all levels of dance. The intention is to help transmute heavy or stagnant energy into positive vibrations within and around ourselves. We start with Qi Gong to ground ourselves and connect with the Earth while releasing any stagnant energy within our bodies and moving the energy out for our own wellness and vitality. We then do some stretching bringing in basic khemetic yoga poses and then work with moving our pelvic area through dance; Cha-Cha, Samba & Salsa. The goal is to bring joyous movement to ourselves, activate our creative womb space and radiate uplifting energies within and out to the world around us.