Events

Event details

Dancers from El-Funoun, the premier Palestinian dance group based in Ramallah, will be visiting Minnesota again on their tour of the United States in October 2025 to carry out a series of dabke workshops for beginners and advanced dancers. These gatherings promise to provide a rare opportunity for participants to learn more about the vital Palestinian artform of dabke, develop dabke skills, and make connections with community members.

El-Funoun’s work merges dynamic dance, storytelling, and audience participation to offer an intimate window into the lives and legacies of El-Funoun’s dancers. Through the voices and movements of five performers, stories of long-time members unfold, tracing cultural roots across generations, from parent to child. More than a performance, this is a living archive of memory, identity, and the enduring spirit of dabke as both resistance and celebration.

Using the REGISTER NOW button above, choose among the following workshops, and be sure to join the El-Funoun Performance and Dialogue Oct 24 and 25!

PERFORMANCE

El-Funoun Performance + Community Dance
Friday, October 24, 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
Saturday, October 25, 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
A powerful two-hour journey of Palestinian dance, storytelling, and lineage with El-Funoun Dance Troupe, blending performance and audience participation in a celebration of cultural resilience.

Experience the vibrant heritage of Palestinian dance in a powerful two-hour event with the renowned El-Funoun Palestinian Dance Troupe. Merging dynamic dance, storytelling, and audience participation, this performance offers an intimate window into the lives and legacies of El-Funoun’s dancers. Through the voices and movements of five performers, stories of long-time members unfold, tracing cultural roots across generations, from parent to child. More than a performance, this is a living archive of memory, identity, and the enduring spirit of dabke as both resistance and celebration. Audiences are invited not only to witness but to share stories, ask questions, and join in the joy of dancing together.

WORKSHOPS

All workshops take place at Red Eye Theater. Class registration comes with a promo code for a free ticket to the El-Funoun Performance and Community Dance

CLASS FEE
We are asking a sliding scale fee of $25–$50 per class as well as for audience members of the Thursday performance. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. This is the minimum registration ask, but we encourage you to be much, much more generous if you are able. Funds will go directly to support El-Funoun’s on-going work in Palestine and worldwide to keep Palestinian dance, music, and culture alive and thriving.

Events are taking place at various locations. Please note where the event you are interested in will be.

Experienced Dancer Workshop
Wednesday, October 22, 10:30am–12pm  REGISTER
Thursday, October 23, 9am–10:30am  REGISTER
This workshop is designed for experienced dancers, choreographers, and anyone who is interested in deepening their understanding of traditional Palestinian dabke, including dalouneh and tayara. Dancers will also learn improvisation of the laweeh, the leader of the dabke circle. 

Radical Hospitality! Drumming & Dancing Youth Workshop
Wednesday, October 22, 4–5:30pm
REGISTER
El Funoun artists join Tearra Oso and the community of the Black Youth Healing Arts Center inside circles of radical hospitality through drumming and dancing. Designed for ages, 8 to 20  this workshop is an exchange between weekly drum circle of Afro Boricua music called Bomba drumming and Dabke; a traditional Palestinian dance with rhythmic footwork. Both practices are deeply rooted in cultural perseveration and resilience. Join us to drum, dance and honor our ancestors!

Community Dabke Workshop
Wednesday, October 22, 6–7:30pm
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This workshop is open to folks of all experience levels and identities and will be an introduction to Palestinian Dabke and learning the basic steps.

Noora Baker and Ananya Chatterjea in Conversation
Wednesday, October 22, 7:45pm–8:45pm
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Join us for a conversation to dive deeper into the work of El Funoun with visiting artist Noora Baker and Ananya Chatterjea of Ananya Dance Theater. A meeting of two artists to discuss what dance is possible, necessary, and urgent in these current conditions faced by Palestinians on their homeland. Looking at how dances of collective footwork, and sending vibration into the earth can activate and initiate tangible life force and communal resistance — from performance to everyday life.

Dabke for Kids at Powderhorn Park
Thursday, October 23, 5–6pm
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Designed for kids and their caretakers, this workshop is an introduction to basic steps of traditional Palestinian dances while teaching simple choreographies that can be used in protests. This family-friendly interactive training explores the role of dabke in shaping Palestinian identity and culture. Workshop registration comes with a promo code for a free ticket to the Community Dabke Performance and El-Funoun Dialogue.

From the River to the River: Grief and Rage Circle for Palestine
Saturday, October 25, 11am–1pm
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Grief and Rage Circle facilitators and members of el Funoun will offer a community ritual honoring the interconnection between Mni Sota Makoce and Palestine via the Jordan and Mississippi rivers. As we hold the sacredness of these two places, we hold with steadfastness our commitment to a Free Palestine and to indigenous sovereignty in Minnesota and the world over. We invite our Arab and SWANA community as well as other BIPOC friends to join.

Once again hosted by Mizna, Body Watani, and the Grief & Rage Circle for Palestine—and joined this year by Ananya Dance Theater, New Arab American Theater Works’s Yalla Drum, 825 Arts, Threads Dance, Black Youth Healing Arts Center, and Families against Military Madness.