Becoming Al-Sarab: A Dance Education Narrative

Abstract

This narrative inquiry article tells the story of Al-Sarab Dance School, which began as a series of summer dance workshops taught by Nadra Assaf in the 1980s in and around Byblos, Lebanon. The workshops occurred during the Lebanese civil war and were an opportunity for the participating youth to process trauma, express their emotions, and experience a sense of freedom. After the war, Nadra established a dance school and grappled with the development of a dance education curriculum that celebrated and sustained Lebanese-ness. This narrative contributes much-needed curricular and pedagogical perspectives on dance education in the Middle East.

Keywords:

• Dance education
• Middle East
• culturally relevant pedagogy
• trauma-informed pedagogy
• narrative inquiry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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12 Nyama McCarthy-Brown, Dance Pedagogy, 17.

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17 Rowe, “Raising Dust”

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21 Chell Parkins, “Las Nepantleras”.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nadra Assaf

NADRA ASSAF, EdD is the founder/artistic director of Al-Sarab Dance Foundation which houses Al-Sarab Dance School as well as Al-Sarab Dance Company. She is also a full-time academic at the Lebanese American University and a well-known researcher in dance in the Middle East. She received her MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College, and a Doctor of Education from Leicester University. She also has a BA in Theater and a BS in Finance. She is best known for her work in dance in the Middle East as she has lived in Lebanon for more than thirty years.

Matthew Henley

MATTHEW HENLEY, PhD is Associate Professor in the Dance Education Program and Affiliated Researcher in the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy & Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Henley focuses his research on describing cognitive and social-emotional skills associated with dance education. Henley’s related interests include enactive cognition in the arts, developmental and neuroscientific approaches to embodied knowing, research methods for pedagogy, and the pedagogy of research methods. Henley danced professionally in New York City with Sean Curran Company and Randy James Dance Works. Henley earned his doctorate in Educational Psychology: Learning Sciences from the University of Washington, and an MFA in Dance from the same institution.