Anno Kachina

Barzakh Majlis

contemporary dancer

2024

New York, USA

Leen Abaza and Anno Kachina bring distinct cultural and spiritual journeys to the stage. Leen, a Syrian-born Circassian dancer, channels her heritage through traditional Circassian dance, ecstatic dance, and ballroom, finding deep expression in Sufi whirling. This performance blends folk, devotional, and world music, creating an immersive celebration of movement and spirit.

The Garden, choreographed by Petra Zanki, is a thought-provoking dance performance that merges activism and art. Through the integration of dance, music, and audience participation, the performance explores the kind of communities we aspire to build in a post-pandemic world. The performance is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).
Contributors: Brooklyn Arts Council New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

Thinking of knowing

contemporary dancer

2018

New York, USA

World premiere Battery Dance festival commission choreography/performance by Anno Kachina, Christopher Nunez, Huessein Smko.
Three passionate dancers/choreographers who came to the Unites States pursing freedom of expression. We as artists turn the adversities of our personal experiences into choreographic work that seeks to generate awareness for the voices that continued to live in silence and oppression in many countries around the world.

We Grow Into- The Marshes

contemporary dancer

2018

New York, USA

self-choreographed for the event at the Mis Fit Hives.

The 2011 Egyptian revolution had a profound impact on me and many others around m e, in a way that cannot be shaken off even if we tried. Graffiti, just like many aspects around the revolution, exploded and spread, colors blossoming around the city with each day of those revolution years; then dwindled down, then got painted over leaving us with these polluted soul-less grey walls again as the come back of the authoritarian regime gained its strength, brushing aside all those events that changed our lives, as if they never happened.

This performance does not only address geographical boundaries. This performance addresses those boundaries we create ourselves unintentionally; those boundaries we frame our lives with, we frame our jokes, our talks, our thoughts. Those boundaries inhibit our values and daily routines. Society also set its own boundaries upon our humanity, they breathe through custom and traditions till it reaches our house-rules. Authorities have their share of regulating impositions with their authoritarian laws. This performance portrays how each one of us undergo the same human experience with different scenarios and contexts. We try to uproot those boundaries, we confront others, struggle together. Yet we live and die in this vicious circle.

We grow up studying: Subject+Verb+Object. We were asked to make sure we know how to deconstruct sentence structures. It became an innate skill to piece any sentence we encounter, however, we never speculated our actions the same way; when we are the actors, how we can be the acting, and sometimes even acted upon. We are the three, happening at random times.

Submission and Prophecy

contemporary dancer

0000

Cairo, Egypt

In our young years, we have been taught to submit. We have submitted to our parents unconditionally. We have submitted to educational systems and the likes. Personally, I never fathomed submitting to the Wrong. Prophecy, it is commonly known as “planning”, we tailor our days with “I will..”, “In an hour, I will..”. This performance is about how we submit and foresee

In an oppressive patriarchal society, men can suffer from going against their personal thoughts and intentions to go along with societal norms.

This performance paints suicide and the moments before it is committed. It takes a look at this experience’s contradictions, you are strong the moment you make the decision, yet you are weak for escaping reality. This performance takes place in the main character’s bedroom, which accommodates his every little detail; the messiness, the memories. I attempted suicide once and I failed. Mounir, my friend who stopped me was the one who choreographed this performance, and set it up together

In ancient Egypt, GEB is the god of the Earth. This performance we ponder upon women and their marginalization. We dance for women with limited access to culture, art, society and politics. We attempted through this performance to show how women were celebrated in the past, and why the should continue to be celebrated; because they are in essence they are the reason we are here. We come to this world and the first thing we do is careless about them. We aim at controlling them, not coexisting.

This street-performance choreographed by Stopgap. Bringing together a diverse group putting the daily lives of marginalized groups, mentally challenged and people with disabilities at the heart of our performance, in an invitation to perceive and interact with marginalized people beyond limiting standardized ableism. There is a number of sequences demonstrating romance, friendship and passion with no regard to physical capabilities. This performance is my latest and it comes as one of my favorite for its consensual invitation for coexistence and tolerance.