Guided by dancer-poet donia salem harhoor, the site-specific Performing the Trail will take place from 1:30–3 p.m. by the McAteer Memorial Bridge (“blue bridge”) on the Karl Stirner Arts Trail, featuring performances by Lafayette College students, faculty, and community members that explore the relationship of body and place “in an invitational gesture to reinvigorate our communal spaces.” The event culminates in a 30-minute sound bath meditation; a yoga mat/blanket is recommended.
Performing the Trail is part of Lafayette’s Fall Arts Festival. See the schedule and event locations. Rain date is Oct. 6 at 1:30 p.m.
Performances in order of sequence
donia salem harhoor (in photo above) is a disabled diasporic Egyptian caregiver and anthophile (lover of flowers). The interdisciplinary artist works with writing, movement, herbalism, site-specific performance, and film. Executive director of The Outlet Dance Project and co-director of Sakshi Productions, harboor is a “lover of foxes, tree lichen, collective liberation, rematriation [a term used by Indigenous people to describe the process of restoring balance to the world], zaatar [a Middle Eastern spice blend], and aunties cackling.” Their poetry has received support from Periplus, RAWI, Lambda Literary, Roots.Wounds.Words, Tin House, Swim Pony, and others.
Meg Green is a musician and sound meditation facilitator based in Easton. She plays instruments such as gongs, singing bowls, and flutes to bring people into a state of deep relaxation. Alongside harboor, Meg will lead the processional and a sound bath meditation finale.
Ari Ismail is a double major in international affairs and film & media studies. The aspiring filmmaker, dancer, writer, and artist “uses their various identities, experiences, and communities as inspiration for their works.” Ismail has been dancing since they were small and is excited to present (Un)covered (four minutes), which examines relationships between the hijab, the body, and nature as well as the vulnerability in its wearing and unwearing. They are performing at Late Bronze Root (2009) by Steve Tobin.
Nandini Sikand is a choreographer-dancer, filmmaker, and anthropologist. They are the co-founder and co-director of Sakshi Productions, a neo-classical Odissi and contemporary dance company, and a professor of film and media studies. They will perform Aravi Pallavi (10 minutes), based on the raga of the same name. “Pallavi” means to blossom and builds slowly, increasing in rhythmic complexity. In collaboration with Green, the piece will end with an offering for which audience participation is invited. Sikand is performing alongside the Bushkill Creek.
Sahana Balasubramanya is an acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer and assistant professor of mathematical sciences. An empanelled artist with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, she has performed widely, bringing to stage both traditional presentations and thematic productions. Balasubramanya will perform MaShuKa (six minutes), an alarippu (“blossoming of a flower”), a basic dance of Bharatanatyam, exploring the postures and movements of the dance form set to rhythmic mnemonics called “sollukattu.” This alarippu is choreographed to depict three prominent birds in Hindu mythology: the peacock (MAyura) for Saraswati and Karthiyeka, the parrot (SHUka) for Kamakshi and Kamadeva, and the owl (uluKA) for Lakshmi. MaShuKa is titled as an amalgamation of their names, which means “beloved” in Urdu. Balasubramanya is performing at the Musical Path conceptualized and designed by Lafayette’s Sustainable Solutions class taught by Professor Ben Cohen.
Kelly Prentice is a dancer with more than 40 years of ballet training and a registered yoga instructor with over 300 hours of training in yoga, meditation, and yogic philosophy. Prentice likes to interweave ancient discipline with modern-day challenges, and her study of the Bhagavad Gita at the Arsha Vidya Gurukulum is “always helping her unravel the mysteries of life as we know it.” Prentice will perform The Secrets of Freedom (six minutes) inspired by Vedic philosophy as shared in the Bhagavad Gita — “concepts rarely taught or fully expressed in Western culture, and yet they speak directly to conflicts we face.” Prentice is performing at Living Willow Grove (2017), a sculpture by nine women along the KSAT.
Finale: A 30-minute sound bath meditation with Meg Green next to Labryinth (2019) by Deborah Ketter.
