Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre to Present World Premiere of LAST WARD at Gibney Center

From May 5-8 and May 10-12, Gibney Center will present the world premiere of Last Ward, a new work by Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre that follows one man's journey towards death in a hospital room.

Surrounded by the sterile mechanisms of modern medicine, the patient reflects on his life, relationships and connection to place, as the ritual of doctor visits and family calls transform into an increasingly bizarre landscape of tragedy and humor. Written and directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi with choreography and music by Samar Haddad King, Last Ward blends dance and theater (in Arabic with English subtitles) in a highly-visual evening-length performance.

Last Ward is commissioned and presented by Gibney Center as part of the 2021-2022 season curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa. The piece is part of Gibney Center's ongoing Presents series, Gibney's premier presentation series, offering a rich blend of dance and performance in fully-produced, evening-length commissions.

The development of Last Ward was supported through creative residencies at: Dance Initiative, Launchpad (Carbondale, CO), Baryshnikov Arts Center (NYC,) Chaillot - Théâtre national de la Danse (Paris), Al-Hakawati, Palestinian National Theatre (Jerusalem), Middlebury College (VT) and Jacob's Pillow (MA).

Funding Credits include: Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Covillo/Lynch Family Foundation, MAP Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation; and FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), a program developed by FACE Foundation and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States with the support from the Florence Gould Foundation, Institut français-Paris, the French Ministry of Culture and private donors. Additional support for women artists has been provided by Fondation CHANEL.

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre is a 2021 NDP Finalist Grant Award recipient. Support was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to address continued sustainability needs during COVID-19 and in support of Last Ward.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre

Last Ward

May 5-7, 8 PM EDT

May 6, 8 PM EDT: Live Stream Performance

May 8, 3 PM EDT

May 10: 7 PM EDT: Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre Gala

May 11-12: 8PM EDT

Gibney: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
THE WHITE BOX (Studio C)
280 Broadway
New York, NY 10007

Ticket prices for performance: $15 - 20
Tickets available for purchase on Gibney website.

COVID-19 SAFETY POLICIES

Upon arrival to Gibney Center for a performance, audience members will need to show proof of full vaccination (including booster dose, if eligible), a photo ID, and their tickets. Children under 17 will not need a photo ID, as long as they're accompanied by an adult. Children under five will not be admitted.

Face masks are required.

ABOUT YAA SAMAR! DANCE THEATRE

Founded by Samar Haddad King in New York City in 2005, Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre (YSDT)'s mission is to increase access to - and promote understanding through - live performance and education initiatives. To date, the company has taught and performed in ten countries across four continents, and fostered the careers of over 50 emerging artists in the US and Arab World through multimedia projects that unite diverse communities in the creative process. New York City performances include: Baryshnikov Arts Center, Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, Downtown Dance Festival, Joyce SoHo, Harlem Stage, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Queens Museum, Teatro La TEA and Whitewave Dance Festival. Following eight years of NYC programming, YSDT established a secondary base in Palestine in 2012. The company has since developed groundbreaking methods of working across cultural and geographic borders which have been covered in Dance Magazine, Huffington Post, and Hyperallergic, among others.

ABOUT GIBNEY

Founded by Gina Gibney in 1991, Gibney is a New York City-based performing arts and social justice organization that taps into the vast potential of movement, creativity, and performance to effect social change and personal transformation. Gibney deploys resources through three strategic and interwoven program areas: Gibney Center, a meeting ground for New York City's artistic community comprising 23 studios and 5 performance spaces that provide critical space for training, rehearsal, professional development, performances, and convenings; Gibney Community, programs that use movement to help address a range of social issues with a focus on gender-based violence and its prevention; and Gibney Company, the organization's resident dance ensemble. Gibney supports movement-based artists in every aspect of their creative development: classes, residencies, low-cost rental space, entrepreneurial training and incubation, presentation opportunities, commissioning, and operating a professional dance company.

Image credit: Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre.