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Former Bahrain resident Natasha Saraf has joined performers from around the world to launch two virtual dance workshops aimed at raising funds for Afghan refugees.
The 41-year-old graphic designer, who now lives in Canada, was called upon by American Pomegranate Garden Dance founder and professional dancer, Natalie Nayun, to help in designing her online platform that promotes Persian and Asian dance.
“We were both thinking of doing something to help Afghan people going through this humanitarian crisis,” said Natasha.
“Natalie reached out to dancer Samia Karimi, an Afghan who migrated to the US at the age of five. They joined hands and a couple of days later the Attan Girls, otherwise known as Parwanah and Jina, also contacted Natalie. They too wanted to do a workshop as a fundraiser for Afghanistan.
“The rest is history.
“Aside from raising funds, Samia also wanted to raise awareness of Afghan culture and dance through these workshops.”
Natalie is a teacher and performer specialising in contemporary and folkloric styles from Central Asia and the Middle East. She has been dancing for more than 18 years and teaching for more than 10.
“These dance workshops aim to support the urgent humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding in Afghanistan as a result of violence, the pandemic, and years of neglect and abuse that the Afghan people have endured,” said Natalie, a choreographer for the UC Berkeley Central Asian and Middle Eastern Dance Company, Sorayya, who has received several grants and awards for her research and dance studies. “We dance because we can. We dance to preserve the memory of our culture in our body. We dance to build community. We dance to heal.”
More than 70 women from around the globe joined the ZOOM Hope & Unity: Afghan Attan Dance Workshop Fundraiser event.
The Attan Girls, two dancers devoted to the movements of Attan dance from Afghanistan, taught the art in the first workshop. Attan began as a folk dance by Pashtuns in the time of war or during wedding or other celebrations and is now considered the national dance of Afghanistan.
The second workshop featured basic Afghan dance stylings from Samia.
The event raised around BD1,287, half of which will go to the Enabled Children Initiative (ECI) and the rest to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The ECI supports disabled children in Afghanistan. It offers residential, educational and income generation support for families and is currently gathering funds to secure emergency relief for those in the makeshift ‘internally displaced persons’ camps located in the outskirts of Kabul.
For details, follow @pomegranategardendance on Instagram.
