Since our first program in Palestine in 2009 Company | E has shared a deep engagement, and friendship, with the remarkable artists of the West Bank. From multiple performances as a part of the Ramallah Contemoporary Dance Festival to collaborations in music, capacity building workshops and more, the Company has few friendships as lasting.
During that first program in 2009 Company | E Executive and Co-Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson was introduced to the writings of Palestinian National Poet Mahmoud Darwish, incorporating his writings into a performance of Mr. Emerson's "Entangled." "Entangled" began a journey into Darwish's writings which continue today. In 2015 he and the artists of Company | E turned to the poet's words as inspiration for their first jointly choreographed evening-length work, "The Butterfly's Burden." Commissioned by the Cultural Arts Center at Montgomery College, "The Butterfly's Burden" featured a full-length score by Composer-in-Residence Gavin Stewart.
IIn July 2016 "The Butterfly's Burden" took its next journey, this time to Palestine and a collaboration with the artists of the Sabreen Association for Artistic Development, the Sarab Dance Company and actor Hanin Tarabay, for a series of concerts in East Jerusalem and Ramallh. With a full live orchestral performance of Mr. Stewart's score, "The Butterfly's Burden" was a reminder that there is ever more which unites us than divides us.
Supported by the U.S. Consulate General, Jerusalem, the program is central to the mission, vision and dream of Company | E.
