For the final stop of their Ireland & UK tour, children from Balata Refugee Camp will be performing in London. It has been a whirlwind tour, bringing the stories of resistance and strength to large audiences. They have performed in festivals such as the Belfast and Derry Feiles and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In Derry the children met with local youth and made connections based on shared struggle, in activities like painting a Balata-Bogside mural by Free Derry corner.

Audiences in every performance have been brought to their feet joining in the dance by the end of the show. Alternating between dance and drama, this innovative performance takes the audience through a rollercoaster of the extremes of human emotion - from pain and sadness, resentment and outrage, to laughter and finally inspiration and hope.

The children of this group come from extremely difficult backgrounds; usually from homes missing family members in prison or murdered. To combat the despair and isolation of their situations, they have created an artistically captivating and politically poignant form of resistance, A'edoon.

Originally based on Marcel Khalife's "Ahmed Al-Arabi" this production chronices the expulsion of Palestinians from their village and their ensuing oppression as refugees. While the people are trying to continue their lives by building schools
and houses, the Israeli soldiers come back, attempting to force everybody to move again, to become refugees a second time over. As the camp inhabitants scatter and panic, a young boy is lost. Attempts by his sister to find him are to no avail, as it slowly dawns upon her that he was killed by the soldiers.

Half of the performance is Dabke, a traditional Palestinian dance. Focused on the legs, the boys and girls fly brilliantly across the stage in unison and in time with the music, wearing beautiful locally produced costumes. The performance includes live music and singing, performed by members of the group.

23rd August, 8pm


St George's Theatre
49 Tufnell Park Road, N7 0PS
Tufnell park tube



suggested donation £5 - no-one turned away.



See map:

 http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=529845&y=185957&z=0&sv=N7+0PS&st=2&pc=N7+0PS&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf



For further info contact:  better_noir@yahoo.co.uk /  info@balatacamp.net