Alenby Street 73A, Haifa 35664
Haifa
Israel
- Arts
Mission: Salma Dance Academy seeks to contribute towards the development of the Palestinian community through the arts. We provide access to high-quality dance classes and performances, cultivate personal skills and confidence, as well as communal pride, through dance education and performance.
Objectives:
1. Foster appreciation for the art of dance performance within our community, while nurturing technique and talent through dance education at high professional standards;
2. Promote the empowerment and well-being of our community through dance by encouraging the use of dance as a medium for self-expression, identity, creativity and cultural exchange;
3. Present and promote our cultural heritage through high-level dance performances that revive traditional dance styles alongside contemporary genres.
Salma Dance Academy offers classes in classical and modern ballet, hip-hop, jazz, ballroom, flamenco, traditional folklore and theater to dancers aged four and up. In 2012-2013, nearly 300 students were enrolled in the dance school, including over 200 children 6-16, and 50 senior dancers who are members of the Academy's professional level performance ensemble.
Salma has created a number of full-length dance productions with original scores and Arabic scripts. Productions resurrect classical forms of Palestinian-Arabic dance and music, increasing familiarity with these unique art forms, and restoring pride within the community. Productions often deal with difficult social issues, serving as an outlet for communal support and understanding.
After many years of renting studios, in 2010 the Academy decided to invest in the future of dance in the Palestinian-Arab community, embarking upon a full-scale renovation of a new studio space in Haifa. We hope this studio will serve as the home of dance in the Palestinian community for years to come.
As the biggest and oldest organization promoting dance within the Palestinian community in Israel, we have much experience to share with potential partners doing similar work in other Mediterranean countries, especially minority cultural organizations, as well as other similar cultural and dance organizations operating within other communities in Israel. We welcome the possibility of building partnerships with cultural organizations across the region. We are especially interested in expanding our programming to serve and accommodate the most marginalized children in our community, who cannot afford to study dance without institutional support, and we are eager to learn from the experience of network members on building successful projects such as these. In addition, we see the medium of dance, and the arts overall, as a tool with great potential for allowing cultural exchange, deepened inter-group understanding, and coexistence. We would like to engage partners from the network in building joint projects which would take advantage of these powerful aspects of the arts.
As the biggest and oldest organization promoting dance within the Palestinian community in Israel, we have much experience to share with potential partners doing similar work in other Mediterranean countries, especially minority cultural organizations, as well as other similar cultural and dance organizations operating within other communities in Israel. We welcome the possibility of building partnerships with cultural organizations across the region. We are especially interested in expanding our programming to serve and accommodate the most marginalized children in our community, who cannot afford to study dance without institutional support, and we are eager to learn from the experience of network members on building successful projects such as these. In addition, we see the medium of dance, and the arts overall, as a tool with great potential for allowing cultural exchange, deepened inter-group understanding, and coexistence. We would like to engage partners from the network in building joint projects which would take advantage of these powerful aspects of the arts.