“A FUSION OF CULTURE AND DANCE – A MESSAGE OF PEACE” – TUESDAY, JUNE 13 – 7PM
KAYE PLAYHOUSE AT HUNTER COLLEGE – BREAKING BOUNDARIES AND BUILDING BRIDGES THROUGH DANCE

On the heels of their two-month, 31-city tour of China, Fadi J. Khoury’s FJK Dance will return to NYC on Tuesday, June 13 in “A Fusion of Culture and Dance, A Message of Peace” at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, 7pm (68th street between Lexington and Park Avenues). The FJK Dance mix of contemporary ballet, Argentinian tango, ballroom and Middle Eastern dance hopes to, through its distinctive dance fusion, facilitate an understanding between cultures and break boundaries.

FJK Artistic Director Fadi J. Khoury hails from Baghdad, Iraq, where he grew up surrounded by the folkloric music and dance of Arab culture. While FJK’s Middle Eastern influences are strong, the company’s choreography exhibits a distinctive mix of styles. Three original works, featuring FJK’s international cast of ten dancers, will include MUNDO (works in process), REFLECTIONS (2016) and ECHOES (2015). *Full program below.

According to Mr. Khoury, “this program is an opportunity to communicate peace, diversity, tolerance and harmony, to educate and share the endless possibilities in finding connections within our differences.

“The FJK international touring program has helped to fulfill our goal to raise awareness of the values of freedom and diversity, and most of all the opportunity and hope the USA has for refugees and immigrants. Through our performance we also hope to celebrate Middle Eastern heritage, and raise awareness of the positive and artistic influence of this culture. I hope to inspire through my journey.”

* Full Program:

• Mundo (Works in Progress) A dance which highlights the joining of Latin American social dancing and folkloric movement. The score includes music by Paco de Lucia and Diego Amador, and features Frank Abenante (Grammy Nominee music producer and jazz pianist) and his NYC Latin Jazz Ensemble, under the guidance of FA BrandTuning.

• Reflections (2016) is a collaborative work combining projection designs by Calvin Anderson and music by Peter Michael von der Nahmer, FJK’s Composer-in-Residence. The project was inspired by the visual impact of art works capturing the energy and intensity of the reflection of light through water currents. The vibration in those images imparts a dramatic human truth: we can be gorgeous, but also restless and evanescent. We participate in phenomena shared by light, water, humanity, and dance. As humans and dancers we embody ideas of balance, unity, and the duality of observer and observed.

• Echoes (2015), is a choreographic work in which five men dance to music by Shamou, a Persian percussionist and composer who fuses Middle Eastern drums and percussion instruments with electric based sounds and rhythms. Inspired by “Dabke,” a folkloric traditional Bedouin dance from the mountains of Lebanon and Syria, the dancers together find unity, mutual support and confidence. “Echoes” offers a prayer for hope and new beginnings. Video

“A Fusion of Culture and Dance will embody hope, resilience, tolerance and peace… the passion in our dance is intended to offer prayers for hope and a new beginning.” – Fadi J. Khoury

ABOUT FJK DANCE:
FJK Dance is a contemporary dance company founded in 2014 by Fadi J. Khoury and Sevin Ceviker. Dedicated to presenting a unique fusion of dance genres, it fills a void in the current dance scene, fusing the vocabularies of various genres – modern, jazz, classical ballet and traditional folkloric – into a language that expresses our fundamental, shared capacity to create. Through its performances, FJK supports cross-cultural dialogue, infusing its works with positive images from many dance traditions. Continuing outreach efforts include members of the Arab-American community, and an opportunity to develop programs for those with special needs.

FJK DANCE in
“A Fusion of Culture and Dance – A Message of Peace”
Tuesday, June 13, 2017, 7:00 pm
TICKETS – $85, $35, $25 https://kayeplayhouse.primetix.com/Tickets/?perfid=1554

Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, 695 Park Ave, NYC 10065
(68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues)

ABOUT FADI J. KHOURY
Artistic Director – Choreographer – FJK Dance

Fadi J. Khoury’s innovative style – both as dancer and choreographer – showcases his life-long immersion in a world of dance forms. He was born in Baghdad, Iraq, surrounded by the folkloric music and dance of Arab culture. His father, also a dancer and choreographer, was Artistic Director of the National Iraqi Ballet. Through his father, Fadi was exposed to diverse approaches to dance in Mesopotamia, still present in Assyrian, Syriac, and Bedouin folkloric dances of the Middle East.

When Fadi was thirteen, he moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where he trained in classical ballet and folkloric dance, but also in Modern, Jazz, and Ballroom. Still in his teens, he began experimenting with the eclecticism that has defined his work ever since. By seventeen, he was dancing professionally with the Rahbani Musical Theatre, while studying at the Lebanese Fine Arts University.

In 2005, Fadi joined the Caracalla Dance Theatre, touring the Middle East and North Africa. He moved to the United States in 2009 and performed with Caracalla at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He was awarded a scholarship to further his ballet and modern dance training with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York City. There he collaborated with distinguished choreographers such as Gary Pierce, Earl Mosley, Elisa Monte, Venti Petrov and Edward Simon. He also toured the U.S. and Latin America with NY2Dance, and performed Nejla Yatkin’s “Oasis” and “Wall” dance theatre pieces.

Fadi’s multi-cultural background, versatility, and passion for dance allowed him to establish a career in Ballroom as lead instructor, dancer and choreographer at the Arthur Murray Dance Center in New York City. From 2009 – 2013, he placed first in the Top Teacher awards from Arthur Murray International.

Though Fadi had assimilated several dance forms, he was not at home in any of them. In 2014, inspired by a successful collaboration with Sevin Ceviker, he created his own company, where he could continue to refine his distinct, personal style. Every FJK Dance performance reflects his unique mix of experiences, unlike anyone else’s in the current dance scene and still exuberantly evolving.

On December 20, 2015, Fadi was awarded a grant by the Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation commissioning the composition of original music score by Peter Michael von der Nahmer an internationally recognized composer, for Reflection a multimedia piece which will debut in April, 2016. In view of the criteria set out in the Foundation’s guidelines (citing in particular “cross cultural” works), this award underscores both Fadi’s artistic achievements and broad cultural aspirations.

Photo credit: Jaqi Medlock

FJK Dance “strips away unnecessary glitter from these forms to emphasize the beauty of movement itself…” The New York Times