RCDF 2021 Brochure English

The Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival (RCDF)- 2021 was planned to take place between 3 - 11 June 2021. However, due to the forced displacement of the Palestinian citizens of Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine; the latest of which was the Israeli occupation’s attempts to expel 28 Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Sareyyet Ramallah (SR) postponed RCDF to July 8th until July 16th 2021of this year. Israel continues to commit war crimes especially in the Gaza Strip before the international community. Bombing of homes and killing of Palestinian children, mothers and fathers and the destruction of what has been reconstructed since the last Israeli aggression on Gaza are a simple example of Israeli continuous actions against humanity and attempts to diminish Palestinian spirit. Sareyyet Ramallah (SR) had organized a global solidarity campaign in support of Palestinian struggle for justice and basic human rights. The campaign was implemented through our network of international artists who have collaborated with us over the past 15 years of the RCDF’s inception. Over the years, the RCDF has been a major advocacy tool for culture ex- changes for a better understanding of Palestine and its people, and for a higher awareness of the Palestinian cause and for building a network of friends around the globe, who truly believe in the basic rights of all human: the right for Palestinians to exist. Response to the campaign has been outstanding, compared to the silence of formal international bodies. We received 80 solidarity messages from our friends around the world. We consider that the solidarity of artists with our just cause exerted immense pressure on the occupation state, hence there is a need to persist with this pressure advocating the cause of our Palestinian people for freedom and independence and establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital. We extend our gratitude and appreciation to all those who expressed their solidarity with our Palestinian people and raised the slogan “Freedom for Palestine”. This year’s RCDF theme is “Distanced but not Apart”, as it comes during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a time when even with physical social distancing, we came closer humanly, driven by our instincts to connect as humans after we were deprived from our closeness. Our individual and collective needs as communities not to be isolated was clear and overpowering. The mask unified us all and temporarily erased discrimination. We all became equal, even for a little while. Even with forced so- cial distancing, we became closer through communication, and expressing affection towards each other. We even became closer through our joint celebrations, and sharing our individual and collective grief. This year’s edition of the Festival is organized after the cancellation of last year’s during the beginning of the outbreak of the global pandemic in 2020. This year, we opted to organize the Festival by providing grants to Palestinian dance companies and dancers to produce and develop performances to be presented on stage. Grants will also be given to produce short screenings for Palestinian dancers living abroad while adopting health protocols set by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. RCDF-2021 will also host international performances that will be telecast to Palestinian audience via the internet (online).