Dances of North Africa & Middle East

August 21, 2010 at 2:00pm
Queens Libraries, Flushing Branch
41-17 Main Street, Flushing NY, 11355

Mosaic Dance Theater Company brings its musicians and dancers to the stage in an opulently costumed presentation featuring a combined repertoire of original folkloric dance and traditional dances of the many lands of North Africa and the Middle East. This program will combine elements of traditional nomadic storytelling, elegant and enchanting traditional ‘belly-dance’, and artistically choreographed original dance in folkloric style.

Mosaic Dance Theater Company
Mosaic Dance Theater Company is a unique dance company dedicated to developing and presenting original dance, theater and educational programs celebrating the rich diversity of cultures and folkloric traditions of the Mediterranean region, including the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain. The dances and music, the stories and myths, and the history and legends of this fascinating area of the world form the wellspring of inspiration for MDTC’s creative vision. Morgiana Celeste Varricchio is the company’s Producing Artistic Director, and Samara Adell is the Choreographer and Artistic Director for Dance.
www.mosaicdancetheaterco.org

Morgiana Celeste Varricchio
A Middle Eastern dancer and classically trained actor, Morgiana has performed internationally, from Lincoln Center, Paper Mill Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland to name a few. A producer and performer, she’s worked on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Caravan to Cairo; Gypsy Tales, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Banat el Emir, and for Mosaic: A Celebration of Middle Eastern dance, Visions of the Near East, and The Fisherman and the Djinni. Ms. Varricchio holds an MFA from Trinity University, and a BA from Lehigh University.

Samara Adell
With an early start as a professional dancer and choreographer in her teens, Samara has become one of the most sought after Arabic dancers of today. A protégé of the late master Ibrahim Farrah, she performed with his internationally acclaimed Near East Dance Group in concert arenas such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Spoleto Festival. In 1998, Samara was and inductee into the American Academy of Middle Eastern Dance Hall of Fame. She is among the dance faculty at Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Extension, and has performed in Mexico, the Caribbean, Paris, London, China, Japan, West Africa, Jordan, Greece, Turkey, and more. On Television, she has appeared on the MTV Music Awards.