Dance festival created for Hebrew and Arabic speakers

Choreographers Yasmeen Godder and Nur Garabli will host the first Na’ot Ma’Ba’ad Festival (Moving Together Festival), a platform for creation in Arabic and Hebrew.

For the past 14 years, Yasmeen Godder has worked out of a sun-washed studio on the second floor of the Mandel Cultural Center in northern Jaffa. Her company’s activities include workshops, morning classes, performances and festivals.

Godder, a Jaffa resident since 1999, has become increasingly entrenched in the bilingual community in the neighborhood. And yet, as is so often the case with the arts in Israel, her studio remained a space that served mostly Hebrew-speaking (or other foreign language-speaking) individuals.

This weekend, Godder, together with choreographer, dancer and fellow Jaffaite Nur Garabli, will host the first Na’ot Ma’Ba’ad Festival (Moving Together Festival), a platform for creation in Arabic and Hebrew. Their goal is to create a space that reflects the linguistic and cultural diversity of Jaffa.