Director's Words

“Dance brings people together. Dance transcends all barriers and boundaries.”

Abd Al Hadi Abunahleh

Dance has long been at the forefront of the performing arts that raised awareness and nourished dreams of change and reintroduced concepts such as freedom, human dignity and justice. But for dance artists in Jordan, it takes every ounce of strength in their body and soul, to prove resilience, and carve out fulfilling and self-sustaining careers.

There is often one major factor that disrupts the ability of young people in Jordan, whose talents lie in dance, to express and create. This major factor is a massive lack of opportunity, within the education sector, and in the process of career building.

There is nearly no coherent and consistent dance education in the country and the creative and collective nature of dance has become to be seen as invalid, useless, and unbeneficial to young people in education.

What is even more saddening – perhaps frightening – the very few local dance creation and local dance performances are rapidly disappearing, with more than a hundred young people in the local dance community stripped of the opportunity to improve on and showcase their creative talents.

As Jordanian dance artists, we believe expressing through our bodies, creating dance, and experiencing live arts can enrich our everyday lives in countless ways. It can connect people, stories and cultures. It can bring entire communities together and inspire every individual. People should have access to dance, and to the benefits that access brings.

It is NOT a luxury.  It is human right.

Hence we are building a platform of contemporary dance in Amman for artistic presentation, exchange, and collaboration.

This is the birth of “IDEA”.

Abd Al Hadi Abunahleh – Director

Abd Al Hadi Abunahleh is a choreographer, performance maker, cultural organizer. He is the Artistic Director of a Jordanian dance company – Studio 8, and the Artistic Director of IDEA – International Dance Encounter Amman.

In 2017, he completed an international master degree in Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage in Clermont-Ferrand, France; Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway; University of Szeged (SZTE), Hungary; University of Roehampton, United Kingdom. He also holds a MIS (Management Information System) Diploma and a Bachelor degree in Business Administration (BA).

Prior to the study, for many years, he was based in Amman running creative projects with youth in Jordan. He belongs to Jordan’s very first street dance generation, now working as one of the key contributors to  Jordan’s performing art ecosystem in nurturing experimentation, creating and producing original art works, and fostering the development of emerging artists.

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“Dance brings people together. Dance transcends all barriers and boundaries.”

Abd Al Hadi Abunahleh

Dance has long been at the forefront of the performing arts that raised awareness and nourished dreams of change and reintroduced concepts such as freedom, human dignity and justice. But for dance artists in Jordan, it takes every ounce of strength in their body and soul, to prove the resilience, and carve out fulfilling and self-sustaining careers.

There is often one major factor that disrupts the ability of young people in Jordan, whose talents lie in dance, to express and create. This major factor is a massive lack of opportunity, within the education sector, and in the process of career building.

There is nearly no coherent and consistent dance education in the country and the creative and collective nature of dance has become to be seen as invalid, useless, and unbeneficial to young people in education.

What is even more saddening – perhaps frightening – the very few local dance creation and local dance performances are rapidly disappearing, with more than a hundred young people in the local dance community stripped of the opportunity to improve on and showcase their creative talents.

As Jordanian dance artists, we believe expressing through our bodies, creating dance, and experiencing live arts can enrich our everyday lives in countless ways. It can connect people, stories and cultures. It can bring entire communities together and inspire every individual. People should have access to dance, and to the benefits that access brings.

It is NOT a luxury.  It is human right.

Hence we are building a platform of contemporary dance in Amman for artistic presentation, exchange, and collaboration.

This is the birth of “IDEA”.

Abd Al Hadi Abunahleh - Director

Abd Al Hadi Abunahleh is a choreographer, performance maker, cultural organizer. He is the Artistic Director of a Jordanian dance company – Studio 8, and the Artistic Director of IDEA – International Dance Encounter Amman.

In 2017, he completed an international master degree in Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage in Clermont-Ferrand, France; Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway; University of Szeged (SZTE), Hungary; University of Roehampton, United Kingdom. He also holds a MIS (Management Information System) Diploma and a Bachelor degree in Business Administration (BA).

Prior to the study, for many years, he was based in Amman running creative projects with youth in Jordan. He belongs to Jordan’s very first street dance generation, now working as one of the key contributors to the Jordan’s performing art ecosystem in nurturing experimentation, creating and producing original art works, and fostering the development of emerging artists.