Beautiful blend of cultures: Enana Dance Theatre-Julia Domna at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre
The sold out dance hit of Toronto’s 2010 Luminato Festival is coming to Burlington.
When Albina Belova and her husband, Jehad Mufleh, left Syria in 2011 they brought to Canada dance traditions that blended classical Russian Ballet with the Arabian dance culture of their homeland.
Since 1990, their Enana Dance Theatre’s vision was to promote the art of dance and expose audiences to Arabic culture and civilization. With roots planted firmly in the history of Syrian and Arab folklore, the company’s production of “Julia Domna” highlights the life of an Arab princess and her ill-fated love affair with a Roman emperor. It’s romantic stuff.
Belova and Mufleh and their three children have not been back to Syria since their move to Canada seven years ago.
“Of course we miss it, but we felt it was too dangerous,” Belova says. “We left everything. We had our own theatre and a successful dance company and school there. We had toured our dance productions to many places in the world, but we had to think of the future. We knew Canada was the best place to raise our children and we are happy living in Burlington where we have been made so welcome.”
Belova and Mufleh are not abandoning their dance roots. She teaches Russian Ballet to about 40 students. He continues teaching Arabic dance traditions. Together they are connecting culturally with their new land.
“My husband is the founder of Enana dance. I was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia, and I did my later ballet training in Moscow. When I went to Syria, there was no ballet or dance theatre there. At first, there were just a few dancers interested, but my husband educated them.”
“Sharing culture is so important,” Belova says. “Once people understand the culture of others, it helps them become friends. You grow closer together. If people celebrated the culture of all races I believe there would be no wars and conflicts.”
Dancers trained by Belova and Mufleh now dance in companies around the world and some will come to Burlington to participate in “Julia Domna,” part of Burlington Performing Arts Centre’s (BPAC) Cultural Diversity celebration.
“You don’t need to know anything about Arabian culture to appreciate this dance performance,” Belova says. “The production explains itself. It’s a love story and it’s fast-paced, exciting and colourful. The music propels the story and people go out remembering the power of the dance. It tells us life goes on.
“It is our oldest work,” Belova continues. “We have performed it all over. We auditioned dancers for the production here. They are all Canadians or new Canadians. Some came originally from Russia and Cuba. It’s a melting pot of cultures, but all represent Middle Eastern traditions. When we did this production at Luminato in Toronto a performance was added it was so popular.
“Well, it’s a love story. People like that. It’s about a woman who supports her husband. As you know the role of a woman in the Middle East is different, but love is love wherever you are.”
Tammy Fox, director of BPAC, is pleased with the inclusion of diversity in the theatre’s programming this season.
“One of our priorities at BPAC is to fulfil the role of cultural developer in our community, acting as a community resource to help engage with community issues, like racism, issues of tolerance and cultural diversity. Another priority is to support the development of local arts organizations and artists. By choosing to present Enana Dance Theatre’s “Julia Domna” in our inaugural cultural diversity festival, we get to address both priorities. We are supporting a new, local company that just happens to be casting its remount with a team made up almost entirely of new Canadians. And, at the same time, we are utilizing an Arabic dance theatre piece and its cast of newcomers to promote cultural diversity.
“We are presenting this two-day festival, of mostly free activities and performances in the hopes of reaching out to new and diverse audiences, to make newcomers feel welcome and to promote and celebrate culturally diverse performing arts from across the country.”
“When I came to Burlington,” Belova says, “I knew nothing. I started from zero, but people made me feel accepted. It’s sad when I think what has happened to Syria, but we must still be proud of its Arabic culture. Let’s think positive thoughts. I think those are what people will take away with them from ‘Julia Domna.’”