São Paulo – From March 4th to 14th, the Institute of Arab Culture (Icarabe), in a partnership with Sesc Itaquera, will organize six Diwan presentations, which are Arab art meetings, including storytelling, live music and folk dances. For the first time in the event, these meetings are targeted at children and teens.
The first five events will be closed for groups of 30 to 40 children, from 7 to 12 years old. All the participating kids come from Projeto Curumim, from Sesc, in which they take part in fine arts, music, dance, literature, theater, health, sports, among other activities. The meetings will be held in places such as schools and parks from São Paulo’s East Side.
On the 14th, the event moves to Sesc Itaquera, at 3 PM, and will be open to the public. “The idea is to tell some stories about families to show that there are several ways that the Arabs live”, says Márcia Dib, Diwan’s coordinator. Dib has a master’s degree in Arab culture and is a teacher of Arab Dances at Esporte Clube Sírio.
For the coordinator of the event, it’s important to bring the kids close to a more realistic vision of the Arab world, contrary to the violence images broadcasted by the media.
“For instance, I am going to present myself as a person with four Arab grandparents, with each one of them coming from a different environment”, explains Dib. The stories, she says, will be accompanied by music. The sound of the presentations will be provided by the musician William Bordokan.
The sessions will have folk dances and the one at Sesc Itaquera will also have belly dancing.
For Dib, the most important message to be relayed to the kids is “the cultural richness, wisdom and diversity” of the Arab culture.
Serviço
Diwan
Place: Sesc Itaquera
Avenida Fernando do Espírito Santo Alves de Mattos, 1000 – Itaquera – São Paulo
Date and time: March 14th, 3 PM
Free admission
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
