HaMapah / The Map: Dance-on-Film | Screening & Storycircle

Agenda

Dinner & Dialogue
5:30 PM | A gathering for Jews of Colour, multi-racial Jewish people, Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews and their loved ones, however you relate to that. A chance to meet through our shared questions and as…

Screening + Storycircle
7:30 PM | The Canadian theatrical premiere of HaMapah / The Map Dance-on-Film and DNAWORKS’ signature “storycircle” hosting by visiting artists Adam W. McKinney and Daniel Banks.

After Party with Jaffa Road
9 PM | Stay for the after-party drinks, nosh and live music from Toronto’s leading world music artists, the Juno-nomiated band Jaffa Road.

Click here to view the trailer.

Join us for the Canadian premiere of HaMapah / The Map Dance-on-Film with award-winning U.S. artists, director Daniel Banks and dancer/choreographer Adam W. McKinney, the married artist duo and founders of DNAWORKS, dedicated to dialogue and healing through the arts.

This stunningly beautiful film (30 min.) accompanied by a stirring soundtrack follows McKinney’s return to his ancestral homelands in Benin, Poland, and across the United States to trace the intersections of his African American, Native American and Jewish heritages. The work was created as a way to investigate the possibility of healing transgenerational traumas and celebrating the fullness of McKinney’s mixed-heritage identity.

Following the screening, the audience comes together for DNAWORKS signature “storycircle” inviting dialogue on how viewers’ own personal stories and experiences intersect with the key themes of family, identity and heritage laid out in the film. The storycircles – which the artists have led over two decades in 17 countries – offer community members an opportunity to get closer, enhance or build relationships and engage in community healing.

Come for the film, stay for the after-party drinks, nosh and live music from Jaffa Road.
Presented as part of a season-long production of FENTSTER, Prosserman JCC and DNAWORKS together with No Silence on Race, Jewish&, LGBTQ+ at the J, Soundtography, dance Immersion, Jews of Colour Canada, Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism and BAND: Black Artists’ Networks in Dialogue. Made possible with the support of the Kultura Collective. Learn more about the exhibtion, HAMAPAH, the May 23 art party and more, click here
Pay What You Decide

We are committed to affordable ticket prices as a way of ensuring access. What does this mean? Our ticket prices range and you pick whichever suits your needs. Consider paying what you are able to support us in continuing to bring you excellent and accessible arts programming. Or, sponsor someone with less means to attend. Please note: regardless of ticket price, this event is general admission seating only. If these prices remain an obstacle, please contact us: info@fentster.org

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Dinner & Dialogue
Wednesday, May 24 | Doors: 5:30 pm | Gathering: 6 – 7 pm

No Silence on Race, MNJCC’s Jewish& and JOC Canada team up with FENTSTER and Prosserman JCC to host a gathering for Jews of Colour and their partners / families. Do you identify as Jewish&? As a Jewish person with mixed heritage? Bluish? Jewpanese? Hinjew? Jewtina? Mizrachi or Sephardi? Join us before the screening of HaMapah / The Map Dance-on-Film, which traces the intersections of former Alvin Ailey dancer Adam W. McKinney’s African American, Native American, and Jewish heritages. This event is created for Jews of Colour, multi-racial Jewish people and families, however you relate to that. It’s a chance to meet through our shared questions and aspirations. You’re invited to meet McKinney and his co-creator husband Daniel Banks for a facilitated dialogue over dinner about identity, ancestry and navigating the mixed heritage experience.

$25 registration includes a light dinner as well as tickets to the Screening + Storycircle plus the afterparty * Registration required by Wednesday, May 17 for the catering order

This event and the subsequent screening is suitable for high school-aged participants and older. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns: info@fentster.org

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ABOUT DNAWORKS

Founded in 2006 by Daniel Banks and Adam W. McKinney, DNAWORKS centers Global Majority and LGBTQQ2SPIAA+ voices to create more complex representations of identity, culture, class, and heritage in dance, theatre, film, writing, and art installation. DNAWORKS has led its award-winning programming and performances, promoting dialogue-based social justice action and community building, with arts, educational, and community organizations in thirty-eight states and seventeen countries. DNAWORKS believes that art = ritual = healing = community and that this philosophy and practice lead to a more peaceful world. Learn more: dnaworks.org

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Adam W. McKinney is a dancer, choreographer, and activist. He is the new Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. A former member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet Company, and other prestigious dance companies, he served as a U.S. Embassy Culture Connect Envoy to South Africa in 2006 through the U.S. State Department. Other recent awards of note include a Mid-America Arts Alliance Interchange grant forFort Worth Lynching Tour: Honoring the Memory of Mr. Fred Rouse; a 2020 commission for Shelter in Place at Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education; and Texas Christian University’s 2019 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion award. McKinney served as President for Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice, a Fort Worth-based social justice organization. He was an Associate Professor of Dance with tenure in the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University.

Daniel Banks is a director, deviser, dance dramaturg, and dialogue facilitator. He has directed at National Theatre of Uganda; BelarussianNational Drama Theatre; Market Theatre Lab, South Africa; Playhouse Square, Cleveland; HERE Arts Center, NY; Bay Area Playwrights Festival; NYC and DC Hip Hop Theatre Festivals; & Oval House, Teatro Technis, and with Kompany Malakhi, London. He worked as movement director/choreographer at Shakespeare in the Park, Theatre for a New Audience, Maurice Sendak’s The Night Kitchen, Singapore Rep, and La Monnaie.He is Associate Director of Theatre Without Borders, on the national cabinet of US Department of Artsand Culture, on The Drama League’s Directors Council, the 2020 recipient of TCG’s Alan Schneider Director Award, and a recent recipient of Harvardwood Heroes award for his work co-instigating the project to transform 1012 N. Main Street, Fort Worth’s former Ku Klux Klan Auditorium, into a center and museum for art and community healing.