For dancers of all experience levels

Baryshnikov Arts Center and Mark Morris Dance Group co-present a master class with Moroccan dance makers Hind Benali and Soufiane Karim that focuses on the incorporation of traditional motifs and structures, including belly dancing, and contemporary popular hip hop as a means to developing a bold and articulate personal kinetic vocabulary.

Hind Benal is a determined pioneer for contemporary dance within a culture where women do not dance publicly. As an independent artist incorporated as Fleur d’Orange, she has taken modern dance to public spaces in Morocco—historic sites, city parks, and theaters—has founded and produced an international dance festival (one of the very few in her homeland), and provides a creative home for many of Morocco’s contemporary, beat and hip-hop dancers and musicians.

Her individual style stems from years of study and performing modern dance in Europe mixed with inspiration from her own roots and explorations into sub-Saharan African traditions and contemporary practices. Thematically, her work tackles societal limitations and reflects a personal struggle to reconcile being a practicing Muslim and an open-minded artist who uses her body to express ideas.