This experimental performance is an improvised blend of music and choreography, incorporating testimonies from children and residents of Gaza about their dreams.  In times of war, even the smallest dreams, desires and memories of everyday life — such as the simple wish of eating a banana again — become monumental and invaluable. The performance is interactive, with the audience receiving letters from the dancer, who will read and interpret them. These letters explore themes of curiosity and the dreamy aspects of life under occupation.  The piece is a collaboration between Multimedia Artist and Musician Asma Ghanem and Choreographer/Poet Stephanie Sherman.

Asma Ghanem is a Palestinian artist, experimental musician and film director. She was born in Damascus, Syria in 1991. Asma has two degrees in audio-visual arts from the International Academy of Arts in Palestine in 2013 (BA) and a Master's Degree (MA) from the University of Fine Arts in Toulouse-France (ISDAT) in 2016.  The works of Asma are inspired by the imaginative nature of narrating the personal experience of the occupation in Palestine. Her artistic and musical works are connected to her childhood and are centered around essential components such as the concept of homeland, the sonic experience under occupation, the world of imagination, and love stories in an occupied place.  She currently lives and works in Oakland, CA. 

Stephanie Sherman (She/her) is a queer anti-Zionist Jew, choreographer, dancer, bilingual poet, visual artist, and activist, committed to social justice and challenging borders of identity. With 25 years of experience working between the US, Ecuador, and Mexico, her artistic practice is shaped by her activism, and queer feminism. She holds a PhD in Performance Studies from UC Berkeley, an MFA in Dance from NYU, and is a two-time Fulbright Award grantee (Mexico & Ecuador). Stephanie is a professor at California College of the Arts and San Jose State University. Her work, a fusion of dance, poetry, and surrealist visual art, engages cultural identity, gender, disability, and national borders. Drawing influence from Prometheus Dance Company, Teatro Ciego (where she was a resident choreographer), and mentors like Guillermo Gómez Peña and Kathleen Hermesdorf, her practice is collaborative, accessible, and ever-evolving. In addition to her performance work, Stephanie is a scholar and educator, with a focus on Mexican visual art and queer activism. Her video-dance project Manifiesta with her queer and female students contributed to Mexico’s first institutional gender protocols in national dance education.