OM grown dancers, a dance company in Durham, has created a show that manages to represent the impossible. "ALKHAWF," a dance performance taking place on Feb. 23-25 at 8 p.m., attempts to signify and portray the feeling of fear — without words. Alkhawf, meaning "the fear" in Arabic, is part of a trilogy about metabolizing fear.
Courtney OM, the founder and artistic director of the company, said "ALKHAWF" acknowledges what hers and her dance company’s fears are as a collective group. The second piece, which will premiere at the end of 2018, will develop on this theme. She said that in time for the finale of the trio of shows, the group will learn through movement how to face their fears.
“It's going to be a form of therapy because the hope is that by the end of the third piece, we will be living without fear,” OM said.
This is a personal project for OM, born from a desire to express her own experiences with fear.
“I was exposed to what I would say was the scariest moment of my life," OM said. "I was in a situation where I truly felt fear for the first time.”
In contrast to the expressive movement and dance that she has now created from this experience, her initial reaction two years ago was one of shock, and in a state of fight or flight, she was not able to move.
By understanding that fear is a universal emotion, OM used this newfound appreciation to create a work that explored these ideas.
“It is different for everybody, but fear also strikes the same emotion in each of us,” she said.
In the process of creation, she interviewed dancers giving them an opportunity to open up about their deepest fears and vulnerability. In the performance, the audience is not told specifics, but through motions and physical movements that the dancers have provided, we can gain an understanding through their expression of feeling.
