We were lucky to catch up with Generations Dabke Troupe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Generations , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Dabke is a traditional dance which originated in the Levantine countries and is typically performed at many big events including weddings and other traditional gatherings. Most people learn the basic dabke moves by joining the dabke line at events and following the leader. Most of the girls on my team met through a dabke class provided by OSU students. After learning more of the dabke moves, we put together an all girls team and began to put together routines to perform at events. Knowing what we know now from starting Generations, there really isn’t a way to speed up the process since many people learn at a different pace. All while trying to get the performers on track, we need to be working on background plans like new moves, new music, and new routines. The most essential skill for the team is leadership, and multitasking. Being able to plan times when everyone is free to practice and making sure everyone is focused during our practices is one of the most tedious things for the team. With everyone having busy schedules, it was hard to find times to practice, especially during the school semester. The main obstacle that stood in the way was that all of members started and are still at different performance levels.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Generations Dabke Troupe was founded by Taleen Abumallouh in February 2022, mainly based in Columbus, OH. Generations provides services like Dabke performances, grand entrance, and zaffe performances. Dabke is a traditional dance that has been in our culture for generations, and it can be performed at any occasion. It is known as a line dance as that requires a lot balance. We see dabke more than just a dance we think it has more meaning to it, we think performers linking their hands together represents us as an arab community being stronger together. Generations is special as it is the first all girls dabke group in Columbus, as the community typically prefers all male performers. As an all girls group it has been a struggle getting out there and becoming well recognized, but we are most definitely proud of being able to start an all girls group. We are also very proud that we were given the chance to perform at the Passport to Fashion 2022 fashion show, and many other events, and have the pleasure of showing the audience our culture.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The main goal that we as a team are working towards is sharing our culture with the people around us and bringing together the community. With most of the team being far from their family back in the Middle East, the dabke team has created a family here and brought our culture to us. Generations main goal is showing many people from different backgrounds our skill.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being in this specific art comes with many rewarding aspects. Starting with being able to build a team, and making that team a family. Another rewarding aspect is being able to teach and learn from everyone around you. Lastly, leaving the audience in awe after each performance.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/generations_dabke_troupe/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@generations.dabke.troupe?_t=8e00vQeJjy6&_r=1