Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Amirah Sackett at the Putnam Museum & Science Center -- February 10.
Saturday, February 10, 7 p.m.
Putnam Museum & Science Center, 1717 West 12th Street, Davenport IA
With the powerhouse talent delivering a captivating full-length performance followed by an intimate conversation revealing her background and collaborative ventures, Amirah Sackett showcases her gifts in a February 10 public event at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center, the hip-hop dancer and choreographer the latest guest in Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Series.
Sackett’s local performance is the culminating event of her educational residency, the eighth in the 50th season of Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Series, that saw her visiting 14 local schools in six school districts. An internationally recognized hip-hop dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Sackett explores and embodies her Muslim American identity through combining hip-hop movement and Islamic themes. She is widely known for her creation of the choreography and performance group known as, “We’re Muslim, Don’t Panic," which reached viral video fame after being featured on POPSUGAR Celebrity, The Huffington Post, AJ+, and Upworthy. Sackett was also honored to be a TEDx speaker, guest lecturer at Harvard University, and a cultural diplomat with the U.S. State Department in Bangladesh and Malaysia.
One of her best-known performance pieces, Qadar (Arabic for “fate”) is the concept of divine destiny in Islam. This concept applies to many situations in life including that of romantic love. Often we stay at a closed door knocking, when another one is open for us. Sackett's solo uses the vocals of Denver artist Aja Black (The Reminders) and her cover of Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain," poetry of 13th century Islamic scholar and poet Rumi, and the sound design abilities of Chicago DJ and musician Nevin Hersch. Another of her works, Love Embraces All was inspired by Rumi's poem “The Alchemy of Love." Through the poetry of the 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi, interpreted by Black and with original sound design by Hersch, Sackett's piece explores the barriers we create within ourselves and the walls that others build around us.
Amirah Sackett will deliver her public performance at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center on February 10, admission to the 7 p.m. event is $10-20, and a cash bar will be available. For more information on the artist and the Visiting Artists series, call (309)793-1213 and visit QuadCityArts.com.
