Gather at the Delta

Building a communal practice of fair-trade cultural exchange in Transcultural Fusion Dance

Welcome

The Gather at the Delta Initiative is a first effort to have a global conversation around Transcultural Fusion Dance, and to collectively imagine what fair trade cultural exchange could look like. This initiative is designed by Donna Mejia.

Part 1 was a Colloquium of relevant topics held virtually on February 27th, 2021 and sponsored by Earthdance and Beyond Dance Business Academy.
Part 2 is a Digital Performance exploring emerging aesthetics of Transcultural Fusion Dance to be hosted by the Dance Department of University of Colorado, Boulder, October 8 – 10, 2021.
Part 3 is a Global Survey of participants, to research the demographics, identities, engagement, interpretations and varied motivations for our participation in Transcultural Fusion dance. The survey and accompanying website will be launched in 12 languages.

Fusion is as old as contact between cultures. We aim to pursue a thoughtful approach to it.

Produced with love by Donna Mejia, Joanna Ashleigh, Brittney Banaei, Jacqueline Westhead, Liz Sweitzer, and Amy Sigil.

Global Survey of the Transcultural Fusion Community

We have something exciting up our sleeves! Won’t you join us for the next phase of Gather at the Delta’s project?

Never before has there been a global survey on the demographic identities of this community.

This survey will be the first attempt to better understand and catalog the identities, diversity, and beliefs of this global community. We hope the data from this survey can inform continued conversations in the community, and serve as a foundation for future investigations.

Please sign up for our email list to be notified when the survey launches!

This survey will launch in English, and will be relaunched at a later date in 12 additional languages.
Data collected will not be sold to commercial interests.

Get In Touch

GatherattheDelta@gmail.com

Our Objectives

Objective #1

We aim to provide a platform for intellectual, philosophical, educational and creative exchange between practitioners of the many fusion forms inspired by dances traditions of the MENATH Regions (Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Hellenistic cultures).

Objective #2

Colloquiums are an effort to investigate, imagine and seed new ethical practices in a community that has awakened to the harmful histories of Orientalism, colonialism, genocide and slavery. We understand that our emerging global citizenship must acknowledge interconnection, interdependence, intersectionality, and stewardship.

Objective #3

This initiative establishes a global repository and archive of our generation’s efforts: artistic, intellectual and communal. It includes (1) virtual galleries of dance works from the community, (2) catalogs of interviews with pivotal artists, musicians, producers, activists, scholars, and researchers, and (3) forum summaries from communities around the world and (4) recordings of conference events for future participants and scholars.

Objective #4

This gathering has been designed for affordability and accessibility of presenters and participants from all over the globe. It is an experiment in our emerging global citizenship. Although our design team is hosting events from an English-speaking country, we aim to provide timely access to events that can be engaged through digital/AI translation services.

Objective #5

This initiative will launch the first global survey of the transcultural fusion dance community. We aim for this information about who we are individually, and what our lives are like, to inform us beyond stereotypes and assumptions. We know that until we have data about this global art movement, we are without tools to fully understand ourselves and our legacy. This data will not be sold to commercial entities.