Leila Awadallah – Dance/USA Artist Fellow

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Image Description: Leila Awadallah’s body is surrounded by a blurry green background of thick duckweed on water, head framed by a tree, blue sky above. Her body is turned to the side with a gentle hand placed on her heart. Long brown hair is wildy hanging down her back, head turned into the morning sunlight. A brown eye gazing at you. Soft smile. Wearing a soft turquoise shirt that hangs over a white tank top. A silver earring in the shape of Palestine hangs, casting a shadow on her neck. Casting a spell. Photo by Sabrina Jasmin.

Leila Awadallah

she/her

Minneapolis, Minnesota | Mni Sota Makoce, ancestral land of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, home to Dakota and Ojibwe peoples

Leila Awadallah is a dancer, choreographer, and community collaborator residing in Minneapolis and sometimes Beirut, Lebanon. Her artistry holds Palestine at the center —rooting her dancing body amongst the movements resisting settler colonial occupation and engaging in visions/actions of liberation that invoke/demand RETURN of land and peoples. She is looking for a world where Palestinian Aliveness spills like rivers of glistening olive oil across the earth.

Awadallah is the Artistic Director of Body Watani Dance in collaboration with her sister Noelle Awadallah; ‘watani وطني’, meaning ‘my homeland’ in Arabic. Body Watani is a Palestinian diasporic movement research methodology that takes the shape of a spacious container with soft edges and sharp specificity, created for developing practices and performance. The research engages folk dances, culture and politics of the SWANA region, while contemplating Arab American realities and flowing in mixed Mediterranean ways and waves.

Awadallah is a DanceUSA (2025), McKnight (2022), Jerome Hill (2021), and Daring Dances (2019) fellow. Body Watani’s original works: TERRANEA (2023) and After the Last Red Sky (2024) received creation and touring grants from National Performance Network (2021) and National Dance Project (2024). Her solo works have been presented in festivals in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, San Francisco, and Dearborn. Awadallah’s artistry is meaningfully impacted by Ananya Dance Theater (2014-2019) and ongoing collaborations with Theater of the Women of the Camp (Beirut) and Curriculum In Motion (Jacob’s Pillow). She holds a BFA in Dance and minor in Arabic Language and Literature from the University of Minnesota.

Learn more about Leila Awadallah:

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Image Description: Leila Awadallah is laying on a dark wooden floor in front of a warm wooden wall, playing a rhombus shaped instrument that is light colored wood with 4 strings and a large black hole containing a speaker. She wears red pants with no top. Eyes closed, listening to the sound of a string being plucked. Long brown hair - a mess on the floor. Photo by Sabrina Jasmin.
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Image Description: Situated in a desert with dry brown grass, bursts of green bushes, and a stoney earth rising behind them are three Palestinian artists in motion. Leila Awadallah to the far left, in red pants, head down, arms tearing open something invisible. Tarek Abdelqader in the center, head wrapped in a black and white kuffiyeh (Palestinian scarf) playing the drums with found sticks. Noelle Awadallah on the far right in a fierce motion of jumping and reaching towards sky with brown top and white pants. Photo by Pat Berrett.
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Image Description: In a theater space at the Arab American National museum the Awadallah sisters, Leila and Noelle, are lit by vibrant purple light. Leila is on her back, knees folded into her chest. Noelle is curled in a folded shape, resting and balancing on Leila’s knees. Leila’s face is quiet, hand holding Noelle’s head. Noelle’s face is hidden behind brown hair. Her visible arm is covered in tattoos. Her pants are torn at the knee. Photo by Houssam Mchaimech.
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Image Description: In a theater space (Links Hall Chicago) a group of artists lay, backs on the ground with arms and legs reaching upward, grasping threads. Behind them is a blurry underwater projection, and the light shining on their limbs creates shadows making their appear group double in size. Leila Awadallah is in the front left of the group, beside Sharitah Nalule in the center, and Erica Jo Vibar Sherwood on the right. All wearing blues, browns, black and greens. They are sweaty. Photo by Jovan Landry.

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