In spring 2023, Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre (YSDT) will hold creative residencies for the development of a new work “Gathering: New York City”, at The Shed and Snug Harbor Cultural Center (as part of the CUNY Dance Initiative Residency). Directed/choreographed by YSDT Artistic Director Samar Haddad King, “Gathering: New York City” asks why and how we gather, and when we choose to act alone or as a group. Part staged work, part improvisational score, this new interactive site-based work utilizes technology, storytelling, sound design and play to examine what brings people together in celebration, conflict, protest and sport. Alongside this creative process, YSDT will provide year-round community engagement programming (classes, lectures, workshops) for partnering organizations (in person and online) including Arab American Family Support Center (Boerum Hill), DanceWave (Gowanus), Fort Hamilton High School (Bay Ridge), and Recess (serving system-impacted young people, Clinton Hill). Additional online classes will be offered through YSDT PLAY, increasing access with free online classes in Arabic and English. Community partners will be invited to work-in progress showings and open rehearsals. YSDT’s partnership with DanceWave includes teaching during their summer intensive and setting a new work on students as resident artists during the Fall 2023 semester.