Arts: Visual and Performing

George Staib, PhD

PROFESSOR, ECAS, DANCE

ARARAT

ARARAT is a new, muilti-disciplinary, collaborative artistic work that dives into the fallout of the Armenian Genocide. While not intended to be a history lesson, this work will embrace the impetus of diaspora as a means by which cultures extend their reach, thrive, and reveal an indelible spirit of hopefulness.

ARARAT is layered with meaning and provides multiple inroads for audiences. Collaborators will examine what it means to be a “remnant” of a different time, what it means to re-awaken from trauma, how the resilience of a community can supersede obstacles, and how acknowledging past injustices can resurrect a prosperous future. Mt. ARARAT is also the assumed final resting place of Noah’s Ark, which in religious texts references a time when the world effectively “stood still,” not unlike what we are encountering in the wake of the COVID pandemic. It is a timely work that rests upon relevance and relatability.

Emory Professor of Practice and staibdance Artistic Director George Staib, as the Primary Investigator, will be the lead researcher, choreographer, and director of this new work. With the 26-member Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, composers, historians, a dramaturg, multimedia artists, 10 professional dancers with scenic, lighting and technical designers, ARARAT will be the first staibdance contemporary work created with the intention of international touring. Work of this nature is rarely part of any Middle-Eastern or Armenian contemporary canon. We choose to embrace this moment as a time to underscore the ways we find strength in compassion by providing new lenses for understanding.