Mystic Activism Knows No Boundaries

By Doroti Désir/Corinne Innis, "Getting Your Divine Swirl on at Malcolm X’ s Birthday Celebration" - News Wire Release - USA
Saturday, May 17, 2008

The Shabazz Center at the Historic Audubon Ballroom, site of Malcolm X’s assassination, hosts an extraordinary cultural exchange program in connection with the slain leader’s birthday

Highlights - May 19th from 6:00 to 9:30pm

“The exhibition, performances and discussions being held at the Shabazz Center set a standard of excellence that we believe Dr. Shabazz would have approved of when she set about to found a world class institution to honor her late husband’s legacy,” states Dowoti Désir, the Shabazz Center Executive Director.

Harlem, NY: The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and Cultural Center (The Shabazz Center) in collaboration with Def Dance Jam Workshop (DDJW), an inter-generational company of performing artists with (and without) disabilities, celebrates the 83rd birthday of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz – Malcolm X with an evening of special activities.

It opens with a lecture demonstration with a Semazen (Whirling Dervish) Mete Horzum in discussion with Al-Hajj Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid and the internationally known choreographer Ron Brown on “Sufi Mysticism: the Radical Imagination of Rumi and Malcolm X.”

A session on Turkish Dervish Whirling follows. Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and shoes with leather bottoms.

The evening’s celebrations continue with music by Rachiim Ausar Sahu and Salieu Susso and close with the screening of “The Final Days of an Icon” by French filmmaker Ted Anspach.

One of Turkey’s leading Whirling Dervish dancers, Horzum, worked in collaboration with Aziza, founder of Def Dance Jam Workshop, in developing “ANCESTOR CONFIRMATION.”

Conceived of and directed by DDJW Founder Aziza, the movement piece is a multi-media offering inspired by the teachings of Muhammed Celaleddin-i-Rumi (The Sufi Poet of Love) known as Mevlana to some and Rumi to others.

piece coincides with the 800th anniversary of Rumi’s birth and the 83rd anniversary of the birth of Malcolm X, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. It was performed at The Shabazz Center on May 17th.

Aziza is an ordained Interfaith Minister and Harlem native whose unique and highly effective approach to working with the differently abled community has been recognized around the world.

She met Mete Horzum, the Whirling Dervish, during her own pilgrimage to Konya in 2007, and thus began the collaboration and cultural exchange that brings Rumi’s philosophy and spiritual practices to the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and Cultural Center at Harlem’s Historic Audubon Ballroom.

“What Aziza, Mete and all of the collaborators and artists have created is profoundly moving,” said Dowoti Désir, the Center’s Executive Director. “It brings together two powerful ancestral spirits, Rumi from the East and Malcolm from the West, in a perfect reflection of how profound faith and love of community translate into acts of resistance and how mystic activism knows no boundaries -- temporal, geographic or racial."

The Shabazz Center is presenting the work of Chakaia Booker, a highly regarded artist and arts educator, who creates large works out of discarded truck, car and bicycle tires.

Located in the lobby of the historic Audubon Ballroom, the exhibition entitled “Destiny Unchanged” will be on exhibit until June 29th, courtesy of Malborough Gallery and the Broadway Mall Association as part of the May celebrations of both Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz birthday festivities.

Lecture demonstration with a Semazen (Whirling Dervish) Mete Horzum in discussion with Al-Hajj Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid and the internationally known choreographer Ron Brown on “Sufi Mysticism: the Radical Imagination of Rumi and Malcolm X”

Music by Rachiim Ausar Sahu and Salieu Susso

Film screening of “The Final Days of an Icon” by French filmmaker Ted Anspach

Art exhibition “Destiny Unchanged” work of artist and educator Chakaia Booker

Location: The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Educational Center3940 BroadwayNew York, NY 10032(212) 568-1341 ddesir@theshabazzcenter.org