Sheema Kermani captivates audience in Brussels

BRUSSELS: The progressive Art and Thought-International (The Path-International) organised an evening with legendary classical dancer and theater performer, Sheema Kermani at Arab Cultural Center, Brussels.

Apart from Pakistani individuals and families, the event was attended by a large number of Europeans from different walks of life.

The mixed audience enthusiastically clapped on the performance choreographed on great Urdu poetry, such as Dasht-e-Tanhai and Intisab by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Chaddar aur Chaardewaari by Fahmida Riaz.

Sheema Kermani captivated the audience for two hours. The program included a presentation by renowned philanthropist, D. Shershah Syed on Kohi Goth Women's Hospital and the disease of Fistula.

Another special feature of the event was the exhibition of the photographs and quotes of Sheema Kermani along with the display of research study, “Legendary Women of Pakistan”.

The exhibition also displayed a parallel feminist history of Pakistan. The researcher and curator of the exhibition Shiraz Raj said, “these images tell about the resilience of the women of Pakistan.”

Earlier introducing the initiative, as director of The Path-International, Raj said that it was a humble effort to show the progressive arts and culture of Pakistan to local Europeans.

Paying rich tribute to the individual and collective strength of the Pakistani artists, he said that no form of dictatorship or repression could suppress the creative resilience of Pakistan.

Sheema Kermani, talking to Geo Television, greatly appreciated the initiative of The Path-International. She said, “it is very important to connect creative artists of different cultures to each other. We all are engaged in the same dream of a dignified life for everybody”.

Earlier, during her performances, she told the audience about her 30 years struggle to promote dance and gender equality in fundamentalist society of Pakistan.

“I have faced many difficult times especially after when Zia ul Haq banned dance”, she said, while adding: “The people of Pakistan are not fundamentalist rather they are being trapped. It is being imposed on them”.