As light shining through a prism produces a spectrum of colors, the Jubilee Arts Festival displayed the diverse interpretations of arts and culture that embody the Ismaili community in the United States. The Festival held on February 25, 2018 at the India Community Center in Milpitas, California, showcased a range of arts and artists. From folk music to rock bands, choirs to orchestras, and a gallery of visual arts from painting to pottery, created by artists as young as two years of age and as old as ninety-one years, presented diverse forms of artistic expression to 1,000 spectators. The Festival showcased 105 performing artists, the work of 88 visual artists, and five films. For many of the artists, being an Ismaili Muslim inspired their performances, and kindled their creativity that led them to display their artistic endeavors at the festival.
Iman Ismail and Zain Delawalla provided one of the most engaging performances of the day—a dance performance entitled “Ilahi,” which translates to “My God.” Iman and Zain, two of the ten dancers in the performance, dressed in elegant shades of brown—the fabric fluttering like flags with every dance move, were the epitome of poetry in motion. Carrying the energy of a Bollywood performance coupled with the elegance and poignancy of the lyrics, suffused with moments harkening to Sufi literature, the movement on stage created a visceral reaction in the audience.
And then, suddenly, the music paused, and a verse was recited: “In the eve of Mawla’s arrival, the momin cries, ‘In my heart rests the thought of you, in my eyes gleams the sight of you. Here I sit, O Shah Karim, longing for the sunrise. I am waiting every day to see your Noor.” The intention of the performance, according to Iman and Zain, was to convey the feeling of anticipation, the idea that for many of the younger generation of Ismailis this was the first time that they would see the Imam physically and through this dance they were inviting all Ismailis to remember that moment in their lives the anticipation, the excitement, and the joy.
Iman and Zain recollected Eid festivals and dandia raas celebrations within the Los Angeles Ismaili community that inspired them to dance, and these moments were their inspiration to perform at the Festival. It was the elegant and synchronized movement of their hands, emulating the shape of an ocean’s wave, that reminded the audience of the dandia raas, their arms stiff like a stick and then fluid in the transition. This powerful Indian dance was performed with attention to the smallest details, transitioning from an open palm to connecting the tips of their fingers. The dance steps would transition from bold and crisp turns of their bodies to soft and gentle eastern ballet moves.
This was the moment that the audience reacted to most visibly, where anticipation joined reminiscence, where memory was overlaid by new hope and joy, and where we found that there is no limit to the light that can shine through the prism.
