Their Eyes Will Sear Holes In The Night Sky is a short film by Bianca Hisse and Laura Cemin, in collaboration with Al Huriya Dabke, a Palestinian dance group based in Helsinki, whose practice the film follows. The group consists of people from Palestine together with Finnish participants who have chosen to learn and carry forward the tradition of dancing Dabke. Spanning different ages and backgrounds, the group gathers weekly in Helsinki to dance as an act of resistance in the face of ongoing erasure.

Dabke is a traditional line dance originating from the Levant, where it has long marked moments of joy and collective strength. Across Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, Dabke takes on distinct rhythms and steps, yet the dance is bound by its core spirit of unity: a communal movement, marked by synchronized stomping, where each step reverberates through the ground and through the group.

In Dabke, the dancers traditionally join hands or shoulders to form a line that curves into a half-circle or open arc. The never-closed circle formation is a gesture outwards, as a continuous invitation for others to join, witness, and participate. For Palestinians, Dabke has become more than celebration – it is a practice of endurance, a refusal to forget, and a living manifestation of a culture threatened by displacement and occupation.

The film documents the group’s weekly rehearsal, showing how Dabke is learned and transmitted across generations, languages, and different lived experiences of the dance. Alongside the powerful harmony and togetherness of the choreography, the film draws attention to moments of translation and misinterpretation in learning the steps, showing how steps are modified and meanings reshaped through practice. The work reflects on how displacement challenges and transforms cultural practices, revealing dance as a dynamic, shared language that links people across places and backgrounds.

This performance is a part of the Focus on the Local Landscape within the frame of Moving in November.

Bianca Hisse (Brasil/Norway) and Laura Cemin (Italy/Finland) began their collaboration in 2020. Their work operates at the intersection of visual art, choreography, and installation, often blurring the boundaries between bodies, physical objects, and verbal language. Their recent work unfolds through collaborations with migrant bodies, tracing movements across borders and territories. Their latest works have been presented at Kiasma Theater (Helsinki, Finland), Aerowaves Twenty23 Spring Forward Festival (Dublin, Ireland), Soltumatu Tantsu Lava (Tallinn, Estonia), and Governors Island Arts (New York City, USA).

Al Huriya Dabke is a Palestinian dance group based in Finland, bringing together members from both Palestine and Finland. Led by Tareq Abu Nahel, the core group includes Radja Abuzaid, Moe Awashra, Kaisa Kerman, Sham Khlouf, Niina Lisma, Mohammad Thawabi, Jad Thawabi, and Katja Toivonen.