Jana Al-Obeidyine, April 2021
While working on the Touch issue amidst the global pandemic, the crash of the Lebanese economy and its banking system, every time a seemingly insurmountable obstacle was overcome, I thought to myself: "This magazine has a will of its own. It keeps on pushing the third issue into existence.”
But how can an object develop a will? I, then, remembered a film I had seen a long time ago. It tells the story of a violin that travels across continents, over lands and waters, for centuries, accumulating the pains, lusts, passions, and longings of all those who touch it. After its long journey, the violin is no longer just an object. It became the embodiment of its owner's desires, hopes, and dreams and a witness to times and places none of us can visit.
So maybe this is how a Dance Mag got its will. It accumulated the willpower of all those who touched it and built a relationship with it. Those who made it, who believed in it, who carried it in their cozy little bookshops, who tucked it in their backpacks and laid it by their nightstands.
To mark the beginning of aDM's new cycle, this April, we launch an online journal. The journal will follow the magazine's trail out in the world. We will visit places that hosted the magazine, and we will talk with people who, in so many different ways, gave it its character and determination.
As we are redesigning the website to make space for the journal, stay tuned for our weekly visits and chats. And if you wish to receive them straight to your inbox, join our mailing list.
