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Yaa Samar Dance Theatre

Brooklyn, NY · EIN 611594913 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE A60 · Arts, Culture & Humanities · Small ($100K-$1M) · ysdt.org
revenue
$387K
expenses
$411K
net assets
$55K
employees
2
program ratio
71%
mission · from form 990

Yaa Samar! creates invigorating performance and education programs that expand access to - and promote understanding through - the arts.

profile · synthesized from sources

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre is a Brooklyn-based performance and education company founded by Artistic Director Samar Haddad King. The organization creates original dance-theatre works that explore themes of identity, trauma, and human connection, with a focus on Arab and Palestinian narratives. It produces full-length performances, site-specific works, and digital projects, often in collaboration with international partners.

named programs · 7 · from sources

What they call their work

3 x 13
Interactive dance film project featuring 12 artists from 8 countries sharing transformative life journeys through choreography and original music
Against a Hard Surface
60-minute dance-theatre work co-created by Samar Haddad King and Amir Nizar Zuabi, premiering in Ramallah and Hamburg
Gathering
Full-length dance-theatre work exploring a village under siege and one woman's struggle to reconcile fragmented memories, featuring original movement, text, song, puppetry, and music by Max Richter
Last Ward
Evening-length performance blending dance and theater to explore one man's journey toward death, featuring monologues in Arabic with English subtitles and symbolic use of soil
Losing It
Solo performance by Samaa Wakim exploring intergenerational trauma and identity through movement and sound, featuring field recordings from Palestine
When fear is a raging bull
Site-specific performance in Lower Manhattan featuring over 60 dancers, parkour performers, and live musicians, created as part of Little Amal Walks NYC
shabaab
Full-length performance exploring Arab male friendship through puppetry, movement, and text, depicting the bond between two friends growing up under occupation
activities · 3 groups

What they do

  • Documentary Film Production 1 activity
    • Creating and distributing dance films
      Produces a series of 12 short dance films featuring global artists sharing transformative life journeys, culminating in an interactive 13th film that unites the narratives into a virtual ensemble experience accessible across 8 countries and 5 languages; the project received awards at the Breaking Waves Festival in Cairo in 2023.
  • Ballet and Dance Education Programs 1 activity
    • Offering virtual dance education programs
      Provides accessible virtual dance classes designed to be adaptable to various spaces and requiring only comfortable clothing, expanding public participation in dance regardless of location or resources.
  • Original Dance Performance Production 1 activity
    • Producing original dance-theater performances
      Creates and stages full-length and short-form dance-theater works that explore themes of identity, memory, trauma, and social conditions, often rooted in Arab and Palestinian experiences. These include original productions such as "Losing It," "Gathering," "The Store," "Noah," "bound," "Against a Hard Surface," "The Playground," and "When the waves have come and gone," presented at festivals and venues in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$387K
Contributions & grants$268K69%
Program service revenue$113K29%
Investment income$00%
Other revenue$5K
expenses
Total expenses$411K
Program expenses71%
Admin / overhead20%
Fundraising8%
Salaries & benefits$127K
Grants paid out$0
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$55K
Cash$51K
Investments$0
Liabilities$0
Net assets$55K
Liquid reserves1.5 mo
5 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue +34.4%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

paid leadership · 2
NameTitleHours/wkCompensation
Samar Haddad King Artistic Director 40 $61K
Zoe Rabinowitz Executive Director 40 $52K
board members · 5
  • Abed Awad — Fundraising committee
  • Dave Welty — Fundraising Governance
  • Erin N Moore — Fundraising Goverance
  • Nathan Trice — Governance committee
  • Tohfe Beidas — Finance committee
relationships · 74

Who they work with

  • A.M Qattan Foundation Funder — Provided support through the Takatof Grant for Palestinian Cultural Institutions in collaboration with Al Mawred Culture Resource.
  • A.M Qattan Foundation Government — Supported production through The Qattan Grant for Performing Arts 2016.
  • A.M. Qattan Foundation Partner — Supported the production of "The Playground".
  • A.R.T./New York Funder — Provided support through the Relief Fund for NYC Small Theatres.
  • Al Mawred Culture Resource Partner — Collaborated with the A.M Qattan Foundation to administer the Takatof Grant for Palestinian Cultural Institutions supporting the project.
  • Albertine Foundation Funder — Supported "Gathering" through its F.U.S.E.D. program.
  • American Dance Abroad Funder — Supported production of "Against a Hard Surface".
  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Funder — Funded support for Last Ward through the New England Foundation for the Arts
  • Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Funder — Supported the production of Last Ward
  • Au Contraire Productions Partner — Co-producing the European tour of "Gathering" with Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre.
  • Au Contraire Productions Partner — Collaborates as a producer on artistic projects.
  • British Council Funder — Provided support for the premiere of "Gathering: New York City."
  • CUNY Dance Initiative Partner — Provided residency support at Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden for the creation of "Gathering."
  • Center for Arab American Philanthropy Funder — Provided support for the premiere of "Gathering: New York City."
  • Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU Partner — Hosted the initial development of the 3 x 13 project during Samar Haddad King's 2019/20 Resident Fellowship.
  • Covillo Lynch Foundation Funder — Supported production of "Against a Hard Surface".
  • Covillo/Lynch Family Foundation Funder — Supported the production of Last Ward
  • Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States Partner — Co-developed FUSED, a program supporting Last Ward through French-U.S. exchange in dance
  • Dance Place Partner — Hosted a 2023 residency for the development of "Gathering."
  • Dance/NYC Funder — Supported the project through the Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund.
  • Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Funder — Funded support for Last Ward through the New England Foundation for the Arts
  • Ettijahat – Independent Culture Funder — Supported the presentation of "Gathering."
  • FAB Bordeaux Partner — Co-producing partner for the European tour of "Gathering" in 2025/26.
  • FACE Foundation Partner — Co-developed FUSED, a program supporting Last Ward through French-U.S. exchange in dance
  • Florence Gould Foundation Funder — Supported FUSED, a program contributing to Last Ward
  • Fondation CHANEL Funder — Provided additional support for women artists in relation to Last Ward
  • Foundation for Contemporary Arts Funder — Provided an Emergency Grant for the premiere of "Gathering: New York City."
  • French Ministry of Culture Government — Supported FUSED, a program contributing to Last Ward
  • Heloise Lumbroso Partner — Photographer documenting the production; credited for the cover photo
  • Hisham Abu Jabal Partner — Provided original guitar compositions for the performance shabaab.
+ 44 more
strategies · 5

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Co-Creation with Diverse Artists
    methodology: co-creation
    By involving artists from diverse backgrounds in collaborative leadership during artistic development, the organization generates more authentic and inclusive work because shared authorship deepens cultural fidelity and creative innovation.
  • Community-Integrated Site-Specific Performance
    methodology: community-integrated_performance
    By integrating professional dancers with local community performers in site-specific works, the organization fosters inclusive storytelling and local ownership of narratives because shared performance builds trust, place-based meaning, and collective agency.
  • Embodied Trauma Exploration
    methodology: embodied_trauma_exploration
    By using movement and sound to physically manifest intergenerational trauma, the organization enables participants and audiences to process trauma's psychological and somatic impacts, fostering deeper understanding and emotional release because bodily engagement accesses experiences that narrative alone cannot.
  • Interdisciplinary Performance for Cross-Cultural Narrative Centering
    methodology: interdisciplinary_performance
    By combining dance, theater, multilingual storytelling, and other art forms, the organization centers underrepresented Arab narratives and evokes shared human experiences because integrated artistic modes create richer, more accessible emotional and cultural resonance.
  • Sensory Distortion to Represent Psychological States
    methodology: sensory_distortion_for_psychological_representation
    By using distorted sound and stage design to simulate psychological disintegration, the organization helps audiences viscerally experience fear and trauma because sensory immersion produces empathetic understanding beyond cognitive recognition.