On December 8, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) hosted a special dance performance and discussion on the situation of Iraqi refugees. Intersections’ C. Eduardo Vargas was an invited panel discussant on Iraqi refugee issues, following a dance performance entitled Wishes of the Sailor by the Washington, DC-based contemporary dance company CityDance Ensemble.

CityDance Ensemble, and their Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Paul Gordon Emerson, presented an original work based on their experiences with the Iraqi refugee communities in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria as part of the delegation of artists gathered by Intersections International’s Iraqi Voices Amplification Project (IVAP).

After the dance performance, Paul Emerson and Kathryn Pilkington—who also traveled with IVAP—joined C. Eduardo Vargas, Dr. Michel Gabaudan, Regional Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Christopher Morgan, City Dance’s Choreographer in a lively panel discussion concerning the motivation for the dance piece and the plight of Iraqi refugees.

Hosting the event were U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission and Co-Chairman Congressman Alcee L. Hastings.  This event that marked a new chapter in Intersections’ IVAP continued advocacy for Iraqi refugees, was held at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC.

Earlier that week, CityDance premiered Wishes of the Sailor in three sold-out performances at the Strathmore Center.