UAE’s dance community takes centre stage

Danuka Ariyawansa is draped in a loincloth, her chest is bare, her arms and ankles are covered, she wears 32 different ornaments and jewels, and she wears an elaborate headdress with a two-meter-long strip of red cloth dragging behind her. Jump and spin on stage.

His energetic footwork is in sync with the original pulsating rhythm of the drums. A flight attendant from Sri Lanka has found a way to keep his culture alive in the UAE through kandyan dance, a classical dance form from Sri Lanka’s central mountains.

“I started training when I was in school in 2000 as art is a key aspect of the Sri Lankan education system. The fundamentals of dance come from Natya Shastra, the earliest text of Indian performing arts, traditionally performed only by male dancers. Dancers create movements through space and time, and it takes a lot of strength and stamina,” said the 33-year-old dancer, who moved to Dubai eight years ago.

But opportunities to see Ariyawansa perform in the UAE are still few and far between.

“I feel there is a lot of potential here to develop this art, but very little is known about the different dance forms that exist in the UAE. The challenge is also finding spaces for practice and the lack of platforms or gateways that connect performing artists to cultural centres and venues,” The dancer said he is currently in an empty gym or rehearsing in the parking lot.

Ariyawansa is one of a number of performance artists and cultural institutions whose insights will be included in the first in-depth study of the UAE’s diverse and multicultural dance landscape commissioned by NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center. The UAE Dance Scene Mapping project is led by Hiba Arts Project, a non-profit cultural initiative to raise the profile of dance and sport in the UAE.

In 2016, Beata Stankevic, one of the founders of the Hiba Art Project, had the opportunity to work with Alserkal Avenue as the curator of their first contemporary dance project, and she became curious about the breadth of the UAE dance scene.

“I found that there is no visibility in the field, and there is no different types of dance forms and local talent,” said the dance programmer and performing arts culture manager.

“I also realised that, unlike the visual arts, no one has documented the history, growth, influences and nuances of the dance scene in the UAE.”

The research, which she expects to be completed by the end of this year, will open up investments in the development of the field for public and private cultural institutions, managers and performers. It will be an all-encompassing document outlining the existing genres and players in the space, with an analysis of the ecosystem and infrastructure available. It is developing through personal stories, case studies, observations, insights, and qualitative and quantitative interviews with institutions and artists from across the country, serving as a historical reference and a resource to support the development of the industry.

One of the goals of the study, Stankevic said, was to identify different dance communities and the challenges they face.

“I have been observing the dance scene in the UAE for many years and can see that they are highly segregated. I am now trying to picture what is available here from the perspective of infrastructure, venues and professionals (e.g. cultural managers, costume designers, set creators) what is missing and what support is needed to provide more opportunities for these communities,” she said.

Citing the example of Bharatnatyam Indian classical dance in the UAE, which she has studied extensively, Stankevic says the dance form exists on the fringes and is unknown to anyone outside the community.

“There is a growing number of traditional, modern and hip-hop communities here, but there are still obstacles to their reaching mainstream status. However, they do have the potential to be part of the country’s cultural landscape, as in other multicultural countries such as the US and the UK same,” she said.

Through targeted interviews, she has identified some of the challenges performers face and new opportunities they can take advantage of.

“Renting a studio can be very expensive for those pursuing the arts, who resort to practicing in parking lots and moving from house to house for rehearsal. This is often difficult because the footwork disturbs neighbours Another problem is that not many venues have a ‘dance season’ where budgets are allocated for the art form and performers are invited in advance.”

However, she said, the local scene is maturing, with institutions such as NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Centre and Alserkal Avenue focusing on dance programming, as well as formal education pathways such as the Sharjah Academy of Performing Arts and dance qualifications offered by some schools in Dubai.

Bill Bragin, executive artistic director of the NYU Center for the Arts, said he saw Stankevic’s work as an important extension of their efforts to uncover talent in the UAE’s performing arts scene.

“Over the past few years, the Arts Centre has had the privilege of presenting a number of different regional and international performances, such as Arabian contemporary dance by Dubai’s Sima Dance Company, and more recently a performance highlighting the UAE’s underground hip-hop community by resident filmmakers , artist and dancer Philip Rashid,” Bragin said.

“We know that all of this cultural activity is happening at the grassroots level. This project is a great step to start teasing out how many other companies and performers are working on different dance forms and then make a case for more investment in this space … it also involves finding ways to support the development of artistic dance, whether through workshops, training, commissions or residencies.”

Another aim of the project is to highlight the stories of Emirati artists and provide them with a global platform, he said.

“The artists living here have UAE stories and I really wonder if there is an Emirati dance aesthetic and sound. We also hope to find jobs that can spread internationally and bring light to the country’s creative economy .”

To learn more about the project, visit fault art project

Updated: September 9, 2022 at 6:01 pm