ves sels | Contemporary Dance Performance

It’s invisible yet it feels so strong.

It pulls and it pushes.

It guides and it misleads.

It’s clear but so blurry.

A hunch, a gut feeling, or what most people would call, an intuition.

But what is it really? How does it look like? feel like? sound like?

And why does it never leave us?

In this eclectic performance, ranging from visual art, music, and dance, we explore the concept of intuition through four different artists and artistic expressions.

About the Artists:

Rashid Almheiri is an Emirati visual artist who has invisible dialogues with objects, moments & emotions. He is continuously gravitating towards creating poetic experiences.

Lama's first language is music - she translates real life experiences through singing and songwriting. Singing in both English and Arabic, she finds beauty in the different ways each language can be used to express. That form of expression lives beyond ‘songs’. She envisions her music through art projects - and the songs she writes are just one execution of a bigger and deeper topic, living alongside different forms of artistic expression. That being said, lama took part in an eclectic number of performances, such as Rhyme with Sima Dance Company in both Sima Performing Arts and NYU Abu Dhabi, Art for Palestine in Alserkal Avenue, Art Dubai, and during Quoz Arts Fest 2022 with Volte Art Projects.

Elizabeth Stott graduated from Utah Valley University with her Bachelor’s degree in Dance, with an emphasis in ballet in 2012. She danced there with Repertory Ballet Ensemble, performing and working with a wide variety of choreographers. She began choreographing while in school and competing in choreography competitions like the Choreography Design Project in Utah Regional Ballet and the National Choreography Intensive put on Regional Dance America. In 2013, she moved to UAE where she began teaching and training young dancers. She joined Sima Dance Company in 2019

Rei Kassandra Co is from the Philippines and she started her training with Sima Dance Company at the age of 9 years old. Her training includes Ballet, Pointe, Modern Jazz, and Contemporary Dance. The Company gave her an opportunity to dance as a professional when she was 12 years old during the Al Qouz Arts Festival and Fujairah International Arts Festival in 2018. Aside from the training that she got from the company, she attended various training from various artists from different countries visiting Dubai. Currently, she is teaching hip-hop, Contemporary dance for beginners, and is one of the lead artists of Sima Dance Company.

Sima Dance Company was founded in Damascus, Syria in 2003 by a choreographer Alaa Krimed, known for his unique works in the region. After noticing a void in the Arab contemporary dance landscape, he took the first step towards filling that gap, aspiring to expose the Middle Eastern audience to the art of contemporary dance. Alaa Krimed’s productions were performed in Damascus Opera House, Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts and various theaters in the region. In 2012, Sima Dance Company moved to Beirut and founded a dance studio there. The studio focused on promoting Arab contemporary dance in Lebanon by further developing the skills of aspiring professionals and qualified dancers. The Company’s efforts were awarded winning the title of Arabs Got Talent in 2014, the Arab version of the international show, produced by MBC. In 2015 the company relocated to Dubai and opened its own space Sima Performing Arts in Alserkal Avenue in 2017. Since then, Sima Dance Company has successfully collaborated with main cultural institutions of the UAE.