Dubai: Get your dancing shoes ready and join over 400 renowned and professional dancers from 40 countries around the globe who will heat up the dance floor on October 17 for the fifth Dubai International Dance Festival (DIDF).
Organisers of DIDF, the region’s biggest dance festival, said on Wednesday that the festival has grown tremendously from when it first started in 2007. The number of participating dancers has increased eight times over the last five years reflecting the growing “thirst for dance” in the emirate.
“When the Dance Festival started in 2007, we started with 50 dancers. Now we have over 400 dancers, you can see how we grow every year. This shows the huge appetite of the people for dance in the region,” Chris D., co-founder and co-director of DIDF, said.
“The dance community here in Dubai has been growing to the point that now we have so many salsa nights, and so many tango/milonga or places where we dance the tango. Basically, many people have been joining the salsa community and the dance community in Dubai so it has a very powerful [effect],” Luis Gabriel, Dubai-based professional dancer, told Gulf News after their short performance on Wednesday.
Gabriel and his partner Synthia Agudelo bagged the top prize for the 2010 World Latin Dance Cup in the US.
Organisers said that guests and participants may enjoy an array of performances, live entertainment, themed dance parties, dance competitions, workshops, and guest DJs, to name a few. Main performances will take place at the grand venue in DUCTAC, Mall of the Emirates.
Originally held every June, organisers moved the festival to October 17 to 20, sandwiched between two main events in the emirate — the Eid in Dubai and Gitex — in anticipation of the influx of tourists that month.
The four-day festival will have something for everyone, whether you’re a newbie, an expert, or a person with two left feet. Guests may catch performances from various genres like slsa, zumba, Latin, contemporary, Bollywood, hip-hop, freestyle, and funk, and learn from the pros themselves.
“The traffic we’re getting towards the Dubai International Dance Festival is absolutely amazing; everybody wants to participate. And the beautiful thing about it is you don’t have to be 18, or 20 or 60. We have dancers from all ages, from all backgrounds, all nationalities, any job, any age can participate,” Sara Sharouf, event coordinator, said.
“We have seen people who said ‘I will never ever dance in my life,’ or say ‘I have two feet’, and we have people who have a very negative approach towards dance, and yet they end up as one of our best dancers,” Sharouf added.
Sharouf also said that the festival will serve as a platform for home-grown dancers to showcase their talent to the world. More than 30 locally-based shows will be on offer during the event.
For more information, visit www.dubaidancefestival.com.
