Two wildly different shows packed with rhythm, movement and plenty of energy
The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi is kicking off September with two wildly different shows that promise to shake things up – from brass-fuelled New Orleans funk to an all-out techno dance rave.
If your idea of a night at the theatre involves sitting quietly and politely clapping at the end, The Arts Center at NYUAD has other plans.
This September, the Abu Dhabi venue is bringing two seriously energetic performances to its Black Box, offering audiences the chance to experience music and movement in two very different, but equally electrifying, ways.
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Fanfaraï
5 September, The Red Theatre
First up is a high-octane double bill bringing together The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Fanfaraï, two ensembles with very different roots but a shared love of rhythm.
Grammy Award-winning New Orleans group The Dirty Dozen Brass Band helped push traditional Second Line brass music into new territory, mixing the sounds of jazz and bebop with funk, R&B and soul. Expect the kind of infectious energy that makes sitting still feel like a challenge.
Joining them is Fanfaraï, a French North African brass and percussion ensemble with roots in street performance. Drawing on Arab-Berber traditions alongside Afro-Cuban, Latin and jazz influences, the group creates a colourful musical mash-up that refuses to stay in one genre.
Together, the two acts make for a seriously fun musical collision, bringing sounds and influences from different corners of the world together on one stage.
AED78.50, get your tickets at publicprograms.nyuad.nyu.edu
The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave
10-12 September, The Black Box
Then things get even more energetic with The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave, an award-winning contemporary dance performance from Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Created and performed by Oli Mathiesen alongside Lucy Lynch and Sharvon Mortimer, the show takes the intensity of a three-day rave and compresses it into one relentless hour.
Set to Detroit techno album Nocturbulous Behaviour by Suburban Knight, the performance explores the movement, atmosphere and physical endurance of rave culture. Three dancers move continuously, with every beat, gesture and shift carefully choreographed.
It’s sweaty, intense and unapologetically physical, exploring our endless desire to push harder, achieve more and keep going.
And because apparently watching a rave isn’t quite enough, audiences can join one afterwards.
Each performance ends with Raving Ovation, a techno-fuelled after-party on stage with guest DJs, included in the ticket price.
AED52.50, get your tickets at publicprograms.nyuad.nyu.edu
