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Dance People

 
Mark Harding Review by Mark Harding 4 Published: 8 Aug 2025 Old College Quad Show Dates: 7 Aug 2025-10 Aug 2025

Dance People, devised by Omar Rajeh and Mia Habis and performed with the Lebanese-French dance company Maqamat, is essentially a meditation on power relationships between people, especially as they relate to physical space. This sounds abstract and dry, but the show is fun and joyous, with plenty of headspace for thought and reflection.

Infectiously exuberant dancing breaks down barriers, turning the whole crowd into joyful participants

Situated in Edinburgh University’s Old College Quad, the performers constantly redraw the courtyard spaces with floor markings and moving platforms. The audience surrounds the dancers but is restricted by red markings – sometimes encouraged to invade the spaces, sometimes hushed outside them. The boundaries between dancers and spectators are fluid. At the opening, the dancers mingle with the audience, introducing themselves by name, and later bring audience members into the dance, concluding with almost the whole crowd joining in joyous dancing.

The text projected on the courtyard walls points out that the crowd has now claimed both the space and the performance.

I have attended many shows where audiences are encouraged to dance, but never one where the participation of the whole crowd felt so joyful. This stems from the performers’ infectiously exuberant dancing that breaks down barriers and inhibitions.

The performers blend choreographed sequences with solo improvisations, and the show uses digital displays, projected text, live video, spatial microphone effects, a DJ/musician, and recorded and live music and singing.

Moments of frantic activity contrast with opportunities for meditation. Once the connection between physical space, ownership and power is established, there is time to reconsider the Old Quad anew: its complex relationship to authority, institutional ownership, and segregated uses by separate public groups.

As the show progresses, emphasis shifts from the wider public to the individual. Red letters distributed to each audience member contain individual accounts of mankind’s abuse – for example, persecution in Rwanda, a witness to a murder, or environmental degradation.

Single names and dates are projected (presumably victims of abuse), while the dancers improvise superbly as individuals rather than as a choreographed group.

Another pause for contemplation features interviews with audience members about their working day, concluding with the finale’s roll-call of ‘dear citizens’ playing their different societal parts – connecting individuals to wider society while showing society as composed of separate people.

Although the show creates a coherent whole from an intellectual point of view, for me, the various parts lacked a coherent emotional unity and journey.

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The Blurb:

WORLD PREMIERE

Join Lebanese-French dance company Maqamat for an interactive dance performance in the beautiful surrounds of the Old College Quad.

Choreographers Omar Rajeh and Mia Habis invite you to step into the rhythm of creativity in everyday life. Set outdoors against the striking backdrop of Edinburgh’s Old College Quad, Lebanese-French dance company Maqamat presents Dance People – a performance where the line between audience and performer dissolves.

Dance People pirouettes between joy and critique, examining the power structures that influence the artistic process. Democracy, dictatorship and culture are placed under the spotlight, their tensions explored through dynamic choreography and unflinching physicality. Across France, Lebanon and the Arab region, Rajeh is acclaimed for his politically charged works, which merge movement with activism.

As the performance unfolds, spectators are drawn into its orbit, moving from observers to participants. This promenade production blurs the boundary between stage and reality, making room for unexpected encounters and bold new forms.

Listen on Soundcloud or Spotify.

Supported by James and Morag Anderson

A keepsake freesheet is available at the venue for this performance.