Dance is Not For Us by Cie Omar Rajeh & Maqamat

The Pit, Barbican, London
October 16, 2026

Dance is Not For Us is a short powerful burst of human emotion wrapped in poetic thoughts and a forest of basil plants. Omar Rajed’s Maqamat Company and BIPOD have visited London before, but this is his first solo performance, and he is a powerhouse of creative energy.

Despite what the title says, we have decided to come to the theatre at the requested time in expectation. Rajeh fulfils our expectations, as he proves the necessity of dance in times of little hope. There are biographical details in the stream of consciousness, his interior monologue that is written up in English and Arabic script on the backcloth. A teenage boy in Beirut watches dance and decides that for him, dance will be the most revolutionary and subversive act he can undertake. He embarks on his big dream, seeing in dance the same energy that people show when they march in protest in the streets.

The performance starts gently to the strains of the Syrian chanteuse, Asmahan, singing a love song as Rajeh arranges the dozens of basil plants in tiny pots. He takes a seat centre stage as the lights fade. Then to a burst of percussion, he walks to the front of the stage and turns his back. The energy flow starts in his fingers, working to the hands and arms and eventually taking over the whole body.  He dances with fluid grace between the plants; a body filled with passion. An exhausting series of jumps are just part of this dance marathon as he expresses his inner turmoil in unrestrained movement.

The movement stills and Rajeh busies himself spreading the plants until they cover the stage.  He says they remind him of his mother’s garden. The text likens Beirut to a Greek tragedy, the loss of one’s home and the memories it stored, the pain of helplessness and yet we are still here. The movement returns to the fine detail coming to stillness as the hands and finally just the fingers move and are then quiet. As Rajeh says, “We dance to confirm that we exist.”  In such troubled times we need this confirmation.