Omar Rajeh is a choreographer and dancer, founder and artistic director of Maqamat. After establishing his base in Lebanon in 2002, he relocated to Lyon in 2020, continuing to create and tour between Lebanon, France, and internationally.
Across more than twenty choreographic works presented on major international stages, Rajeh develops a practice that questions the politics of gatherings and relationships. He treats space as a living composition of meaning: how it is arranged, occupied, and negotiated shapes the nature of relationships. Central to his approach is maqam – a practice of instant composition that conceives the body as a constellation of shifting centres in constant dialogue, organising space through relationships rather than form.
Rajeh's artistic work is inseparable from the cultural ecosystems he has initiated and sustained. He founded BIPOD – Beirut International Platform of Dance, co-founded the Masahat network, and initiated Takween, an intensive training program. In 2017 he established Citerne Beirut, a pioneering choreographic centre in Lebanon, later reimagined as Citerne.live, a digital platform dedicated to artistic circulation and documentation.
For his contribution to culture, he was distinguished by the French Ministry of Culture as Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
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Programme
Bellydance Vogue
France / Spain, 2020 dir Hadi Moussally, 5 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles
Alone on his birthday during lockdown, Lebanese artist Hadi Moussally decides to celebrate as if it were his last. In Bellydance Vogue, isolation becomes a space for freedom, self-expression and defiant joy, as Moussally turns the camera on himself and creates his own celebration from the confines of home.
SALIDAS
Germany, 2020 dir Michael Fetter Nathansky, 10 mins, in Spanish, Arabic and German with English subtitles
SALIDAS (meaning DEPARTURES in English) is a fictional dance film which tells the story of Giralda, an undertaker who accompanies deceased human beings into their afterlife. Interpreted with the means of Spanish flamenco dance and music and set at an old East German ship canal lift, the film creates an associative fusion between Northern and Southern Europe, movement and silence, and farewells and eternity.
DIVE
UK, 2021 dir Scottish Ballet, 10 mins
Scottish Ballet’s Choreographer in Residence Sophie Laplane partners with James Bonas (The Crucible) and film director Oscar Sansom to create Dive, a short film inspired by French artist Yves Klein and what has become the world’s most famous shade of blue. Expect Laplane’s quintessentially quirky choreography paired with striking visuals in this teal-toned treat.
INHALE
Iran, 2025 dir Lagha Ghavam & Mohsen Pouryousefian, 7 mins
INHALE is an experimental dance film created in the aftermath of Iran’s 2022 Women, Life, Freedom movement. Through restrained movement and a distant camera, it explores isolation, loss, grief and the psychological effects of social suppression. As winter shifts to spring, a young woman gradually dissolves into the natural environment, creating a poetic meditation on fragility, resilience and the boundary between life and stillness. With no dialogue, the film communicates through the body, space, sound and editing.
SLow
Taiwan, 2004, dir Karel van Laere, 7 mins
In SLow, Dutch artist Karel van Laere places the defenceless human body in stark contrast with the machines, systems and structures that surround it. Set against the urban landscape of Taiwan, the film explores the tension between individual freedom and the invisible rules that shape everyday life.
THE DUST OF MY CONCRETE CHILD
Switzerland, 2025 dir Lino Eckstein and Eden Manga-Nkoy, 24 mins
A video catalogue consisting of short films that portray different perspectives of intimacy and violence. For Sunday Shorts, Dance Umbrella presents three from the series.
Portrait 2: Viciousness and Vulnerability, is a dreamlike portrait following seven dancers on an incoherent journey of trying to find belonging and rest in an ever shifting environment.
Portrait 5: Emptiness and Void, follows dancers stuck in isolation and forced to confront themselves as they fall into their own world, suffocating under the force of a crushing loneliness.
Portrait 6: Risk and Balance, which takes us on an evolutionary path from fragile helpless bodies to wild and curious beings.
Cinema 3
Location
Barbican Cinema 1 is located within the main Barbican building on Level -2. Head to Level G and walk towards the Lakeside Terrace where you’ll find stairs and lifts to take you down to the venue floor.
Address
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS
Public transport
The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance.
