Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for April 9, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE.
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Abu Dhabi
Film screenings
Register now to attend special screenings presented by Cinema Space. Martin Scorsese's The Film Foundation and its World Cinema Project have restored the 1981 Moroccan documentary Trances. Directed by Ahmed El Maanouni, it focuses on Moroccan band Nass El Ghiwane, whose political lyrics and acoustic sound draw on the Moroccan trance-music tradition. The film is in Arabic with English subtitles. The Walt Disney Company has also given special permission for a screening of a newly restored version of the 1954 sci-fi film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, directed by Richard Fleischer, and starring Paul Lukas and Peter Lorre as a professor and his assistant, who are invited by the United States government to join an expedition tasked with proving the existence of a sea monster in the Pacific Ocean. The film is in English.
April 15, 4pm for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; 7pm for Trances; April 24, 7.30pm for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, free with registration, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, register at cinemaspace-abudhabi.splashthat.com
Dubai
Art exhibition
Spring/Summer Blooms at Art Couture is a tribute to American painter Georgia O'Keefe, who is famous for her magnified flowers. Anna Galea and Reta Richards, two artists with different styles, present the same subjects in their own distinct ways. Pictured: Coloured Shadows by Anna Galea
Daily until May 15, 10am to 10pm, Art Couture, Event Centre, Lobby Level, InterContinental, Dubai Festival City, Dubai, 04 701 1111, www.artcoutureuae.com
Abu Dhabi
Kids’ fun
Register your children, ages 3 to 6, to take part in the Jammie Jam Thursdays sessions at Bodytree Studio, a fun pajama party presented by the Moms Guide Abu Dhabi. It includes upbeat dancing, a relaxing bedtime story and a calming stretching session, plus milk and cookies. Children will be encouraged to read to one another, and they can borrow books from a mobile library.
Starts April 20, 5pm to 6pm on Thursdays, from Dh60 per session, Bodytree Studio, Abu Dhabi, 02 443 4448, www.bodytreestudio.com
Abu Dhabi
Fitness event
Start your week off the right way with StartYas with a walk, jog or cycle around the 5.55km Yas Marina Circuit and enjoy the cooler weather as you get fit or stay fit. Bikes and helmets are available for rent from Fun Ride Sports and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi provides 400 complimentary bikes each week.
Tonight, 6pm to 10pm, free with registration, Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, register at www.yasmarinacircuit.com
Sharjah
Art exhibition
In the exhibition Once Upon a Time: Hadiqat Al Umma, Iraqi artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraj presents a panoramic multimedia video installation reliving his childhood in Baghdad, specifically a park that was a sanctuary from the city and its heat. The park remains a vivid memory in the artist's mind, and it is brought to life through drawings and animation across nine projectors. Pictured: An image by Sadik Kwaish Alfraj
Daily until May 6, 10am to 10pm, Saturdays to Thursdays; 4pm to 10pm, Fridays, Maraya Art Centre, Al Qasba, Al Taawun Road, Sharjah, 06 556 6555, www.maraya.ae
Nationwide
New movie
Salt and Fire stars Michael Shannon as the head of a large company responsible for an ecological disaster who kidnaps two scientists (Veronica Ferres and Gael Garcia Bernal) in Bolivia, where they had been sent by the UN to investigate the situation. When a nearby volcano shows signs of erupting, they must work together to avoid disaster. Thriller, also starring Volker Michalowski, Lawrence Knauss and Anita Briem.
Screening at cinemas across the UAE. (PG-15)
Dubai
Performance
Catch an HD screening of the classic film Jurassic Park at Dubai Opera, while the John Williams score is performed live by the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra. Paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) visit an island where scientists have bred dinosaurs in an immersive theme park, but things go terribly wrong and dinosaurs rule the Earth again.
April 20 to 21, 8pm on April 20; 3pm on April 21, from Dh150, Dubai Opera, Downtown Dubai, Dubai, www.dubaiopera.com
Dubai
Performance
Sign up for the Strong and Fit for Summer combo package at Motion Ladies Fitness Center and get 10 Reformer Pilates sessions, 10 group classes – including yoga, Pilates, dance, X-Fit and Bodyfirm – and 5 TRX classes. Try different classes and exercises that help you tone and challenge your muscles.
Dh1,800, valid for 60 days, Motion Ladies Fitness Center, Umm Suqeim, Dubai, 04 328 2538, www.motionfitnesscenter.com
Dubai
Art workshop
Sign up to take part in Stories Not Selfies, a workshop series at XVA Gallery led by photographers Andrew Quilty and Tasneem Alsultan. Creating Compelling Narratives from the Everyday, held on Friday, and Shooting Beyond the Obvious, on Saturday, are full-day programmes that include practical experience of shooting around old Dubai, the Creek and souqs. It will be held under the guidance of instructors who will also critique the participants’ works. The classes will conclude with a presentation of participants’ top images, shot on smartphone or digital camera.
Friday and Saturday, 10am to 7pm, Dh1,200 per class, XVA Gallery, Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood, Bur Dubai, register by Thursday at info@annaseassau.com
Dubai
Comedy show
Register for tickets to the filming of stand-up comedy special, Mina Liccione: Araby By Nature, which will take place on May 13 during two shows. The award-winning American comedian, who is the founder of Dubomedy based in Dubai, aims to bring positive attention to the region through this special. Liccione uses comedy to break stereotypes and unify diverse cultures and help those in need.
May 13, 6pm and 8.30pm, Warehouse Four, Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz, Dubai, register at 800 266339, www.minaliccione.com
