Spaces of Encounter is a specially curated programme of short films selected by dance artist, festival director and choreographer Omar Rajeh. Throughout his work, Rajeh explores the relationship between bodies, memory and place, examining how movement can reveal the social, political and emotional landscapes we inhabit. For this edition of Dance Umbrella’s Sunday Shorts, he brings together a collection of films that reflect these ongoing artistic enquiries.
Spanning streets, apartments, rooftops, ruins, public squares and temporary architectures, the selected works explore how movement transforms our experience of place and of one another (and its relations). Architecture and the material fabric of the city become active participants within the films: walls, windows, staircases, concrete, debris, light and distance shape the choreography of everyday life.
Together, these films offer a rich and layered meditation on encounters, belonging and coexistence, inviting audiences to consider how bodies move through and are shaped by the spaces they inhabit.
Full programme
Bellydance Vogue (2020)
Dir. Hadi Moussally | France, Spain | 5 mins
Arabic with English subtitles
Alone on his birthday during lockdown, Lebanese artist Hadi Moussally decides to celebrate as if it were his last. 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 (2020)
Dir. Michael Fetter Nathansk | Germany | 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 (2021)
UK | Dir. Oliver Sansom | 10 mins
Scottish Ballet’s Choreographer in Residence Sophie Laplane partners with James Bonas (The Crucible) and film director Oscar Sansom for this 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 (2025)
Iran | Dir. Lagha Ghavam & Mohsen Pouryousefian | 7 mins
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 (2004)
Taiwan | 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 (2025)
Switzerland | Dir. Lino Eckenstein 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.
Gallery
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Omar Rajeh
Choreographer, Dancer & Artistic Director
Omar Rajeh (he/him)
Choreographer, Dancer & Artistic Director
Beirut (Lebanon), Lyon (France)
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.
More from Omar Rajeh
16 - 17 Oct 2026
In-person
Barbican Pit
Cie Omar Rajeh & Maqamat Dance is Not for Us
An intimate solo that speaks of Lebanon and a world that froze before it could become a future
7 Oct - 30 Nov 2026
DigitalCie Omar Rajeh & Maqamat Spaces of Encounter
A special curation of short films examining how movement can reveal the landscapes we inhabit
7 Oct - 30 Nov 2026
DigitalCie Omar Rajeh & Maqamat The Odor of Elephants After the Rain
A dance film that bears witness to Beirut and its people in the wake of a devastating explosion
Presented by Dance Umbrella and Barbican
Venue & Access +
Venue
Address
Barbican Cinema 2 & 3
Beech Street
London
EC2Y 8DS
Barbican Cinema 2 & 3 are located on Beech Street, a short walk from the Barbican’s Silk Street entrance. From Silk Street, you’ll see a zebra crossing that will take you across the road to the venue.
Access information
For more access information, please visit the Barbican’s Accessibility section.
Access
Cinemas 2 & 3 are located at Beech Street, a short walk from the Barbican Centre’s main Silk Street entrance. There are a couple of steep, dropped kerbs and an incline to negotiate between the two sites. Level access from Beech Street.
Mobility
Each auditorium has three permanent wheelchair spaces (two in the third row and one in the front row) and 153 fixed seats with capacity for a further three spaces in the front row. Access to each auditorium is up a ramp. There are also a number of seats with step-free access.
Assistance dogs
Assistance dogs may be taken into the cinema – please tell the Barbican when booking to ensure your seat has enough space. If you prefer, you may leave your dog with a member of the foyer staff during the performance.
Hearing facility
An infrared system for hard of hearing customers is provided in each auditorium; headsets or neck loops can be collected from foyer staff. The ticket desk counter is fitted with an induction loop.
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