Shoppers Transfixed as Young Acrobats Perform Amazing Feats at City Centre Mirdif

Thursday 21 January 2016

Dubai - MENA Herald: The Dubai Shopping Festival entertains and amuses its audience every day with unique activations and shows – from amazing acrobatics through to surreal fantasy, the 21st edition of DSF is keeping shoppers entertained with unique experiences throughout its 32-day festival.

Award winning American show, Le PeTIT CiRqUe, is putting on three shows during DSF 2016; one of them is the ‘Imaginary World’ which will go on until the 24th of January. Children in the audience, as well as adults, were astounded by the fantastic abilities of the young performers in the show who are between 6 and 16 years old.

Mohamed Khalil and Tala Abdullah, who live in Spain but currently visiting Dubai to spend their holiday with their grandmother, Wafaa Omoory, were fascinated by the show, Mohamed, said: “I have seen similar shows in Spain. I love circus shows - they make me so happy especially because these performers are just as young as I am!”

Tala said: “All the performers of Le PeTIT CiRqUe are girls which is so good. I like that the girls can do these hard moves and I wish that in the future I can be part of a show like this. I always come to Dubai at this time every year to watch these shows while my parents and grandparents go shopping.”

Engineer Mohamed Almawaed and his wife are from Ghana but of Lebanese origin and are in Dubai with their daughters as part of Mohamed’s work. He believes that he has been quite lucky over the last five years, as whenever he needs to visit Dubai for work it is during DSF. Mohamed continued saying: “My job requires me to travel between Dubai and Ghana a lot. It’s really hard to stop shopping in Dubai because the promotions are always irresistible.”

He also said, “What I have noticed over the past few editions of DSF is that it has become a platform for stores to relaunch their brands. This is, of course, ultimately beneficial for the customer. We prefer to shop at City Centre Mirdif because it has the stores we like and it’s very elegant and gives us a good chance to exercise because of all the walking we end up doing!”

Egyptian businessman Ahmed Abdelkarim and his son, Abdelaziz, went to catch the show as soon as his work meeting at City Centre Mirdif finished. Abdelkairm said “I have been keeping tabs on shows and entertainment during DSF since its very first year, especially the ones that are specific to children.”

“I would like to thank those who work on DSF because it gives our family a chance to take a step back, have a good time and spend some valuable time together. The shows are always very well selected and classy and suitable for both children and adults. This year I have focused my shopping on winter apparel, in fact I’m actually wearing one of things I bought right now.”

Abdelaziz aspires to become a businessman like his father and really enjoyed the show and how the performers managed to pull off some difficult stunts. He also liked the costumers and the acrobat moves, especially the tight rope walk.

Mostafa Ahmed, a Moroccan man who runs a company in Dubai is at the mall with his wife and daughter, Hind, to specifically catch the show, asserting that they never miss a show whether it’s in The Dubai Mall or City Centre Deira because Hind loves watching them. He continued: “What really sets DSF apart is the sheer number and variety of entertainment activations which are offered to DSF visitors, free of charge. It really feels like the organisers are doing it to make our shopping experience all the more fantastic.”

Family entertainment is one of the main pillars of the Dubai Shopping Festival which hosts a number of international entertainment acts, many of which are being put on in the Middle East for the first time ever. These acts focus on entertaining people of all ages, driving a lot of families to come back to Dubai time and again during DSF.

The Imaginary Show performed by Le PeTIT CiRqUe is a half an hour long show performed by eight aerial and acrobatic specialists from Los Angeles, USA.

Natalie Jodisieh, Director and Founder of the act said: “Le PeTIT CiRqUe aims to offer entertainment that is made for children but also performed by children. A young audience is more positively engaged when they are of closer age to the performers”

“This is the first time that we have put on our shows in Dubai. We have previously had the honour of performing in front of the Dalai Lama and the Sultan of Brunei. I hope that we can come back and perform in Dubai again which has really impressed me with its cleanliness and order.”

“Between performances I sneak some shopping in and I have spent around 800 dollars so far.”

Declan, the youngest performer at the age of 6, and winner of the National American Karate Championship, is here with her dad and her fellow performers. She said “I love that the children watching me are happy. I am not scared from the dangerous moves. One time, I sprained my foot but I am fine now and I will keep going. I went on a desert safari earlier today and I rode a camel. It was so much fun – I have never seen a camel in LA! Dubai is beautiful – I love the skyscrapers and I went to see Burj Khalifa”

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