A Performance of Valour, 2022
Video, 4.08 min

A meditation on masculinity, performance, representation and national identity. A collage of found footage, film excerpts and stock video, its starting point is the World Disco Dancing Championship in London in 1980 and 1984 in Malibu which included participants representing the United Arab Emirates. 

When I first saw the clip of the 1980 championship, I wondered if there was a similar competition today, would the UAE be represented, and who would take on the role of representing the country. 

Traditional dances like Al-Ayyala and Al Razfa, both included in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, include movements that can easily work on a disco dance floor. 

In the UAE, men (and women) in ‘national attire’ are expected to behave in a certain way, as role models of the country. Anything that veers away from approved cultural norms leads to slander, and even calls for arrests.

Remixing music and video footage creates new questions and meanings, and in this video, it’s also an imagined evolution of dance and representation.

Music produced and remixed by Moath "Qonami" Bin Hafez.

Supported by:
Abu Dhabi Art's Beyond: Emerging Artists 2020 (Abu Dhabi Art 2020)
Portrait of a Nation II: Beyond Narratives, 2022 (Abu Dhabi Art & Music Foundation)


If you are interested in seeing the video, please send a request to: hind.mezaina@gmail.com