Our Voice Together Now (صوتنا معًا الآن)

Our Voice Together Now (صوتنا معًا الآن) is a unique dance exchange between Belfast International Arts Festival, Orient Productions (Egypt) and Sareyyet Ramallah (Palestine).

Funded by an International Collaboration award from the British Council, the project will result in three new works being presented across 2025–2027. All three pieces will be seen by audiences in Belfast, Cairo and Ramallah over the three years.

Palestinian choreographer Salma Ataya developed her piece Everynothing with three local dancers in Belfast. The work premiered at BIAF 2025 at the Crescent Arts Centre. It will be performed at D-CAF (Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival) in October 2026.

Northern Irish choreographer and BIAF’s 2025 Artist in Residence, Michael McEvoy created Tá Brón Orm (Irish for ‘grief is upon me’) with a cast of Egyptian dancers in Cairo. It debuted at the Arab Arts Focus showcase during D-CAF  in October 2025.

Egyptian choreographer Shaymaa Shoukry‘s The Light Within ( نور in Arabic) was originally planned to debut at Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival. However, due to the ongoing crisis in Gaza, the all-female cast rehearsed in Cairo and the piece instead debuted at the Arab Arts Focus in October 2025. It was then performed at the Ramallah Contemporary Arts Festival in July 2026.

The Light Within and Tá Brón Orm receive their European premieres at the MAC Belfast on Saturday 24 October in a special double bill as part of BIAF 2026.

At its heart, Our Voice Together Now is about connection and supporting new talent in dance. Through these new works, artists from Northern Ireland, Egypt, and Palestine come together to create, collaborate, and share powerful stories across borders – a vital act of solidarity in uncertain times.

Watch the video above to learn more  from the producers and choreographers behind this unique project.