A picture from the show "One Thousand and One Nights" by the Caracalla Dance Troupe. (Credit: Nabil Ismail)
If Scheherazade managed to save her skin from King Shahryar's murderous mania by keeping him captivated with her stories, the Caracalla company manages to ward off evil by dancing. Since its creation by Abdel Halim Caracalla in 1968, it has never been idle, pushing the limits of choreography, stage effects, and musical reinvention further with each performance. Whether Lebanon is at a standstill, from the Covid pandemic to the financial crisis, to the escalation of the war that marked the end of 2024, Caracalla dances as a tribe, as a family, as a dynasty. The troupe dances to challenge its own excellence, revive the folkloric heritage of Baalbeck that gave it life, dispel the lethal acedia, maintain the joy of the spectacle, and carry its Orient to the ends of the world. Sometimes in "Thousand and One Nights," sometimes...
If Scheherazade managed to save her skin from King Shahryar's murderous mania by keeping him captivated with her stories, the Caracalla company manages to ward off evil by dancing. Since its creation by Abdel Halim Caracalla in 1968, it has never been idle, pushing the limits of choreography, stage effects, and musical reinvention further with each performance. Whether Lebanon is at a standstill, from the Covid pandemic to the financial crisis, to the escalation of the war that marked the end of 2024, Caracalla dances as a tribe, as a family, as a dynasty. The troupe dances to challenge its own excellence, revive the folkloric heritage of Baalbeck that gave it life, dispel the lethal acedia, maintain the joy of the spectacle, and carry its Orient to the ends of the world. Sometimes in "Thousand and One Nights," sometimes...
