Jeddah Dance Crew featuring Salah Ibrahim (AKSJ) and other eight members of the hip-hop and break dance crew (DJ-JAZ).Stand-up comedians Rahman Akhtar, Omar Ramzi, Mohammad Hussain and Thamer Al-Hazmi captured the audience's attention with their talent. Al-Hazmi warmed up the crowd with his jokes about how parents treat children, but Ramzi, known as the White Sudanese, stole the show with his hilarious set. Akhtar, the Pakistani-born British stand-up comedian, performed without a written script and had the audience in stitches with his mimicry and linguistic skills. “It was wonderful to perform with old friends on stage, I don't write my plays down and perform directly from my heart,” he said. The theater group, Khawater Adhalam, which in Arabic means “Thoughts of Darkness” performed a “Black Light” play, which involves the use of a dark stage, dark curtains, invisible stage artists and ultra-violet lighting. Only a few characters are visible to the audience. “We've done several shows that are funny, tackle real life issues and narrate short stories,” said Mamdoh Khudary, the leader of the theater group. “Most of our shows focus on current affairs or day-to-day events. Today's show was just for entertainment with two players playing table tennis and flying through the air. I hope the audience liked our performance,” he said. The six member hip-hop band J-FAM (Jeddah Fabulous Ambitious Members) presented three of their original tracks from their upcoming album. “We just brought a mixture of inspirational music and some different flavors so we can speak on behalf of the youth,” said Ahmad Saghaf, also known as Balla Skillz, the leader of the J-FAM group. J-FAM's other members are Mohammed Hamid (also known as MH) and R&B singer; Hani Zian (also known as Black Drama); and Hamza Al-Husawi (also known as Ayzee). “It's a career plus a profession, we really love to do what we do and believe in ourselves. We work and perform dance at the same time. We want to start a home production company and perform at an international level,” he added. Jeddah Dance Crew, a nine member hip-hop and breakdance crew, also performed during the three-hour event and featured exotic theater and the quintessential DJ ZAC. Eight people in the group are students and the other four are working people. Salah Ibrahim, the leader of the dance group, said they are the Kingdom's dance champions. They performed to various Arab and rap songs. “We had a great time showing our talent to the people of Jeddah.” He added that they are looking to learn more and join some dance classes. The group called “Timbasha” with leader Ali Bash and his friend Mohammed Sayed Saleh (Timba) presented two tracks “Self Confidence” based on real Arabic rap and Macanhip, which is called Fella. “The track ‘Self Confidence' is a story in music form. It is a message to parents and children on how to maintain their self-confidence and how important it is for success in life,” said Bash. He said they want to change the image of rap and hip hop and adapt it to Arab culture. Hatem Abusitta, Executive Manager of the event said that they wanted to expose the youth to a wide range of experiences, opportunities and resources to drive positive change in their own lives and the community. Ahmed Sahab, CEO of Century 21 Events, said they have re-energized the culture of stand-up comedy and hip hop in the country. The company was established on the youth day in Jeddah last Ramadan. It includes Hatem Abusitta, the executive manager; Aamer Trambu, the marketing supervisor; Mairo Goda; Salma Al-Hogbi; the organizing team and others. “The main aim is to provide great family entertainment and expose local talent,” said Sahab. He has plans to stage a seasonal show with professional entertainers from America and Europe. “I personally hope that we can organize real operas with more than 40 musicians in an orchestra,” he said.
