Debbie Allen, the renowned American choreographer/actress/television director and producer best known for her role in Fame, was asked by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to produce a work for Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World. After taking several trips to the Sultanate of Oman and reading more than a dozen books on the historic country, Allen choreographed a performance called Oman… O man! featuring dancers from Oman, California and Washington DC.

As part of the Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World celebration, the Kennedy Center had on display traditional clothing worn by brides and grooms from countries that they considered part of the “Arab World”. Some of these countries included Lebanon, Djibouti, Somali, Oman, Egypt, Kuwait and Qatar. On the day of the performance, the concert hall outside the main theatre featured a free concert from one of most prestigious contemporary Palestinian music groups, the Oriental Music Ensemble.

Casa di Culture attended the opening night of Oman… O man!, a dance about a young African-American boy from Detroit, Michigan USA and a young boy from the Sultanate of Oman that become roommates while attending a summer training camp. During their time as roommates, they learn about each other’s culture through religion, clothing, music and history. Debbie Allen does a great job showing the differences in cultures as well as the many similarities and touches on serious subjects while intertwining humor along the way. Allen also combats many misconceptions in both cultures (the peacefulness and beauty in Islam and the strong history of African-Americans). The performance was a true collaboration of culture even down to the music that was composed by Cuban Arturo Sandoval.

The last performance is today, March 15, but hopefully more cultural exchanges like this will take place to bring our world closer together.