All Day

Cirque Du Liban: Fontana

Yas Island Abu Dhabi

Cirque du Liban comes to Yas with "the first travelling water circus in the Middle East ... live entertainment, breathtaking artistic performances in a tailor-made aqua theatre, waterfalls cascading, artists diving and performing mind-blowing Aquatic experience". The previews look great, [... more]

From AED 100

Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

ADNEC Abu Dhabi

The 33rd ADIBF 2024 – which runs 29 April to 5 May at ADNEC under the slogan ‘Where the World’s Tales Unfold’ – will be showing 1,350 publishers from 90 countries (12 of them represented for the first time), 375 [... more]

Free, but pre-register

Sharjah Animation Conference

Expo Centre Sharjah Sharjah

"We bring together animation enthusiasts, professionals, and children to celebrate the art and craft of animation." This second edition of the conference actually offers a rich programme of workshops, talks, screenings, and exhibitions which seem most suited to the industry; [... more]

AED 280

Cirque Du Soleil: CRYSTAL

Etihad Arena Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

The second weekend for "a truly breathtaking entertainment phenomenon", with Cirque du Soleil exploring brand-new creative territory by combining its signature acrobatics with ice-skating. So acrobats and skaters perform on the ice and in the air, seamlessly combining disciplines from [... more]

From AED 175

World Art Dubai 2024

Dubai World Trade Centre Dubai

World Art Dubai is back for its tenth edition, with more than 4,000 artworks from 300+ galleries and individual artists who come from more than 60- different countries. WAD has grown out of its early days as a simple lo-fi [... more]

AED 25

Youth Takeover 2024

Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

The Jameel's annual handover of the arts centre to a selected cohort of young visionaries starts on Saturday 4 May and runs to Monday 27 May. There will be multiple artwork and installation "interventions" across the ground floor of the [... more]

Free

Drawing Time: Duets

Al Mureijah Art Spaces Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah

This exhibition spotlights new and historical works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection that present the range and possibilities of drawing and print culture. The first instalment of a four-part series, it delves into the concept of “the double, the [... more]

Free

CLOSING TODAY Katya Muromtseva: Over the Slopes of Speech

NIKA Project Space Unit 11 Al Khayat Avenue, 19th Street Road — Al Quoz 1, Dubai

The first UAE exhibition for the NY-based artist, featuring works created in Dubai during her time at the NIKA Project Space Research and Residency programme – a group of monumental watercolour triptychs on the multifaceted narratives and histories of women [... more]

Free

CLOSING TODAY Katya Muromtseva: Over the Slopes of Speech

NIKA Project Space Unit 11 Al Khayat Avenue, 19th Street Road — Al Quoz 1, Dubai

The New-York based artist gets her first show in the UAE, featuring works she created in Dubai during her time at the NIKA Project Space Research and Residency programme – monumental watercolour triptychs that relate to the narratives and histories [... more]

Free

Drawing Time: Duets

Al Mureijah Art Spaces Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah

New and historical works by 15 intergenerational artists in the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection that explore drawing as a practice. The exhibition grew out of a two-year research project into conserving paper; it seeks to re-examine the very nature of [... more]

Free

Todes Ballet Alla Duhova: Attention

Zabeel Theatre Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, Palm Jumeirah West Crescent, Dubai

Spectacular and crowd-pleasing genre-crossing work from Moscow’s hottest contemporary dance company, created by celebrity choreographer Alla Duhova in 1986 and still led by her. There's nothing academic about their work – their styles range from ballet to break via hip-hop [... more]

From AED 200

Same Same, but Different: Shawn Chidiac

VOX Mercato Mercato Mall, Jumeirah Beach Rd, Dubai

A new VOX cinemas series of live comedy gigs kicks off with Shawn Chidiac, aka ‘My Parents are Divorced'. He's especially good at spot-on impressions but is all-round funny ...

AED 175

The Ice Hole

The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

The second performance for this hit comedy two-hander by Pierre Guillois and Olivier Martin-Salvan, reworked from the French original for an Anglophone audience at last year’s Edinburgh Festival. There were rave reviews for a show that has an imposing Shakespearian [... more]

AED 120