The dancer Akram Khan in his new show, Gnosis, which comes to Abu Dhabi this week.
The dancer Akram Khan in his new show, Gnosis, which comes to Abu Dhabi this week.
The dancer Akram Khan in his new show, Gnosis, which comes to Abu Dhabi this week.
The dancer Akram Khan in his new show, Gnosis, which comes to Abu Dhabi this week.

Dance to the music of a statistical cluster


  • English
  • Arabic

Luck plays tricks. There's that thing, isn't there, about how in a roomful of 23 people there's a better than even chance that two of them will share a birthday. With 57 people the probability rises to more than 99 per cent. Strange, but there it is. It so happens that last week Britain's Daily Express newspaper reported that a Welsh mother named Pam Banwell had given birth to three children on three different February 5s.

The paper excitedly reported that this was a 50 million-to-one occurrence, presumably reasoning that 365 (the number of days in the year, ish) to the power of three (the number of children, we hope precisely) comes to a little under 49 million. Wrong calculation! It doesn't matter what date the first child was born as long as the other two match it, so at worst the odds are one in 365 squared. The chances improve still more when you take into account any other children Banwell might have - failed attempts, so to speak - and the fact that births are more common during some seasons than others. Given national birth rates, Ben Goldacre, a medical doctor writing in The Guardian, estimated that flukes like Banwell's ought to occur once or twice a year in the UK alone, which makes them seem rather less newsworthy. Yet such patterns - little dances in the flux of randomness - impress us nonetheless.

I mention this because, improbable as it sounds, UAE-based fans of contemporary dance may feel like all their birthdays have come at once this week. What analysis can account for it? Months pass and there's barely a twitch, then all of a sudden one can hardly move for pyjama'd athletes shuddering and stumbling about the place and shaking the bars of their imaginary prisons. The most eminent of these advanced shape-throwers is Akram Khan, who returns to Abu Dhabi with his new show, Gnosis. In January last year he was here with Juliette Binoche, assisting the actress with her first, and quite possibly last, experimental dance stage show, In-I. He has also collaborated recently with the ballerina Sylvie Guillem, the artist Antony Gormley, and the pop singer Kylie Minogue.

Gnosis, a combination of traditional Indian kathak dance and more impressionistic contemporary styles, is his first solo show in four years. It drew warm reviews when part of it aired in the UK late last year (there would have been more but the star, now a venerable 35, had put his shoulder out). Khan is one of the biggest noises in British dance, so hopes are high for the finished article. Meanwhile, the Fridge has programmed an evening of contemporary dance by, it claims, six of Dubai's "most prolific choreographers". Who knew there were six choreographers in Dubai?

Come to that, how prolific can they be? Again, one marvels at the treachery of statistics. But let's not quibble: the Fridge has once again put together an intriguing programme. The bill runs from hip-hop to jazz to stuff involving videos, and features artists from Colombia, Finland, Germany, Britain, Africa and probably a few other corners of the globe. The choreographers all seem to teach or paint or to raise children on the side - not, on the face of it, conducive to a vast output of performance work. Furiously productive as they no doubt are, let's catch them while we can. Who knows? If the show helps to raise the profile of choreography in these parts, perhaps a new era for dance in the UAE will be born. What are the chances of that?

One of the big ideas Peter Scarlet brought with him when he took over the running of the Middle East International Film Festival last year was that it should be more than just a festival. He wanted to have other events scattered across the calendar, and a small one falls this week. On Wednesday at the Manarat al Saadiyat, there will be a free screening of Tahani Rached's film Neighbors, seen at MEIFF last year. If you missed it, it's a documentary about urban decline in Egypt, and about twice as gripping as that makes it sound.

if you go

The flights
Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow. 
Where to stay
It is advisable to stay in Lucknow and make a day trip to Kannauj. A stay at the Lebua Lucknow hotel, a traditional Lucknowi mansion, is recommended. Prices start from Dh300 per night (excluding taxes). 

Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

BMW M5 specs

Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor

Power: 727hp

Torque: 1,000Nm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh650,000

bundesliga results

Mainz 0 Augsburg 1 (Niederlechner 1')

Schalke 1 (Caligiuri pen 51') Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Miranda og 81')

Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.

The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?

My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.

The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.

So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.

 

 

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

The candidates

Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive

Ali Azeem, business leader

Tony Booth, professor of education

Lord Browne, former BP chief executive

Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist

Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist

Dr Mark Mann, scientist

Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner

Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister

Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster

 

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

UAE central contracts

Full time contracts

Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Usman, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid

Part time contracts

Aryan Lakra, Ansh Tandon, Karthik Meiyappan, Rahul Bhatia, Alishan Sharafu, CP Rizwaan, Basil Hameed, Matiullah, Fahad Nawaz, Sanchit Sharma

Who has been sanctioned?

Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.

Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.

Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.

Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.

match details

Wales v Hungary

Cardiff City Stadium, kick-off 11.45pm

History's medical milestones

1799 - First small pox vaccine administered

1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery

1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases

1895 - Discovery of x-rays

1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time

1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1953 - Structure of DNA discovered

1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place 

1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill

1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.

1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
The specs: 2019 Cadillac XT4

Price, base: Dh145,000

Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged in-line four-cylinder engine

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Power: 237hp @ 5,000rpm

Torque: 350Nm @ 1,500rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 8.7L / 100km

Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion

The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".

The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.

He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.

"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.

As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog

Hobbies: Writing and running
Favourite sport: beach volleyball
Favourite holiday destinations: Turkey and Puerto Rico​

ENGLAND SQUAD

Joe Root (captain), Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Dan Lawrence, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad

The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Transmission: ten-speed

Power: 420bhp

Torque: 624Nm

Price: Dh325,125

On sale: Now

Keep it fun and engaging

Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.

“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.

His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.

He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.

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