
Giant bird puppet takes flight at SCRF 2025
30-minute show
The 30-minute show combines puppetry, circus arts, and interactive theatre, captivating children and adults alike. Riouy operates the towering puppet from above using mechanical levers, while
Houle engages the audience, treating the bird as a beloved companion.
'The response has been magical,' said Riouy. 'The children here are seeing something new, and their excitement is contagious.'
Houle added, 'Through simple gestures, we create a bond with the children, and it's beautiful to witness.'
Les Chasseurs de Rêves has performed worldwide, including at festivals in the US, Romania, Spain, and Mexico, and on stages like Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas and Rome. Their work merges visual arts, circus, and street theatre, offering "living poetry in motion."
The 16th SCRF continues to offer immersive experiences that go beyond books, sparking creativity and imagination. The festival runs until May 4, 2025, with free entry.
For more details, visit www.scrf.ae.

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Giant bird puppet takes flight at SCRF 2025
30-minute show The 30-minute show combines puppetry, circus arts, and interactive theatre, captivating children and adults alike. Riouy operates the towering puppet from above using mechanical levers, while Houle engages the audience, treating the bird as a beloved companion. 'The response has been magical,' said Riouy. 'The children here are seeing something new, and their excitement is contagious.' Houle added, 'Through simple gestures, we create a bond with the children, and it's beautiful to witness.' Les Chasseurs de Rêves has performed worldwide, including at festivals in the US, Romania, Spain, and Mexico, and on stages like Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas and Rome. Their work merges visual arts, circus, and street theatre, offering "living poetry in motion." The 16th SCRF continues to offer immersive experiences that go beyond books, sparking creativity and imagination. The festival runs until May 4, 2025, with free entry. For more details, visit


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Limitless Orchestra at Dubai Opera review: Hans Zimmer as you've never heard before
I can guarantee you this: You've never seen anything like the Limitless Orchestra on a Dubai stage – or any stage across the world. I certainly hadn't. What is the Limitless Orchestra exactly? It's the creation of German-Russian violinist Aleksey Igudesman, a new concept that, as its name suggests, pushes the limits of what one can expect from an orchestra. Not only do the musicians play instruments, but they sing, dance, act and pantomime. At certain points, they'll even rap. If you haven't heard of the concept yet, that's because the collective just had their world debut at the Dubai Opera, punctuated by a special guest appearance by popular German composer Hans Zimmer, who frequently collaborates with Igudesman. The initial performance, which surveyed the history of the waltz from composer Richard Strauss to Zimmer's famed film music, was centred around its special guest, who has become a particular favourite of the UAE in recent years, thanks to his now-yearly concerts. But make no mistake, this is the Aleksey Igudesman show. This dynamic was particularly highlighted when Zimmer took the stage to perform Igudesman's new interpretation of Zimmer's Inception score with the orchestra. 'You ruined it!' Zimmer joked, before praising the wild creativity that define's Igudesman's show. 'At my studios, when someone has an idea, we no longer say something is crazy,' Zimmer continued. 'We say it's Aleksey.' Zimmer then moved to the back of the stage and started playing the keyboards, as the orchestra began playing a stirring rendition of Time, the standout track from Inception. And just when things became particularly emotional, they dropped the faithful version, and started doing a salsa version of the song, with many of the musicians dancing across the stage. 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Singer Ekaterina Shelehova sang in a classical, Sarah Brightman in the original cast recording of Phantom of the Opera-esque style over the affair, adding lyrics such as 'pirates, we are pirates' in case there was any confusion. Your mileage on the Limitless Orchestra, which is planned to be a potential touring concept, will depend entirely on how much you see the hear the constant genre shifts and see Igudesman drop his instrument and begin breakdancing across the stage and decide to accept it as uproarious fun rather than an affront to classical music convention. Because it's clear this is all very deliberately an affront to anything traditional. Most likely, each of these musicians was trained traditionally, has sat in old-school orchestras their entire lives, which are often stuffy affairs. They each clearly are multitalented, but never have they been able to explore their full creative impulses. What Igudesman has done is give them all a safe space to explore, to create, to act wild and do pure comedy. Often, it's goofy. Sometimes, they're doing things that are appear outside their comfort zone – dancing a half step behind with enthusiastic gusto. Some look absolutely in their element, others seem like they've found themselves in a very strange dream. This a reflection of Igudesman's own personality, as he has long performed as part of the musical comedy duo Igudesman & Joo, but what makes it so interesting to watch is seeing the personalities on display of each of the musicians he's assembled, who are each seemingly behaving as their full selves or a part of themselves they've never before explored. At times, you'll get whiplash from the performance. 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See it, if you get the chance. Perhaps you'll be Joseph Gordon levitating, too.