Meet The Lebanese Entrepreneur Whose Netflix Series Spotlights Dance As A Way To Reimagine The Post-Pandemic Future

Amid the dark trenches of lockdown, eight writers and nine dancers from around the world reimagined what their post pandemic future will look like. Using smartphones in their homes, together—yet apart—they created “Glimpses of a Future,” an eight-episode docuseries now streaming on Netflix. Through words, dance and movement, the project spotlights personal narratives and reflections on topics including love and vulnerability, justice and shared humanity, angst and alignment, survival, and more. The creators involved hail from the U.S., France, Jordan, Iran, and Lebanon—home of  “Glimpses of a Future” creative director, Romy Assouad.

Promoting and exhibiting the power and value of dance in people’s lives is the mission of Assouad’s socio-cultural enterprise, Yaraqa, which she founded in 2014.  Assouad and her team design solutions-driven experiences, based on dance, to positively impact the way people work, learn, communicate, create, coexist, and grow.

When Strangers Collaborate

While dance and movement generally cater to a niche audience, Assouad says “Glimpses of the Future” has reached people who don’t normally consume dance. 

“When the series was originally released on social media we would have people tell us that at least one episode resonated with them on a deeply personal level—that they related to the honesty of the collaborators in the episode and the humanity that they displayed,” she shares. “They said they felt less alone and more interconnected. Dance can impact different people in different ways and can communicate our personal narratives in the most profound and humane ways possible.”

Soon after the series was produced, the Beirut port blast devastated Lebanon, killing at least 137 people and wounding 5,000. While the Yaraqa team was still processing the impact of the tragedy, they decided it was time to connect with the international community. 

“This work was our attempt at imagining a new model of creative production for the new future, the hybrid world,” says Assouad. “And the fact that it got picked up by Netflix, thanks to Front Row Filmed Entertainment, who believe in quality artistic content, this experiment created a new revenue stream for artists, and not only movement artists. We will constantly keep accelerating new applications of dance across industries, and we hope this work introduces us to new artists who share this vision, as well.” 

When Dance, Movement & Business Intersect

Bridging the gap between movement artists and business, Yaraqa designed the Movement Artist Training program, a series of hands-on capacity building modules for creatives looking to develop their business acumen, marketing, and contextualization skills. 

“I cannot tell you how much we hear artists say,’“we didn’t think it was even possible to integrate business thinking into the movement and performing arts world. We thought business equals compromise,’” says Assouad. “I believe that artists are already entrepreneurs. They take risks. They challenge the status quo. They problem-solve. They innovate and invent. I believe the missing link is believing that art and culture can be sustainable, and can be a common good for society, and for that I just think that the business world and the artistic and cultural world would benefit to cross-pollinate more.” 

Based on Assouad’s experience becoming a dancer 11 years ago at age 25, which is considered a late age to start, art and entrepreneurship coincide in even more ways than the aforementioned. By the time she began training, her body had developed habits that were anything but advantageous in classical ballet and contemporary dance.

“I had to unlearn and relearn how to move, and where to move from,” she shares. “Dance humbled me and still grounds me. It taught me the meaning of time. In dance, nothing can happen overnight. While my mind wanted to convince me otherwise, my body couldn’t lie. I learned the importance of discipline and endurance in the moments when I felt my mind and body finally align, and when I accomplished a move I’d been practicing for one whole year. This is what I take into my work today—that stability and success are part of a long-term vision. Stamina and determination are key!

Keeping this level of perseverance at the core of their current endeavors, Assouad and the Yaraqa team have designed “Glimpses of a Future” to be experienced as a combination of two or all three of the following modules: screening, panel, workshop. This curated experience aims at bringing together professionals to explore new ways of working, collaborating, and producing creative work in these uncertain times.