CABARET: The Dancing Djinn

The Dancing Djinn is an original queer Arab drag musical reminiscent of classic 1920s Parisian cabarets. An anti-colonial Aladdin, The Dancing Djinn fuses original live music in Arabic and English, dramatic monologues, comedy, audience participation and baladi dance—including belly dance, jazz and burlesque—in a dazzling two-person extravaganza.

Presented in English by Lebanese artists Nikotine, a live vocalist, and Samara, a belly dancer, with music in English and Arabic.

As Nikotine sets out into the desert, the djinn in her lamp breaks free and seduces her: Samara, the exiled Queen of Queerabia. Full of secrets, she whispers legends of Queerabia and leads Nikotine to a distant oasis.

At the heart of the show is the legacy of the Mukhannathun, the real-life gender-nonconforming performers of medieval Arabia.

“We wanted to tell the story as it truly is: what we lived through, inspired by a past that was erased by colonialism, crusaders, religion and politics.”

It is funny, heartfelt and wildly glamorous. It is Arabs in their full queer glory. It is theatrical art.

Since its January 2025 debut, the show has sold out venues across Canada and attracted audiences from around the country. All profits will be donated to displaced families in Beirut in memory of August 4, 2020.