Oriental dancer Laila El-Jarad and Murah Soares have created an exotic combination of Afro-Brazilian and oriental dance.

Due to their very different dance backgrounds, their first collaboration was initially an experiment, at once, however, enthusiastically received. From this Murah Soares and Laila El-Jarad developed the project "Laila Saida", combining classical and modern oriental choreographies with techniques of Afro-Brazilian style.

Lua/Sol - The Encounter (2001)

This dance performance premiered in spring 2001 at Saalbau Neukölln in Berlin (Germany). Murah and Laila were inspired by photographs of dancers in the nineteen-twenties, a time in which many dancers were fascinated by the orient. Traditional oriental dance was mixed with new expressive elements of movement and further developed to an elegant dramatic form, thus presenting a mysterious illusion of the orient. A real joy in experimentation was the basis for their afro-oriental show - an encounter in which lines meet, cross each other and break apart. The images constructed thereby are created jointly by the dancers, to be dissolved by them jointly. This encounter between powerful Afro-Brazilian dance and graceful oriental dance becomes a play of opposites and mutualities.

Murah Soares and Laila El-Jarad were musically accompanied by the Egyptian group "Al Pharaena" with saxophone, kanoun, accordeon and drums.

Al Quantara - The Bridge (2003)

Five people with different cultural background, different origin, different languages ans opinions - common to all is the desire and curiosity to meet though: "extend the horizon - or not - maybe together for a while - and then back again - perhaps further ahead with open eyes"
Al Qantara = bridge (arab.), al cantarás = will sing (span.)

The dancers Murah and Laila El-Jarad perform together with the israelian singer Zoe, flamenco guitar player Rafa El Tachuela and the german-palestinian percussionist Khader Ahmad.

Sobre O Mar - Across The Sea (2004)

Iemanjá...
goddess of the seas and great mother - she is union, beauty, wealth, depth and decline - und eventually lover of all sea man who do not return home.

Tres - Among Gods (2006)

This dance performance tells us about a relation between of Xangó, the god of war, his wife Oxum and his lover Iansan, the wind.

The afro-brazilian Orixás are natural deities - mystical and mythological ancestors who have got elemental force (fire, water, wind and thunder).

The connection between natural forces and every-day life may have lost in our industrial society, but the relations of humans and their idols are timeless and are based on the same roots everywhere. "Tres" refers to this with its danced pictures.

Murah, Laila and Sylka Rubina dance the Orixás and are accompanied by the musicians Wolfram Blechner, Till Bommer, Gerd Anklam as well as the light-designer Ralf Frank.