The company
Sima Dance Company was founded in Damascus, Syria in 2003 by a choreographer Alaa Krimed, known for his unique works in the region. After noticing a void in the Arab contemporary dance landscape, he took the first step towards filling that gap, aspiring to expose the Middle Eastern audience to the art of contemporary dance. Alaa Krimed’s productions were performed in Damascus Opera House, Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts and various theaters in the region. In 2012, Sima Dance Company moved to Beirut and founded a dance studio there. The studio focused on promoting Arab contemporary dance in Lebanon by further developing the skills of aspiring professionals and qualified dancers. The Company’s efforts were awarded winning the title of Arabs Got Talent in 2014, the Arab version of the international show, produced by MBC. In 2015 the company relocated to Dubai and opened its own space Sima Performing Arts in Alserkal Avenue in 2017. Since then, Sima Dance Company has successfully collaborated with main cultural institutions of the UAE.
Artistic Director
was born in Damascus, 1982. He graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts – Dance Department, Damascus, Syria in 2007. Alaa participated in choreography workshops in Germany and Denmark and choreographed pieces for the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts and various performances for the Damascus Opera House. He founded Sima Dance Company in Damascus in 2003. Since then the Company has moved its activities to Beirut in 2012 and more recently to Dubai in 2015, where the Company is currently established. In 2017, Alaa Krimed opened the headquarters of Sima Dance Company – Sima Performing Arts – located in Alserkal Avenue
Our team
lana fahmi
Lead Artist, Principal Dancer and Assistant Choreographer at Sima Dance Company since 2007 till present. Lana Fahmi was born in Damascus Syria in 1987. She joined Sima Dance company in 2007 and participated as a lead dancer in the company’s original performances and productions. Lana moved to Lebanon of 2013 and co-founded Sima Dance Academy. She is now relocated to Dubai where she is the co-founder and dance instructor at Sima Performing Arts. She choreographed and performed a contemporary dance performance “What is Modernity?”, commissioned at Art Dubai 2017. The same year she collaborated with Curator Yasmina Reggad on creating a piece as a homage to the late artist Hassan Sharif “IF-THEN GO TO”, performed at Gallery Ysabelle Van Den Eynde’s booth at Art Dubai. In 2017, Lana also participated as a speaker and performer at TEDx, AUD, UAE.
TOMOMI ARAMAKI
Passionate dancer from Tokyo, Tomomi was trained in classical ballet and Jazz dance. Her passion for dancing brought her to work and perform in dance theaters and dance companies across the world. IFrom 1998 till 2011 she was a dancer of the Natural Dance Theater in Japan and performed in different platforms in Japan and different countries in those years. She was part of the Japan Tour “Alice” “Koko no Parade” performing in more than 40 cities between 2002 to 2010. In 2011, she moved to Singapore to join ARTS FISSION Company. There she was a member of the Faculty and a Senior dancer till 2015. Since 2017 Tomomi is one of the lead artists of Sima Dance Company
MAZEN AL NAHLAWI
DANCER (SYRIA) Mazen graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts Major in Contemporary Dance. He is one of the pioneer members of Sima Dance Company and moved with the company from Syria to Lebanon and then to Dubai. He has been with Sima Dance Companyfrom since 2010 till present and performed in the most works of Alaa Krimed
KRISTINA AKSAKOVA
DANCER (Russia) Krisitna started her dance education at Vostorg Dance Theater in Cheboksary when she was 5 years old. From 2011 till 2013 she was a member of FINEC Dace Community. Kristina also worked as a dance instructor and performed at Music Hall in St. Petersburg and Open LookContemporary Dance Festival (both in Russia) from 2013 – 2015. She has been a dancer at Sima Dance Company since 2016
Ellie Stott
earned her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree in Dance with an emphasis in ballet From Utah Valley University. She intensely studied classical ballet techniques and pedagogy. She completed anatomy and kinesiology classes alongside classical ballet teaching methods to really learn and understand what needs to happen in the body while dancing classically. She also studied how to take classical training and use it to train stronger contemporary dancers. During her time in school, she created a complete 8 year curriculum for ballet training, meant to train a young dancer to prepare for a professional career.
Rei Kassandra Co
She started her training with Sima Dance Company at the age of 9 years old. She is under the training of Mr. Alaa Krimed and Lana Fahmi up to present. Her training includes, Ballet, Pointe, Modern Jazz and Contemporary Dance.The company gave her an opportunity to dance as a professional when she was 12 years old, during the Al Qouz Arts Festival in Alserkal and Fujairah International International Arts Festival in 2018. Aside from the training that she got from the company, she attended various trainings from various dance artists from different countries visiting Dubai. Currently, she is teaching Hiphop at Sima Performing Arts and an active member of Sima Dance Company.