All about us: Dubomedy Arts His (and HER) story!

April 1st isn't just April Fool's Day..... it's Dubomedy Arts Birthday!
Dubomedy Arts recently celebrated 2 years of funny art making, performing arts education and local variety arts community building in Dubai! Here's to making Dubai a funnier place!

How did Dubomedy Arts begin?

It all began when our director and founder, Mina Liccione, was hired to perform a solo physical comedy and tap dance program in Dubai as part of the Summer Arts Festival. After her 2 week run she was invited to extend her stay in order to teach a series of Comedy, Rhythm and Body Percussion Workshops to Dubai children as well as offer professional training to a leading local drum company. Mina was greatly inspired by the mix of cultures and the lessons she learned about life, traditions and culture in the Middle East. Everyone she met here had expressed their hunger for more art and laughter to emerge out of the desert. The local arts community was very minimal, the comedy scene bleek, the majority of the local performers relied soley on corporate gigs and many performers were flown in from other countries. When Mina was offered the chance to pioneer a Comedy and Tap Dance School in Dubai at the local Community Arts Center she jumped at the chance. She returned to San Francisco to complete her directorial contracts, completed a full winter tour of her solo comedic program "The Audrey Heartburn Show" as well as finished up her M.F.A. Thesis then headed to Dubai for her next chapter. Soon after she arrived the New York Film Academy also opened it's doors where Mina quickly became a professor for the Professional Acting Program. "Sometimes artists need to go where the art isn't" says Mina. "At a certain point in your career you need to let go of the ego and start giving back to the community. Dubai needs to laugh more and embrace the diversity they have here. Art heals, connects and allows people to communicate. Community begins with communication." She added.

Who is Mina Liccione?

Mina is a true hybrid artist whose two passions are rhythm and comedy. She's a Tap dancer, Physical and Stand Up Comedienne, Sketch Comic, Actor, Writer, Choreographer, Director and Educator. She began perfoming at age three and teaching in her early teens. She's been seen in Stomp, The New Pickle Circus, MTV's The Grind, Cabaret, Make*A*Circus, Yas Hakoshima's Mime and Movement Theater, Circo Romani, Sweet Charity, "The Beat!", Big Dog Improv, Velocity Circus's "Heliosphere" and "1906", Everyday Theater Berkeley, AIDS: The made for TV Musical, Cirque- Special Events, the motion pictures "Pucked" and "Cradle Will Rock", in her highly acclaimed multi-disciplinary solo show "Della Pancha", back up dancing for Dee-lite as well as numerous International Cabarets, Festivals, Comedy Clubs and TV spots.

Mina received a B.F.A. in Dance with a minor in Theater Arts from Marymount Manhattan College, an M.F.A. in Experimental Performance Studies from the New College of California and is a graduate of the San Francisco School of Circus Arts' Clown Conservatory where she later acted as their Dance teacher and choreographer. Mina also had the great honor to co-teach workshops for Cirque Du Soliel with the legendery Jeff Raz, co-directed the San Francisco Youth Circus' award winning multi-media production of "Impressions" as well as choreographed the Bay Area's long standing annual tradition, The Bracebridge Holiday Show.

Mina can currently be seen hosting and performing in Monday Night Funnies, Dubai World Cup Events, Easter on The Palm as well as the upcoming "Comedy from around the World" Show in Bahrain where she will be one of the head-lining Stand Up Comedians (and the only female comic on the bill). Her Dubomedy Sole Steppers Troupe are currently preparing for the their new Hip Hop Tap and Body Percussion Piece which will debut at this year's Dubai Dance Festival.

What has happened since she moved to Dubai in late February, 2008?

Since transplanting to Dubai Mina has founded the Laugh Out Loud! Comedy School (which focuses on all aspects of comedy: Improvisation, Sketch and Physical Comedy, Stand Up Comedy, Comedic writing, Character development and coaching) Dance Out Loud! NYC Tap and Body Beats Program and Dubomedy Arts which she co-directs with her partner Ali Al Sayed. The dynamic duo also pioneered Monday Night Funnies together. Ali Al Sayed is also the C.E.O. of VIVA Arts which is the Mother Company of both Dubomedy Arts and the LOL! School. Their partnership gave a whole new meaning to the term "where East meets West." Their passion for comedy, art making, desire to create performance opportunities for local artists bound them together instantly. Their vision was the same and their commitment to building a strong and sustainable arts community persistent.

Who is Ali Al Sayed?

Ali Al Sayed is a product of the corporate world, where he lived in the more serious part of life working as an event organizer. In 2004, ‘Viva Dubai’ emerged, as the countries first English online entertainment magazine. The vision then expanded and was shaped to build a community in Dubai. Now this local all-rounder in the entertainment industry; comedian, master of ceremonies, artist manager, journalist, producer, assistant comedy teacher. Al Sayed believes in creating the opportunities instead of waiting around for them. He is the founder of the local entertainment company Viva Arts as well as the partner in Dubomedy which is an educational outlet building a community in the entertainment arena of Dubai. He can currently be seen producing, hosting and performing in Monday Night Funnies around the U.A.E. Al Sayed’s television debut in “Zahrat Al Khaleej” on Abu Dhabi T.V. featured his Arabic material which put a number of projects in the pipeline. More television appearances and shows have been scheduled for 2010.

How is the Comedy School unique from other programs?

Besides the fact that they are the only Comedy school in the region, they also stand out for other reasons. One unique thing about Dubomedy Arts and the Laugh Out Loud! Comedy program is that all the material performed is original. The Comedy 101 students write their own monologues after a series of comedic writing, improvisation and story telling exercises over a 9 week period. The 9 week program commences with a final performance. After taking the beginning level class students move up to the intermediate levels of improvisation and sketch comedy, the advanced level then company level where they continue to perform ensemble based skecthes, short comedy plays and/or perform their Stand Up acts as part of Monday Night Funnies as well as numerous Events around the region. Their program is quite unique in that there is a progression, increased levels of training and performance opportunities. Oh, and did I mention that the Comedy School also has a Kid's Comedy Club as well as host four different after school comedy programs around Dubai? The student body ranges from 6 year olds to 56 year olds, from amateurs to professionals. Lastly, Dubomedy Arts, like it's director Mina, prides itself on being interdisciplinary. They do not pigeon hole Comedy to Stand Up but also include Long-form Improv, Improv Games, Writing: sketches, stand up, scripts, short plays, Theater Sports, Sketch Comedy, Musical comedy, Character development and acting.

What's happening now?

Two years later the LOL! School has grown from 13 students to an entire community, 4 on-going after school programs, corporate training, guest teaching workshops around the GCC, Monday Night Funnies: an entire 3 month series of new Stand Up, Variety and Sketch Comedy Shows featuring all local artists, two original Commedia Dell'Arte inspired plays- written, directed and performed by Dubomedy members, Improv and Skecth Troupe- Dubomedy Players, Tap Dance Troupe- Dubomedy Sole Steppers, yearly performances in DSS, DSF and Dubai Dance Festival, provided entertainment for many major events on a regular basis in and around the G.C.C., 7 volumes of "Mixed Tape: Comedy and Tap Dance Special" student performances, partnered with NYFA Abu Dhabi to help with student film casting, produced a Stand Up Show featuring comic Ronnie Khalil and so, so, so much more. The Dubomedy Community has grown tremendously and continues to do so.

They are currently getting ready to announce a slew of huge upcoming Comedy Events, their final Comedy and Tap Dance session of the school year, a new initiative for performing arts teachers in the U.A.E., Artist Exchange Program (where professional artists and educators from around the globe will come to Dubai for 1-3 months of performance, teaching and training) as well as a new blog that will talk about the performing arts scene in Dubai. The blog will focus on answering the many questions of aspiring performers, recommend classes and the best teachers to train with, talk about local productions, audition preparation, casting calls as well as general community news.

When do your Comedy, Improv, NYC Tap Dance and Body Beats Classes happen?

Our classes run all year round! For more information and a detailed class schedule please e-mail LOL@vivadubai.com.