Mayyas founder on 'America's Got Talent' triumph: Everything happened in slow motion


Fatima Al Mahmoud
  • English
  • Arabic

Days after captivating the judges on America’s Got Talent and securing a golden ticket to the competition’s live shows, Lebanese dance crew Mayyas are back in Beirut to put in the hours before another breathtaking performance.

“Every day we’re in the studio from afternoon 'til after midnight,” says founder and choreographer Nadim Cherfan. "We only leave when the power goes off."

The dance company caused a stir last week after "hypnotising" judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara with their audition.

Although the performance was not the group’s first talent show appearance, it was the realisation of a dream that first started two years ago.

“We were supposed to audition for AGT in 2020,” Cherfan tells The National. “But then Covid happened and we were at home for the longest time, so I backed down.”

While the pandemic struck the world, Lebanon also struggled with one of the world’s worst economic crises, as described by the World Bank, and a deadly port blast that killed more than 200 people.

When it’s about art, nothing stands in your way
Nadim Cherfan,
choreographer

“During that period, I put my dreams aside. Like everyone else in Lebanon, I was thinking about my family and their well-being,” he says. “Then I watched Nightbirde’s audition in 2021 and I was really moved."

Jane “Nightbirde” Marczewski is a 2021 America's Got Talent contestant who wowed judges and received Cowell's golden buzzer. The American singer had cancer when she auditioned and ultimately withdrew from the competition owing to her deteriorating health. She died in February 2022, aged 31.

“She was fighting for her life and still took to the stage to share her talent with the world,” says Cherfan. “She inspired me to take the chance to represent my country and audition, so we went for it.”

Tired and jet-lagged, the crew made it to Los Angeles after a 20-hour flight, and had to immediately get stuck into practising ahead of the show.

“When it’s about art, nothing stands in your way,” says Cherfan. “It was challenging for the girls, but they pulled through.”

The crew’s hard work and determination paid off when they received a golden buzzer from Modern Family actress Vergara, sending them straight to the live shows in August. The judges can use the golden buzzer once each during the auditions.

"There are no words to explain to you what we were feeling over here," said Vergara. "It was the most beautiful, creative dancing I have ever seen.”

Watch the full audition here:

Despite working hard for the buzzer, Cherfan describes the moment the golden confetti hit the stage as “surreal”.

“It was a dream, everything happened in slow motion,” he says.

The group’s audition went viral on social media, amassing support from all over the world. This kind of recognition gives the team “drive to keep pushing”, says Cherfan, but also makes the next phase all the more challenging.

“All eyes are on us,” he says. “Everything we’re working on now has to top everything we’ve done before. Even in my choreography, every move has to be better than the last one.”

With plenty at stake, how do the crew keep focused amid Lebanon’s deteriorating living situation?

“Dancing is our cure, our escape,” says Cherfan. “Once we’re inside the studio, nothing else matters.”

Abu Dhabi's Peter Rosalita on his 'America's Got Talent' journey — in pictures

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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Liverpool's all-time goalscorers

Ian Rush 346
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Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
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Evacuations to France hit by controversy
  • Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
  • Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
  • The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
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  • It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
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Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Results:

CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off

1.           Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds

2.           Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09

3.           Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42

4.           Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63

5.           Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74

Green ambitions
  • Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
  • Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
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Why it pays to compare

A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

Route 1: bank transfer

The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.

Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount

Total received: €4,670.30 

Route 2: online platform

The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.

Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction

Total received: €4,756

The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.

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Ain Dubai in numbers

126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure

1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch

16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.

9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.

5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place

192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face

The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.

The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran. 

Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf. 

"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said. 

Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer. 

The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy. 

 

MATCH INFO

Manchester City 3
Danilo (16'), Bernardo Silva (34'), Fernandinho (72')

Brighton & Hove Albion 1
Ulloa (20')

Updated: September 07, 2022, 9:06 AM