Abu Dhabi to stage ‘Metro Diaries’ on June 21 and 22

The quiet hustle-and-bustle as one smoothly rolls and sways in a sea of nations – every day.

Welcome to Metro Diaries.

“It happened one evening while we were having dinner with friends. Trixie thought of the idea and we realised that there is a possibility here as all of us experience using the rapid transit system and we have witnessed quite a few unforgettable moments there,” says Jomel Duran Reyes, in the UAE for the past decade, even as way back and upon arrival, his intention was only to stay briefly because he only “wanted a break from work and school.”

Trixie Danielle Balangao shares: “My rides are very personal to me. I think about many things. I even cry sometimes because certain emotions surface in those lull moments.”

“I also like observing people. People from all walks of life. The amused. The confused. The tired. The happy,” she muses.

These and more at the “Metro Diaries,” when the 2003-conceptualised 55-station Dubai Metro, under the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, breathes-in-and-breathes-out in another realm.

The third full-length production of the 63Kolektib, a community of artists from the Philippines -- +63 being the country code – which Gulf Today had the chance to first interact with at the Bayt AlMamzar art space in Dubai, at their Feb. 26, 2022 inaugural meeting; “Metro Diaries,” the musical play, shall be staged in the capital on June 21 and 22, commissioned by The Arts Center of the New York University-Abu Dhabi (NYUAD).

Along with Abu Dhabi-based Jomel and multi-disciplinary artist-writer Trixie Danielle, in the full-English script, direction, and staging is Juan Gonzales, who partners with 19-year-old Rei Co for the choreography.

Like Jomel and Trixie Danielle, Juan who had embraced early on that “art must be engaged in social issues,” has been profoundly ensconced in the performing arts and theatre production, inside and outside of the classrooms.

While Rei, only three years old when her parents decided to make the UAE their second home and by way of her Sima Performing Arts (Dubai) membership, from age six, is now a professional dancer, since crafting her own debut solo at age 13; the artistry of Jomel, Trixie Danielle, and Juan, have been sharpened even more, through their entry as cohorts at the Numoo.

Numoo is the artistic development incubator or programme of The Arts Center began in 2021.

“I applied to be part of the first batch. I learnt more about being an artist here in the region and improved more on the business side of art-making and producing,” says Advertising and Public Relations degree holder Jomel, a Sining Lahi Polyrepertory member of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines who also studied some courses at the University of the Philippines-Graduate Studies in Theatre.

“Since then, there has been a good relationship with The Arts Center and many other local artists here,” adds Jomel who wants to promote Filipino culture through the lens of the migrant experience.

Trixie Daniella is thankful to Jomel and Juan for her Numoo inclusion: “They nominated me in 2023. I applied and was accepted. It was in 2022 when I was able to connect as well with The Arts Center through former NYUAD instructor Robert de Guzman.”

Robert, according to Trixie Daniella, held a workshop for his research project, “The Museum of Migration and Memory” at Bayt AlMamzar, in collaboration with the 63Kolektib: “He reached out to us and invited us for an artist residency at the NYUAD.”

On the “Metro Diaries,” Trixie Daniella, says: “I was trying to shape it for Numoo. I wrote ‘musings of a collective moving experience’ because I imagined that these are fleeting moments where you stare blankly but you are thinking deeply or you are doing and thinking so many things that you do not even pay attention to your surroundings.”

Upon receipt of the “green light from The Arts Center,” Trixie Danielle, Jomel and Juan started “meeting at a ‘café tucked inside an unassuming building in Salah Al Din where we sat for three hours or more talking about our experiences as migrants and just putting these out there to simmer.”