If ever there were a study conducted trying to pinpoint the exact time when people decide to move to Dubai and set up home here, our guess would put December and January at the top of that list. The city turns magical in tune with the holiday season each year, thanks to the shopper’s extravaganza that is the Dubai Shopping Festival, coupled with a random sampling of out-of-towners, weather that reaches the absolute perfection point and an unbeatable energy pulsating throughout the emirate. And each year brings a fresh round of cultural and entertainment activities and events that put the year before to shame, adding more accolades to Dubai’s growing list of must-sees.

This year, the Dubai Shopping Festival has teamed up with Total Concepts International, one of the leading event organisers in the region, to establish and launch the first annual Dubai Fringe Festival.

It will be the first annual fringe festival in the Middle East, featuring eighteen international variety shows performed by fifty world class performers from eleven different countries. And if all those numbers aren’t enough to impress even the most jaded out year, this international festival will incorporate a whole host of genres including theatre, comedy, acrobatic skill, dance, music and unique talent to suit most everyone’s taste. But over and above all that, the best news of all is that it will be free for visitors at the main stage at Global Village and in select DSF venues and shopping malls.

Taking the lead from the success of fringe festivals in other world-class cities such as Edinburgh, Adelaide, Dublin, Melbourne, Montreal, and Prague, Total Concepts, in partnership with the DSF, anticipates heralding a new era in the establishment and promotion of performing arts in the Middle East region.

“The ‘Fringe’ festival concept is an established concept for over 60 years. The Dubai Shopping Festival made a strategic decision to support the groundbreaking launch of the Dubai Fringe Festival. The Dubai Fringe Festival 2006-2007 has been conceptualised and organised by Total Concepts in exclusive partnership with the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), the region’s premier festival,” explained Mr Bilal Mansour, Managing Director, Total Concepts International.

Commenting on the unique opportunity presented by the festival, Mr Mansour added, “The essence of most fringe festivals is to provide local/regional as well as international shows/talent the opportunity to gain international recognition and awards necessary to grow and succeed. This year the festival will run on the sidelines of the Dubai Shopping Festival, giving residents of the UAE and the wider GCC a first-hand feel of this ground-breaking annual event.”

Dubai residents and visitors will be able to experience key fringe shows at the Global Village from December 20, 2006 to February 2, 2007. To ensure that everyone gets the opportunity to enjoy the fringe festival, additional shows will be organised at select leading malls and DSF venues in and around the city of Dubai.

A taste of what the Fringe Festival is set to unleash on Dubai’s culture hungry denizens includes a martial arts performance by the Shaolin Monks from China, a comical Acrobat show from Canada, puppet, clown and juggling acts galore and more. The show schedule, dates, timings and information on venues may be accessed at www.dubaifringe.com