Dance around the world without leaving London
In the UK’s unsettling climate toward immigrants, an urgent longing for connection, empathy and shared memory is born. A dance party in Stratford brings back Slavic disco, Eurodance, and Balkan turbofolk from the dyskotekas, family gatherings, and worn-out tapes of a generation’s childhood.
Dance around the world without leaving London is a day party hosted by Londoner Sama Ansari Pour – a journalist and viral creator, exploring the cultural enclaves and immigrant communities that shape London. The launch event in April featured a lineup of five DJs curating five hours of international anthems. The dancefloor travelled through Latin America, The Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and South Asia.
A village for those who don’t belong
Sama has been gaining traction on social media for her viral series “Travelling around the world without leaving London”. You will see her exploring cultural enclaves from Little Portugal on South Lambeth Road to the haven for the Arab diaspora on Edgware Road.
“True London isn’t Oxford Street, true London isn’t Soho, true London isn’t £200 restaurant in Mayfair. True London are the immigrant communities that have built this city and made it what it is today.”
Sama disrupts the narrative that areas in London mainly populated by immigrants are unsafe. She skips the gentrified scene and presents an unfiltered side of the city – one full of joy, flavour and dearly held customs.
Sama has visited over 50 countries so far, including Belarus, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Albania. She embraces cultures with open curiosity, making space for people to be heard, seen, and remembered; taking the time to understand parts of us that others might not. She not only seeks community, but she lays the foundations of the village we so deeply crave.
The club is a museum open till late
Before launching her own dance party, Sama visited Iranian, Dominican, Lebanese and Balkan clubs in London documenting her experiences on the dancefloor. In her substack “Going to the club is cultural ” Sama writes:
“Going to the nightclubs of different countries in London taught me things I’d never have learnt in a museum: their history, their traditional dances and poetry that has defined generations.”
Over 350 guests came to The Orange Room in Stratford to dance their hearts out and connect to their roots. Dance invokes complete presence, embodiment and connection. At the centre of the UK’s most ethnically diverse and high-immigrant area – the London Borough of Newham, Sama curated a healing, intimate and cathartic experience.
Dyskoteka classics – a nostalgic journey home
Representing Eastern Europe was DJ AHLITZYA – an open format DJ, multidisciplinary artist and creative professional born in Warsaw, Poland, based in East London.
She moved to London at 18, immersing herself in the dance and music scenes that are the main influences in her sets – blending hip hop, R&B, grime and jazz sounds with a love for Eastern European classics.
She played familiar Eastern European records from dyskotekas, summer camps or family gatherings, taking you on a nostalgic and heartfelt journey to your roots.
We contain multitudes
Ahlitzya was joined by four other DJs who transformed the room into Latin America, channelled the sounds of North Africa, took a journey across the Caribbean and culminated with a Desi set. Each set was a new stamp on your passport. The flow of the event invited you to not only celebrate your own culture but embrace the culture of others. Dancing together under the rhythms of five distant corners of the world is an antidote for division.
Every human being contains multitudes – expressed through family stories, cultural affiliations, social preferences, political views, and so on. Wherever our multitudes intersect or diverge, we owe each other dignity and care.
“Why is it that, at school, in the family, and in society, we seldom teach our children that they have multiple belongings and can dearly love both their countries and communities while at the same time remembering they are citizens of humanity.” – How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division, Elif Shafak
Booker Prize-nominated novelist and activist Elif Shafak holds a deep belief that listening to (or reading) each other’s stories can nurture democracy, empathy and faith. But in London, you can do more than just listen, you can experience the world through the eyes, music, food, and heritage of countless generations of immigrants.
Sama’s Substack: samaspeaks.substack.com Sama’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/samaspeaks_ Ahlytzya’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahlitzya/
