Discover this month’s best happenings around Dubai, from quiz nights and cooking classes to indie film screenings, a shopping festival, and more.
July 1 to 31: Watch This Space
Movie screenings continue daily at Cinema Akil throughout the month of July, with a flawlessly curated selection of documentaries, foreign flicks, and animated films to look forward to. On the roster? ‘Frames of Mind’, a week-long program that will bring together compelling Turkish films from recent years alongside Egyptian feature film Poisonous Roses, award-winning documentary film Unrest, a Luciano Pavarotti biopic directed by Ron Howard, and plenty more. See the complete schedule and buy your tickets here.
July 1 to August 3: Ready, Set, Shop
Six weeks of sales – need we say more? The annual Dubai Summer Surprises shopping festival continues throughout July, featuring discounts and promotions by malls, entertainment venues, theme parks, and even hotels across town. Expect these to be accompanied by stage shows, interactive workshops, and giveaways, making the scorching temperatures that much more bearable.
July 1 to September 10: Get Fit
With temperatures soaring, fitness freaks have headed inside – Dubai Sports World, to be exact. The city’s largest indoor sports venue spans over 25,000 square meters of air conditioned space at Dubai World Trade Centre, hosting everything from basketball and badminton to cricket, parkour, and a 14-element obstacle course. Entrance is free, but you’ll have to pre-register here.
July 3 to 31: Pivot! Pivot!!!
What was the “Joey special”? Where did Monica and Chandler first hook up? And why were Ross and Rachel on a break? If you rolled your eyes at how easy those questions were, head to Alpine-esque eatery Publique in Souk Madinat Jumeirah as the quiz nights return every Wednesday from 8 to 10 p.m., this month themed around the greatest TV show of all time. Reserve your table here.
July 3 to November 23: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
Second Hand, the first group exhibition drawn from the Art Jameel Collection, kicks off this month at Jameel Arts Centre. Exploring materiality in contemporary art practice through sculpture, installation, assemblage, drawing, photography, painting, and performance, it will showcase works by 18 local, regional, and international artists who have incorporated banal, everyday objects into their work to construct new forms and ideas. Find more details here.
July 4: Dig Deep
Reconnect with yourself at the Intuitive Creativity workshop led by artist and certified ThetaHealing practitioner Victoria Parrucci at thejamjar. It will guide you through a profound meditation, allowing you to search within and conquer any blockages limiting your creativity. You’ll then be free to paint an abstract representation of your feelings in an uninhibited state, allowing the colors, shapes, and textures to take over. Book here.
July 4 to 6: Stock Up
Calling all sneakerheads! Sneaker store The Good Life is hosting a sale at its outpost in Warehouse 46 at Alserkal Avenue, which means you can shop the likes of Nike, Jordan, Adidas, and Asics at a whopping 50 to 70 percent off. The sale will be held from 1 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 4, and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, July 5 and Saturday, July 6. Find more details here.
July 5: Snap Happy
You constantly take photos with your smartphone – now do it right by attending the ‘Introduction to Mobile Photography’ workshop at Gulf Photo Plus. The three-hour session will delve into essential camera controls, focus, and exposure lock in addition to teaching you the fundamentals of using light and shadow. Also included? How to develop a personal style, apps to conduct in-camera editing, accessories to enhance your phone’s capabilities, and more. Register here.
July 8 to 31: Rediscover Dubai
Explore a side of the city that you may not know with the Dubai Food Tour on Wheels by Frying Pan Adventures. In the comfort of an air-conditioned coach, you’ll experience food tastings spanning the four most prominent communities of Old Dubai – Emirati, Levant, Indian, and Iranian – all accented with colorful stories of Dubai’s history and culture. Even better? You’ll also snack on the legendary falafels that helped the food tourism company land a spot on CNN. Book here.
July 11 to 12: Customize Your Kicks
There’s more good news for sneakerheads across the city, this time courtesy of Reebok. The brand recently launched its first-ever Fit Hub 3.0 store in the UAE and, in celebration of the new space, is hosting celebrity artist Troy Cole – a.k.a. Kickasso – for the official opening. He will be customizing Reebok sneakers in-store for free from 6 to 9 p.m. You’ll want to line up for this one.
July 13: Discover Yourself
Bringing together a perfect mix of lecture, self-discovery activities, and group discussion is the Unleash the Real You workshop designed to help you understand how your attitudes were formed, replace some old beliefs with new ones that serve you better, and develop a sense of awareness on how you really want to live. Taking place at The Workshop, it will kick off at 10 a.m. and be led by life coach Tony Tolentino. Find more details and book your spot here.
July 13: Sharpen Your Knives
You love sushi – now roll up your sleeves and make some yourself with the Sushi Class taking place at Kaffe Bloom inside lofty Asian supermarket 1004 Gourmet. Led by Chef Tatsu and kicking off at 5 p.m., it will teach participants how to make authentic Japanese sushi rice as well as mouth-watering maki, nigiri, and sushi rolls. Find details on how to book your spot here.
July 16 to 30: Play Bingo
There’s the kind of Bingo that your grandmother plays – and then there’s ‘Bonkers Bingo’. The wild child version of the game returns to Dubai, this time launching at gastroclub The Hideout. It will take place on a weekly basis from 9 p.m. to midnight, mixing traditional Bingo with drinks deals and all-you-can-eat-pizza for AED 50, all accented by what promises to be “outrageous, wild, and absolute carnage”. Even better: entry is free. Find more details here.
July 20 to 25: Burn and Freeze
Conceptual dining space INKED returns to our calendars, this time inviting guests to experience extreme ends of the temperature spectrum with its Burnt & Frozen dinner series. Created by Executive Chef Hadrien Villedieu, who will use techniques that are “so contradictory and yet work in perfect symbiosis in the palate”, it will serves dishes that feature the unexpected likes of burnt onion soup and mushroom ice cream. Book here.
July 27 to September 14: Look Ahead
We all want to know world happenings before they actually happen – be they fashion trends, election results, or even end-of-the-world scenarios – but why? That’s where the summer program at Alserkal Avenue comes in. Entitled Foretold Now, it will examine what drives us to predict in the first place, so expect everything from debate and music to dialogue centered about our (misguided?) will to control our destinies. Find more details here.
Baby, it’s hot outside, and the sweat that comes with it isn’t cute. Enter: a wellness workshop at Kave addressing how store-bought deodorants are practically packed with chemicals that feed directly into your lymph nodes, which happen to be the most sensitive nodes in your body and populate at your armpits. Instead, you’ll learn how to make a natural deodorant without toxins like aluminum compounds or parabens, one that’s easy to remake at home. Book your spot here.
