“You shouldn’t miss Vertigo during AlUla Arts Festival.” Feriel Fodil, CEO of Villa Hegra, had insisted during our visit to the first joint Saudi-French cultural foundation. And I am glad I listened to her suggestion.

Because in between admiring land art installations and creative sculptures, I did not expect my knees to wobble, my breath to catch mid-air, and my sense of gravity to be politely ignored.

Performed against the vast Saudi desert sky, with sandstone cliffs watching silently from the sidelines, was an art that dared to float. Directed by Rachid Ouramdane and presented by Villa Hegra – Vertigo blurred the boundaries between contemporary dance, aerial acrobatics, and highline performance.

We took our seats on the neatly stacked blankets and pillows on the sand, and as the sun began to set, the act began. High above us, four bodies emerged slowly, stealthily. They stepped onto near-invisible lines suspended between towering rock formations.

My anxiety was, quite literally, on the rocks. There was no rush. Each step, each sway, each pause became a meditation on balance, and all four of them were simply flawless as they floated above us. French highliner Nathan Paulin, known for pushing the limits of extreme sports, brought both technical mastery and poetic vulnerability to the performance.

There was something hypnotic about the way they moved, and every time they turned or twisted or jumped, one could feel a collective gasp ripple through the audience.

Presented in partnership with Chaillot – National Dance Theatre, with the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, the stage became alive with elite acrobats, contemporary dancers, and children from the AlUla community, united in one breathtaking performance. Their bodies swept across the stage so effortlessly that it created the illusion of weightlessness. Each step, each leap, each glide had a mesmerizing grace that balanced vulnerability with extraordinary control.

The atmosphere was amplified by the work of Christophe Chassol. His composition provided the heartbeat for the movement. The tunes were soothing yet intense as they echoed off canyon walls. Hearing a Bollywood tune in the middle of the AlUla desert was a pleasant surprise, and it synced so perfectly with their movements.

Vertigo explores the existential idea of the void, that unsettling, mysterious space between grounded reality and dreamlike abstraction. The entire routine felt intimate yet expansive. And as the acrobats moved in perfect unison on the ground, a lone performer was slowly hoisted into the air, rising through the dark to meet the highliner suspended above. It showed the beautiful bridge between the earth and the void.

When the dance ended, and the performers descended slowly, as if returning from another world, applause erupted – loud, emotional, and long. I found myself clapping with shaky hands, adrenaline still buzzing through my system.

In the Saudi desert, suspended between earth and sky, I witnessed risk transform into poetry, and gravity itself become negotiable.

Villa Hegra is Saudi Arabia’s first joint Saudi–French cultural foundation, dedicated to fostering creative exchange between local and international artists. It serves as a dynamic cultural hub featuring artist residencies, studios, exhibition spaces, workshops, and AlUla’s first indoor cinema and performing arts studio. Through site-specific performances and immersive programs, Villa Hegra plays a key role in strengthening AlUla’s cultural ecosystem and supporting emerging artistic voices.