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yesterday

El Mihan Wins 3,000-Year-Old Sebeiba Dance Contest in Djanet

Paris–Djanet air links have drawn foreign tourists to an ancient Saharan celebration

A dancer from El Mihan, Algeria prepares for the Sebeiba festival dance competition in Djanet, a southeastern Algerian oasis town in the Sahara desert, on July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Audrey Thibert)
Tourist guide Ahmed Benhaoued, left, and Cheikh Hassani, director of Indigenous Institutional Dance of Sebeiba, meet in Djanet, a southeastern Algerian oasis town in the Sahara desert, on July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Audrey Thibert)
Zelouaz, Algeria dancers perform on the last day of the Sebeiba festival in Djanet, a southeastern Algerian oasis town in the Sahara desert, on July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Audrey Thibert)
Female performers from El Mihan, Algeria stand together during the Sebeiba festival dance competition in Djanet, a southeastern Algerian oasis town in the Sahara desert, on July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Audrey Thibert)

Overview

  • The Sebeiba festival features symbolic sword-and-cloth dances, poetic chants and ritual music to celebrate peace and unity among the Tuareg
  • UNESCO inscribed Sebeiba as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014
  • The festival unfolds over 10 days and concludes with a community-judged dance contest between Zelouaz and El Mihan
  • El Mihan secured victory in this year’s final competition before judges from the Adjahil neighborhood
  • About 50 foreign tourists joined over 1,000 local spectators, aided by the new Paris–Djanet flight and visa-on-arrival scheme