Yaseen Manuel is a Cape Town-born and based dancer. He is a skilled dancer and teacher and while he works as an independent artist, he is also a member of the ground-breaking integrated dance company Unmute Dance Theatre.  Manuel’s own Cape Town history and personal Muslim spirituality and legacy features prominently in his work and the South African dance community sat up and took notice of his work when he began a series of solos in 2016/17 that connected race, religion and ideas of masculinity in choreographed evocations of deeply neglected stories and identities in the South African landscape. His recent dance work Aslama, linked the Syrian massacre to a more internal battle for self and identity, has been called ‘both terrifying and beautiful!’ Contemporary dance and improvisation form the base of his choreographic technique, but ever present is his neo-classical training.