On 22 June 2022, in a few minutes of television, a Lebanese dance troupe quietly shifted what Arab women could look like on one of the world’s biggest stages.
As the lights dimmed on America’s Got Talent, an all-female group walked out, heads high, eyes focused. They introduced themselves simply: Mayyas, a Lebanese troupe led by choreographer Nadim Cherfan. By the time the music stopped, Sofia Vergara had slammed the golden buzzer, confetti was falling, and millions of viewers had just watched a very different kind of Arab story.
For Lebanon, it was more than a TV moment. It was a statement.
Precision, Symbols and a Golden Buzzer
In their AGT audition, Mayyas performed in front of a jury that included Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel. The routine was built on control and illusion rather than acrobatics or big tricks.
To hypnotic oriental music, the dancers formed shifting lines and patterns—hands becoming eyes, arms moving like waves, bodies bending into geometric shapes that looked almost animated. At times, it was impossible to tell where one dancer ended and the next began; the group moved as if it were a single, breathing organism.
The audience reaction was immediate. When the music ended, the theatre erupted. Vergara called it one of the most beautiful and creative dance acts she had ever seen. Simon Cowell predicted the performance would “really make a difference” and said it was among the best dance routines the show was likely to witness.
Then came the moment every AGT contestant dreams of. Vergara stood, reached for the golden buzzer, and hit it. A storm of gold rained down on the Lebanese troupe. In that instant, Mayyas secured a direct path to the live shows—and Lebanon gained a new symbol of pride.
Lebanon’s Struggles, Reframed Through Dance
In their pre-performance video, Cherfan and the dancers did not pretend they came from an easy place.
They described Lebanon with painful honesty: a beautiful country where crisis after crisis makes it difficult for anyone to build a future, and even harder for dancers—especially women—to see art as a real career. Out of that reality, Mayyas was born as a kind of refuge.
The name itself carries meaning. Mayyas comes from an Arabic word often used to describe the graceful, powerful walk of a lioness. The troupe was created as a “free, safe and creative space” where women could move, experiment, and be seen—without having to justify their ambition.
Cherfan also spoke about being inspired by a former AGT contestant, the late singer Nightbirde, whose line “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy” became a quiet motto for the troupe. He linked their audition directly to that idea: dancing as an act of joy and defiance, even when their home country is struggling with economic collapse and political paralysis.
On stage, none of this was explained. It didn’t need to be. The discipline, unity and emotional power of the routine carried that context without words.
A Long Road to “The Biggest Stage in the World”
The golden buzzer was not a lucky break. It was the result of years of work.
By the time they set foot on the AGT stage, Mayyas were already champions. They had won season six of Arabs Got Talent in 2019 and competed on Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions the same year. Those experiences gave them confidence—but America’s Got Talent was still something else: what they called “the biggest stage in the world” and, in their own words, their “only chance to prove to the world what Arab women can do.”
The AGT audition turned that mission into reality. Within hours of the broadcast, clips of their performance spread across social media, news sites and reaction videos. The name “Mayyas” became shorthand for precision, originality and a kind of collective strength rarely associated with female Arab dancers on Western television.
Beyond Entertainment: Why Mayyas Matters
What made the Mayyas moment different was not just technical excellence. It was the set of contradictions they brought to that stage:
- Veiled and unveiled dancers performing side by side, without the camera turning their appearance into a debate.
- A choreography that mixed classical oriental aesthetics with contemporary and experimental movement.
- A fully Arab, fully female troupe presented not as exotic decoration, but as serious contenders for a million-dollar prize.
On a show where Arab representation has often been limited to quick novelty acts or simplified stereotypes, Mayyas offered something entirely new: a complex, ambitious image of Arab women rooted in discipline, teamwork and artistic vision.
For viewers across the Arab world, the golden buzzer meant more than advancement in a competition. It was proof that women from a crisis-hit Lebanon could walk onto one of the world’s most-watched stages and dominate the conversation on their own terms.
For the Lebanese diaspora, it was a rare moment of unfiltered pride—friends and families sending each other the same clip, writing the same line: “Look what they did, coming from where we come from.”
A Legacy Larger Than a Trophy
Whether people remember the exact season of America’s Got Talent or not, the image of Mayyas under a rain of golden confetti will live on. It captured several truths at once:
- That Lebanon, despite everything, continues to export creativity to the world.
- That Arab women can lead, innovate and mesmerise without fitting into Western clichés.
- That behind every “overnight success” is a long road of practice, rejection, and quiet belief.
For Nowleb, the story of Mayyas is not just about a TV competition. It is about a group of Lebanese women who took the chaos, pressure and uncertainty of their reality—and turned it into choreography so precise that the world had to stop and watch.
The golden buzzer was the beginning. The real achievement is what they made visible: a new way of seeing Arab women on a global stage, not as background, not as symbols, but as artists in full command of their craft.
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