Within hours of their America’s Got Talent audition airing, Lebanese dance troupe Mayyas were no longer just a stage act – they were a viral phenomenon.
Their golden-buzzer performance, already covered in detail by regional outlets, was quickly picked up by international entertainment sites. Yahoo Entertainment featured the segment under the headline “Watch Lebanese Dance Troupe Mayyas Unleash The Artistry Of Arab Women On ‘America’s Got Talent’”, signaling how strongly the piece was being framed as a milestone for representation, not just another TV moment.
From AGT clip to global symbol
Platforms across the web shared the same core images: lines of Lebanese women in black costumes moving in perfect unison; hands forming the shape of eyes; geometric patterns that seemed more like animation than live performance. Dailymotion, Khaleej Times and other outlets hosted or embedded the routine, presenting it as a must-watch example of what a “million-dollar act” looks like on AGT.
In the region, the emphasis was on pride and visibility. In international coverage, a specific angle dominated: this was proof that Arab women’s artistry could compete at the highest level of Western reality television – and captivate judges known for their harsh standards.
Media framing matters
The choice of words in Yahoo’s headline – “unleash the artistry of Arab women” – captured what many viewers felt watching the clip. It wasn’t only about choreography; it was about a collective, meticulously disciplined performance that carried stories of constraint and aspiration from Beirut onto one of the most watched talent stages in the world.
That framing helped the video travel. Local pride posts were shared alongside think-pieces about representation, women’s rights and the pressures facing dancers in conservative contexts. For a few days, social feeds were filled with people tagging friends and family with variations of the same message: “You have to see this.”
Lebanon’s soft power in four minutes
For Lebanon, still deep in political and economic crisis, Mayyas’ viral moment functioned as a form of soft power. Instead of yet another clip of queues at gas stations or footage of protests, global audiences were watching a carefully crafted, visually stunning example of Lebanese creativity.
The fact that so much of this amplification came from digital platforms – YouTube, Yahoo Entertainment, news sites, social media reposts – underlines how crucial online circulation has become for artists from small or struggling markets. A single TV appearance can now generate months of visibility if the right outlets decide it matters.
In this case, as titles like Yahoo’s suggest, what mattered was not only that Mayyas impressed the AGT judges, but that they did so as a group of Arab women claiming space, complexity and joy on their own terms.
Leave a Reply