WHAT'S IN THE PROGRAMME
Flying Carpets, Acrobats and Fire: Inside the Chez Ali Show
Beyond the Fantasia charge, a Chez Ali evening layers in acrobats, belly dance, fireworks and a flying-carpet entrance — here's how those acts fit together.
See Chez Ali Fantasia tickets on GetYourGuide ↗More than one act on the bill
The Fantasia charge is the headline, but a Chez Ali-style evening is usually built as a variety programme, with several distinct acts performed in and around the dinner service before the main equestrian event. Programmes vary by night and by operator, but the recurring cast across long-running write-ups and operator listings includes acrobats, belly dancers, musicians and a costumed flying-carpet entrance, often tied together with fireworks or pyrotechnics. Think of it as a folkloric variety show that builds toward the charge, rather than a single set-piece performance — the pacing is designed to keep a large audience of mixed ages entertained across a multi-hour evening, not just for the couple of minutes the charge itself lasts.
The flying carpet entrance
A recurring feature described in accounts of the Chez Ali evening is a costumed "sultan" figure appearing to glide in on a flying carpet, timed with pyrotechnics or fireworks bursting behind him — a theatrical, crowd-pleasing opener rather than a folkloric ritual with historical roots. The imagery draws more on popular "Arabian Nights" storytelling than on any specific Moroccan tradition, and it functions mainly as a signal that the show portion of the evening is beginning, drawing attention from the dinner tables toward the arena or stage area before the acrobats and dancers take over the programme.
Acrobats and belly dance
Acrobatic performers and belly dancers commonly appear as a linked sequence, sometimes with acrobats using props like rings of fire, tumbling and balancing routines set to live or recorded music. Belly dance itself is a broader North African and Middle Eastern performance tradition rather than something unique to Morocco, and its inclusion reflects the region's shared entertainment culture rather than a specifically Moroccan folk art. At Chez Ali it's presented as one entertainment strand among several rather than the evening's centrepiece — that role belongs squarely to the Fantasia charge that follows once the variety acts have finished.
Fireworks and staging
Fireworks or pyrotechnic effects are commonly used to punctuate transitions — the flying-carpet opener, moments during the dance and acrobatic segments, and sometimes around the Fantasia charge itself — adding a sense of scale to a large open-air venue that can seat hundreds of guests across spread-out tented seating. Because the show runs outdoors after dark, lighting and pyrotechnics do a lot of the work needed to keep a large, spread-out audience focused on a fast-moving programme with several changes of act, cast and music between the dinner service and the closing charge.
Setting realistic expectations
None of this is presented as strict cultural documentary — it's a large-scale entertainment evening designed for visitor groups, and the acrobats, belly dance and flying-carpet moments sit closer to variety-show spectacle than to the folkloric troupes performing regional Moroccan music and dance elsewhere in the evening. Knowing the shape of the programme in advance — dinner and variety acts first, Fantasia charge as the climax — helps set realistic expectations for what's essentially a big, multi-act night out rather than a single continuous performance, and makes the pacing of a long evening easier to follow.
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