As the late-night shuttle rolled through the city, carrying students across sprawling superblocks and highways to campus, junior Isabelle Galet-Lalande reflected happily on the three hours of spoken word she and other open mic aficionados had just experienced.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in Abu Dhabi. It’s baffling. It’s really cool. I’ve been to quite a few [slam events] in New York and Sydney, and this was definitely up there. I was not expecting it,” said Galet-Lalande as the shuttle rolled back to the NYU Abu Dhabi campus.

A group of NYUAD students had just left Art House Speaks 1.1, the renewal of a recently established series of open mic events in Abu Dhabi. Over 160 spoken word enthusiasts, including a group of NYUAD students, had showed up to the café situated within the Etihad Modern Art Gallery to respect the mic by listening, snapping their fingers in approval or expressing themselves through spoken word or music.

Most of the students had previously attended spoken word events, and were impressed by the quality of the performances witnessed at Art House Speaks 1.1, as well as its overall atmosphere.

“I didn’t know that spoken word poetry was a thing in Abu Dhabi, so I was pleasantly surprised.  And it was fantastic how supportive it was,” said freshman Ritu Muralidharan, a spoken-word aficionado.

The venue welcomed both fans and novices to the world of spoken-word, aiming to spike interest among the crowd in the art form. On the Art House Speaks Facebook page, organizers are already asking viewers to stay tuned for a follow-up of the event, Art House Speaks 1.2.

“Overall, it was good. People went for it. The atmosphere was supportive and positive,” said freshman Anne-Louise Bauer. The crowd was not the only thing that contributed to the vibrant atmosphere of the place: the cozy set-up of the café, strewn with colorful bean bags and cushions, the warm lamps hanging from the walls and paintings added to the overall ambience of the event.

The poetry performed throughout the night ranged from the ups and downs of love, to mother-daughter relationships, to the inordinate amount of attention people pay to their clothing.

“[There were] lots of love poems though, overwhelmingly so,” noted Annie.

The performers ranged from veteran poets, such as Rooftop Rhythms Slam Champion Sarah Al-Souqi, to first-timers. Organizers of the event, such as Qutouf Yahia and Abdul Nassir Mohammed, had popular performances and strove to keep the audience engaged.

“I was expecting it to be, well, a little more amateurish, and it was 100% not,” remarked Galet-Lalande. “I don’t think there was one person who disappointed me, which was very unexpected. And the poetry was on par with every event I’ve been too...Will I be coming back? It’s more like, how many people in management will I befriend as soon as possible.”