He’s only 22 with the world, quite literally, at his feet.
A talented exponent of the performing arts, Azeem Alahi has worked hard for everything he has got in life so far.
Now today, as chief executive officer of Northern Ireland’s only dedicated dance agency, he has changed lives, turned dreams into reality and given others a reason to believe in themselves.
Coming from County Armagh, he didn’t always see people who looked like him represented in the spaces he was entering.
And that pushed Azeem to go against the grain, as he says, to build something different, and to create a blueprint where one didn’t exist, through launching the Dance United Agency in Belfast, which is now expanding into mainland UK.
At its core, his is a story about growing up as part of a minority community in Northern Ireland — navigating identity from a young age, including through school, and how those experiences shaped his mindset.
Born in Craigavon, Azeem attended Lurgan Junior High School for the first three years, before relocating to St Patrick’s Grammar in Armagh, just like his brothers, to study for his GCSEs and later A Levels.
Armagh was, he said, a “great community of people”, and one in which he made “some really life-long friends”.
But on the other side of the coin, Azeem’s ambitions did not always meet with the approval of his peers.
Azeem Alahi, pictured in Ulster University Belfast, photographed by Maitland Moments.
“There’s always the negative side too,” he told Armagh I. “It was an all-boys school, so already there’s a lot of testosterone floating around. Obviously with me dancing and acting, that isn’t the most sporty thing in the world, so I got a bit of judgement and a bit of flack off that, but overall it was a positive experience.”
Azeem had no leaning towards performance at that time. He did not know then that he had what it takes to move forward in that field.
But when a choreographer came along to St Patrick’s Grammar and wanted students to compete in a schools competition he readily gave it a go.
“It was loads of schools across the Armagh council borough,” he recalls. “I was just taught this routine and I then went and competed against all these other students and I came first out of around 300 people. At this time I’d not had any dance experience, so I knew that I had something and something was going on.
United Dance Agency founder Azeem Alahi at the Belfast, ’22 under 22 conference’.
“At this point, people were telling me I’m talented and I should join a performance school, so I joined a weekly school, the Pamela Cassells School of Performance. That’s how I started dance and then shortly after I started acting.”
Dance saw Azeem compete at championships across Ireland and the UK, chasing – and winning – acclaim and awards for his endeavours.
And acting too brought great success, working on productions for the BBC, ITV and CBBC, including Almost Never and the hugely popular Magpie Murders.
The two disciplines, however, were very different in terms of trying to secure opportunities within Northern Ireland and taking home the all-important wage.
That in itself provided a future-defining lightbulb moment for the young County Armagh man who subscribed to the ‘if you want a job done do it yourself’ school of thought…
“I was acting a lot professionally, but in terms of dance, I was just doing dance competitions, so that’s all I ever really saw in Northern Ireland,” explains Azeem. “I was asking my agent at the time if there were professional dance jobs, and she was telling me that there was a few across the sea, in London and Manchester. At the time I was asking, why is there nothing here?
“When I was about to start uni, I thought what else is there? All I’m doing is dance competitions. I actually want to start earning from dance as I do in acting. I was like, is there an agency for dancers just as there is for actors? I was looking into it and there was nothing. So I thought, OK, I’m going to go to agencies that already exist and I’m going to ask them if they can start signing dancers and actually start representing dancers, so we can get jobs and we can start being paid fairly and compensated well, because at this point I’d never been paid for a proper job for being a dancer.
“About six or seven months later, I just sat down and said I’m going to do this. No one else is believing in this. No one else thinks that there’s a market. I understand why at the time, I do, but I knew myself that this is going to happen eventually. Eventually there’s going to be a dance agency, just as there is in Manchester, in Birmingham, in England and Ireland.
The Belfast Mela (L to R), Mollie Kelly, Kei, Azeem Alahi, Emma McKinney and Caroline Indome.
“We needed one in Northern Ireland and so that’s why I started this journey.”
And so it was that Azeem formed his Dance United Agency and the rest, as they say, is history.
Founded in June 2024, Northern Ireland’s only dedicated dance agency has already created so many opportunities for others, securing over 400 roles for locally-based dancers, from theatre to festival performances, music videos and more.
“We provide professional opportunities for dancers across Northern Ireland that are based in Northern Ireland,” the man at the helm confidently adds. “We also provide opportunities in the Republic of Ireland and now recently in mainland UK. That’s what we would do. It would also help them build their career in terms of their branding, if they wanted to set up their own dance classes or dance schools. We’ve set up a few people already. We’re really invested in managing their career and providing opportunities, paid work.”
The agency is not limited to any particular style of dance; from Bollywood to ballet, hip hop to jazz, contemporary, tap and anything in between.
“Everything under the sun,” admits Azeem, whose agency has built up quite the CV in such a relatively short space of time.
Dance United dancers at the SSE ARENA for the Olympic homecoming.
“We would do all sorts of work, such as festival work. We’ve worked with ArtsEkta, which is the largest cultural organisation in Northern Ireland, for Belfast Mela. We’ve worked with the SSE Arena for the Olympic homecoming. We’ve had a part in the Féile Festival. We’re going over to Bradford Mela. There’s lots of things that we’re working on and we get in, and we do music videos as well, wedding performances, wedding entertainment. If it’s anything to do with dance, I bet we’ll have some sort of part to play.”
The awards and accolades for Azeem and his agency have been plentiful and gratifying. There has been recognition and reward from the Golden Dance Awards for contributions to the industry. For he too have come plaudits from MRANI, the Minority Recognition Awards, for his work in this field.
The Belfast Telegraph also chose Azeem for their ’30 under 30’ who’s who list of young Northern Ireland entrepreneurs who are punching at the top of their game and truly going places.
“I’m obviously doing something right,” says Azeem. “I’m doing something that is of benefit and something that needed to be done. As well as that, even across the dance industry, there’s so much change. There’s other agencies now have started signing dancers who actually just dance. Before it was singers who dance, or actors who dance, rather than dancers who dance, so actually putting the priority on the dance style itself and putting the priority on the talent, on actually being valued as a dancer.
“Other agencies are now starting to pop up this year. I feel like the industry is now moving and I’m very surprised to see it move this quickly, to be honest, because two years ago there was nothing like it. Dancers are now starting to stay here, whereas before they were moving away to London and Manchester and all of these big cities. Now they’re starting to stay because they believe they can work here and they can get paid for what they love.
Golden Dance Awards NI – Azeem Alahi pictured with Award.
“ That’s something that I’m so proud of. People as well coming up to me and saying, ‘Azeem, you gave me purpose and gave me a reason to stay here’, that’s something that I can’t even fathom. I can’t put it into words how much that means to me.”
So having been instrumental in bringing about that change, Azeem wishes to continue to grow his agency.
And with that, moving forward, there are further opportunities he will willingly grasp with both hands.
“Right now we work very closely with professional dancers, but I definitely want to develop a part of the company which starts at amateur,” he explains. “I’d like to work with amateur dancers who do want to make it to professional level and start their journey right from the start, rather than getting trained dancers and working with them that way.
Carrickfergus Halloween festival, dancer Kerry Wu pictured.
“I also would love to expand officially over into the mainland and I would just like to continue to build those relationships with clients and production companies. I think that’s one of the biggest things, in order to ensure that we are progressing and building more opportunities for dancers.”
In reality, it’s not really that long ago since Azeem was attending school in Lurgan and later Armagh. Today, other students will be walking those same corridors he did and in other schools across Northern Ireland, with a dream of a future which they may feel is overwhelming, fantastical and beyond their grasp.
So perhaps a few words of advice at this stage wouldn’t go a miss to those who are…
“Keep your ideas to yourself first of all. A lot of people, even your close family and friends, can really discourage you,” says Azeem. “Something I did, I literally started my social media and I started hiring dancers without telling anyone, and once I finally had results to show that’s when I started telling people. I think if I had started telling people from the get-go, I know I would have faced a lot of backlash, or maybe some people making me doubt what I wanted to do and as people already did in the industry.
“I knew that there’s people and people have their opinions, but if you believe in what the purpose is, and if you believe in what you have to offer, then just stick to it. Stay focussed and do it. Put in the action. And you won’t realise how much support you already have around you. That’s the biggest thing, even from helping other dancers start up their own dance schools. It’s all about starting, actually hitting the go button.”
Reflecting on his own formative years, growing up and his experiences, they helped mould and transform Azeem into this resilient and confident young adult, finding his place in the world and giving him the knowledge and desire to succeed, ensuring that, when opportunity knocked for him, he not only answered, he tore that door right off!
Photographed by Maitland Moments, Azeem Alahi is pictured at Ulster University Belfast.
“Northern Ireland is a funny world. It’s a funny place,” he adds. “Being a minority in this country, I think that’s definitely helped shape me, and I think for a long time I wanted to blend in in school and in acting and dancing. I always wanted to feel like I was a part of everyone else and I think in some respects that’s a great thing.
“I think a big reason why I am as successful as I am today is because I made a conscious decision a few years ago to stand out and because I knew myself that, I’m not like everyone else just by looking at me, right? And I am the minority, so why am I trying to blend in so much?
“ I knew from the get-go, from then on a few years back, that going forward I’m going to do what I like, I’m going to do it how I want to do it and I’m not going to do it to please others.
“That’s a big reason why I have made the decisions I have and I have been thinking outside the box and did something that hasn’t been done before.
“I would just say don’t let where you come from and how you look pull you down. I’ve looked a bit more at it as an advantage and as something that makes you stand out, so embrace that and embrace where you come from.”
