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The Morning Party offers a new way to socialise in Dubai
From taking a break with reflexology to having a breakthrough in an ice bath, The Water Bar offers wellness experiences with a twist
- PUBLISHED: Sun 9 Feb 2025, 3:03 PM UPDATED: Sun 9 Feb 2025, 11:51 PM
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Breaking bread to catch-up on life with a friend, meet a new client, or go on a date is the norm. It's comfortable. You can discuss the menu, dip into the sauces, dabble with appetisers, or sip on your choice of beverage if things get awkward or you need a minute to think of your next witty reply. The flip side is, of course, we aren't doing our organs (or waistlines) a favour by centering our meet-ups around food and drink.
Enter The Morning Party powered by The Water Bar, the brainchild of 38-year-old Gaia (ZainubJenna Bata). With the slogan, Experience Highdration, its wellness experiences offer clean 'halal' fun, so minus the naughty beverages that will leave you with a headache and with drinks that hydrate, balance and refresh.
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“The Water Bar is a non-alcoholic bar and we offer non-alcoholic experiences. We encourage safe spaces for women specifically, but also for people who don't drink; that could be because of religion, because of a lifestyle choice based on fitness, or because someone has had previous issues with alcohol addiction,” she explains.
The pilot began in November 2024 with pop-ups at events across Dubai; two pop-ups in Al Qudra desert; pop-ups in New York and Toronto; and even in India (at a wedding). In January, The Water Bar set up a semi-permanent space on a Yacht in Dubai Creek Harbour - with expansive views of the water and the sound of waves - where it hosts The Morning Party.
There's no pressure to be a certain way at these parties; it's more about walking out feeling empowered and energised.
If you find yourself a bit awkward during social interactions, you are in good hands. “We partner with this company called We're Not Really Strangers, which does connection cards,” she smiles. These prompts can help you start (or save) a conversation and help people to authentically relate.
What's on the yacht?
“There's a Tea & Elixir Bar on the lower deck in the Awaken Sleep Lab, where you can have a tea ceremony, breathe and connect, relax with a massage or recover with an ice bath. On the upper deck, we start off with a wellness experience like sound healing and then we move into the party. We have a live DJ on the decks,” she says, noting how dance allows for flow, expression and fun.
Wondering how to get into the club? Currently, to gain access you need to pay $65, or about Dh240, for a day pass. But a subscription service is coming soon.
Gaia, who has been in the UAE since 2011, says that as a woman who values deep connection and non-alcoholic social experiences, going to nightclubs no longer hits the spot. She has also seen women in abayas be given odd looks if they try to make it on to a dance floor. “But the way I see it, everyone wants to dance,” she says.
She also talks about people who battle addiction and how difficult it is for them to go to a place where their poison of choice is on perpetual display. “It's a serious mental health issue, which is not happening just in the West. It's everywhere," she says. Gaia is in discussions with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to offer a permanent space for meetings and offer the experience for free to people who are part of AA.
Free water
Besides cool experiences, The Water Bar dispenses sustainable solutions; when you are here, you can get your water free. “We never charge for water. We just sell a copper bottle that you pay for once and can reuse over and over again. The water, we'll top up at no charge.” The metal is recommended as a vessel to drink out of in the ancient medical practice of Ayurveda. "We also have partnerships with restaurants such as Soulgreen at Vida Creek Harbour where if you mention The Water Bar, you get filtered water in a copper bottle," she adds.
The interesting thing about the water you'll drink onboard is that it uses new tech such as the Air Water Generator - which essentially filters water from the air around you - for production.
The other drinks you can expect at The Water Bar include komboocha, electrolytes, and chaga (wild mushroom).
This is a programme that screams tough logistics. But Gaia is sure her work with women's group's – “I've done a lot of talks and emceeing and facilitated sessions for women,” she says – along with the lessons she's learned while running her own company, Integrated Business Care, has prepared her for her current venture.
“Eventually, the plan is to work with therapists [at these events],” she says and make the space Neurodivergent friendly.
Service with a smile
The Water Bar and The Morning Party is run by 'Hype Girls'. “They are trained by the Center for Emotional Intelligence and go through training in managing neurodivergent issues such as autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),” says Gaia. “They are trained in compassionate listening, empathy and holding space”
“The idea is that even if you're just coming for a glass of water, you're having a therapeutic experience,” she adds.
It's all about enriching one's mental wealth.
“There's a lot of thought that's gone into each and every element of each and every experience,” says Gaia, adding that the challenges that she's faced over the year she's been working on the plan for The Water Bar are mainly to do with logistics and some nay sayers. “The journey's been a year with people also telling me that it's a bad idea, or to change the name… I'm like, 'okay, but this is my vision'.”
This belief in herself, the big picture and her product plan has led to Gaia getting more and more people onboard.
Want to try it for yourself? Your chance for a spot at The Morning Party powered by The Water Bar is coming up, on Feb 23 between 9am and 12noon pm at the Secret Ocean Yacht.
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