• About
  • Support AJW
  • Jewish Community Directory
  • Subscription Information
  • Contact Us
American Jewish World
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

    Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

    ‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

    ‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

    Journey to the old land of woe

    Journey to the old land of woe

    Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

    Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Editorial: More from my European vacation

    Editorial: More from my European vacation

    Our Rosh Hashana special edition

    Our Rosh Hashana special edition

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

    Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

    ‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

    ‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

    Journey to the old land of woe

    Journey to the old land of woe

    Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

    Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Editorial: More from my European vacation

    Editorial: More from my European vacation

    Our Rosh Hashana special edition

    Our Rosh Hashana special edition

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
No Result
View All Result
Morning News
No Result
View All Result
Home Arts

‘Jaffa’ solicits youthful dancing partners for peace

American Jewish World by American Jewish World
May 23, 2020
in Arts
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine is a lifelong proponent of partnered dancing as a way to develop social skills and self-confidence — and perhaps even help the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

By MICHAEL FOX
Going back at least as far as 2001’s Promises, most recent documentaries that opted for an optimistic slant on the Israeli-Palestinian situation centered on children.
The next generation, to be sure, is the universal embodiment of hope. But betting on today’s children to solve a problem down the road is tacit acknowledgement that today’s adults aren’t up to the task — or so those who see the Mideast glass half-empty might say.

In Dancing in Jaffa, internationally renowned ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine teaches Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli children to dance and compete together. The film opens May 2 in Minneapolis. (Photo: IFC Films)
In “Dancing in Jaffa,” internationally renowned ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine teaches Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli children to dance and compete together. The film opens May 2 in Minneapolis. (Photo: IFC Films)

Both perspectives are skillfully interwoven in Dancing in Jaffa, a nuanced, feel-good study of cross-cultural fence-hopping in which the best traits in human nature vie with street-level realities.
Dancing in Jaffa opens Friday, May 2 exclusively at the Landmark Lagoon Cinema in Minneapolis.
The movie’s motor is world champion ballroom dancer and teacher Pierre Dulaine, who returns to his hometown after many years with the self-proclaimed goal of giving something back. Perennially dressed in a starched shirt and tie, and fluent in Arabic, English and French, the gray-haired Dulaine is a cosmopolitan alien in a working-class town.
The indefatigable Dulaine is a lifelong proponent of partnered dancing as a way to develop social skills and self-confidence, but in Jaffa he’s determined to apply his pedagogy to an even greater good. His plan is to teach merengue, rhumba and tango to 11-year-olds at various schools, culminating with young Jewish and Palestinian Israelis dancing together in a public ballroom dance competition.
“This is how you learn to work with another person,” Dulaine offhandedly remarks to one child while correcting his form.
It’s a lovely sentiment, one that will gradually sink in after the student has become comfortable with the steps and can actually look at and interact with his or her partner.
There’s an unpredictability and bumpiness to Dulaine’s mission, at least initially, that negates the comforting formula that some viewers will expect. Most of the kids are shy, embarrassed and downright resistant to engaging with the opposite sex, even without the Islamic prohibition on touching someone of the opposite sex. (None of the Jewish kids are Orthodox.)
While boys will be boys, and girls will be girls, Dulaine perseveres with firmness as well as affection. Progress in the classroom can be hard to discern, however, so the film provides glimpses of the home lives of three children to suggest their individual blossoming.
Hilla Medalia, the prolific Israeli-born producer and director of such documentaries as To Die in Jerusalem and Numbered, again displays her talent for gaining access, winning trust, and crafting small, revealing moments.
The most memorable are political rather than interpersonal, and occur on the street rather than in someone’s home. The arrival in town of an intentionally intimidating group of right-wing Israelis chanting some variation of “Jaffa for the Jews” provides buzz-killing evidence that conciliation is not everyone’s goal.
An illuminating sequence contrasting the observance of Independence Day at a Jewish school with its description as the Nakba — “catastrophe” — at a Palestinian Israeli school likewise underscores Medalia’s preference for presenting reality rather than peddling fantasy.
In this regard, she and Dulaine are perfectly in step. He was four years old when he left Jaffa with his Palestinian mother and Irish father during the War of Independence, and he’s chagrined but not surprised when his request to reenter his family’s old home is summarily rejected by the Jewish owners.
Consistent with the theme that the future is more important than the past, Dulaine’s presence in the film steadily diminishes. We, and he, are left with the satisfaction that individual children have grown and glimpsed possibilities they couldn’t have imagined.
A small victory, perhaps, compared to a lasting resolution to the ongoing conflict? Even a pessimist wouldn’t have the chutzpa to call a child’s transformation a “small victory.”

***

READ ALSO

Les Block, our music maven

Journey to the old land of woe

Dancing in Jaffa opens Friday, May 2 at the Landmark Lagoon Cinema, 1320 Lagoon Ave., Minneapolis. In Hebrew, Arabic and English with English subtitles. (Not rated. 89 minutes.)
For information, visit: www.dancinginjaffa.com.

Related Posts

Les Block, our music maven
Minnesota

Les Block, our music maven

August 8, 2023
Journey to the old land of woe
Books & Literature

Journey to the old land of woe

August 7, 2023
Jews bring the funny to the Fringe
Theater & Performing Arts

Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

August 7, 2023
Repressing memories of a week in 1970
Books & Literature

Repressing memories of a week in 1970

July 23, 2023
A guide to Jewish artists at Twin Cities art fairs
Visual Arts

A guide to Jewish artists at Twin Cities art fairs

July 17, 2023
Book explores the bard of Hibbing’s local roots
Books & Literature

Book explores the bard of Hibbing’s local roots

July 12, 2023
Next Post

Rimon salon to feature playwright Sun Mee Chomet

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECENT ARTICLES

Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

August 9, 2023
News from the Jewish World — and the Jewish world

News from the Jewish World — and the Jewish world

August 9, 2023
Les Block, our music maven

Les Block, our music maven

August 8, 2023
‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

August 10, 2023
Journey to the old land of woe

Journey to the old land of woe

August 7, 2023

About

Since 1912 the AJW has served as an important news resource for the Jewish community. The Jewish World unites the main Jewish communities in St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as those in Duluth, Rochester and smaller cities, and bridges the divides between the various Jewish religious streams.

Quick Links

  • About the AJW
  • Advertising Information
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Subscription Information
  • Jewish Community Directory

Contact Us

The American Jewish World
3249 Hennepin Ave., Suite 245
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Tel: 612.824.0030 / Fax: 612.823.0753
editor@ajwnews.com

  • Buy JNews
  • Landing Page
  • Documentation
  • Support Forum

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
  • News
  • Food
  • Health & Wellness
  • Lifestyle
  • Opinion

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.