Dancing in Jaffa

Film (2013)

With Pierre Dulaine, Yvonne Marceau, and children, parents and teachers connected with Ajyal School, Al-Ukhuwa School, Hashmonaim School, Open Democratic School, Weizmann School

Pierre Dulaine, four time world ballroom dance champion, now well into his sixties, returns to Jaffa from abroad after many years to teach ballroom dancing to children with the hope of bridging some of the gaps between Palestinian and Jewish Israelis. Going to a series of schools, some Palestinian, some Jewish and some with mixed student populations, he leads a series of classes, gradually building towards a dance competition in which children from all the schools will participate.

This film has some of the aspects of Mad Hot Ballroom (2005), the great documentary about kids in New York City schools learning to dance, and some of the aspects of the films about cultural attempts to improve Palestinian-Jewish relations, notably among them Knowledge Is The Beginning (2005), the account of a multicultural youth orchestra from the Middle East conducted by Daniel Barenboim in a project conceived jointly by him and Edward Said.

Dulaine’s mission is a lovely one and the idea of having these ten-week workshops to engage Palestinian and Jewish children in dance is a moving one. Clearly, this is a mission of love on Dulaine’s part and the attempt to bridge the gaps in this way is creative and inspired.

Though the mission of the project is deeply noble and the intent of this documentary about it is well-meaning, there is something a bit haphazard about the construction of this film which diminishes its potential effect. The editing has resulted in many abbreviations of scenes that one wishes would continue. One does not, for example, get a sustained sense of these children actually dancing; there are brief tastes of it and then the scenes switch.

Much of the attention of the film is directed to Dulaine, whose dramatic personality fills almost every frame. Though energetic, and passionate about his cause, he does not always seem to be the most patient guide for a group of children. He frequently comes across more like a tempestuous impresario than as an accommodating cross-cultural mediator. The energy of his enthusiasms is fine, but when it turns to frustration and edginess it seems somewhat off the mark. Interestingly, the filmmakers chose to include these parts which do add a realistic reflection on the difficulties of the project, but they do give one pause.

There are various profiles of children from the dance program with their families. With the portrait of one of the Palestinian kids, there are, as well, interspersed scenes of Palestinian political demonstrations. These vignettes illumine, to some extent, the challenging context in which these children and families live, but they are a bit too episodic to give more than a taste.

A bit more footage about these children and their lives and a sense of how the encounters between the Palestinian and Jewish children in the program affected them would have been useful, instead of the considerable footage devoted to Dulaine. His mission, and this film about it, are well-meant, but the sustained focus on his energetic personality takes over from what might have been a more complete story about the response to his noble efforts.

– BADMan