Summary
Renowned ball-room dancer Pierre Dulaine takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa, to teach Jewish and Palestinian Israelis to dance and compete together.
Renowned ball-room dancer Pierre Dulaine takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa, to teach Jewish and Palestinian Israelis to dance and compete together.
In this observational documentary, former champion ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine returns to his native Jaffa in Israel to teach dance and cross-cultural understanding to the mixed local community. As the child of Palestinian-Irish parents forced to leave during the formation of Israel, this mission carries deep personal significance for the pixie-ish yet determined dance tutor, whose methods have found great success within the New York public school system (as seen in Mad Hot Ballroom and the Antonio Banderas drama Take the Lead). Here it's easy to dismiss the notion of Israeli and Palestinian primary-school kids getting together on the dance floor as a superficial response to the region's ongoing political conflict, yet the film engrossingly shows the innocence of children transforming attitudes on both sides when traditional social barriers are removed. The result is a charming, revealing and ultimately hopeful snapshot of change in action.
role | name |
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Pierre Dulaine | Pierre Dulaine |
Yvonne Marceau | Yvonne Marceau |
role | name |
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Director | Hilla Medalia |