RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories - Ramallah dancer Shireen Ziyadeh wants to use pirouettes and plies to change the place where she grew up, training aspiring ballerinas to show that "something beautiful comes from Palestine". In tights and a white tunic, her hair scraped back in a flawless bun, the 24-year-old Palestinian repeats instructions to a group of tiny dancers in pink tutus and slippers at her ballet school in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The idea of teaching ballet to little girls came to the young management studies graduate four years ago. "I wanted to bring something new and offer them other perspectives on the future," she told AFP. "Ballet, which is a major art form, is a good way to revolutionise traditional Palestinian culture," she said. "I'm not only teaching them to dance but also how to integrate with others." Ziyadeh's is not the first ballet school in Ramallah - she herself learned to dance here in her childhood - but she is one of just a handful of teachers across the Palestinian territories. "Teaching ballet and its philosophy (here) is also a way of showing the world that something beautiful comes from Palestine," she said. Opened in May 2011, the Ramallah Ballet Centre says on its website that it offers "the ability to dance, act and think in more positive ways".
AFP AsiaOne
