‘Dance is my passport’: Syrian ballet dancer Ahmad Joudeh on dancing as home

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«Ο Χορός είναι το διαβατήριό μου»: ο Σύριος στην καταγωγή χορευτής μπαλέτου Αχμάντ Τζούντ έχει για σπίτι του…… το ΧΟΡΟ

Το να γίνεις ένας επιτυχημένος χορευτής μπαλέτου ενώ μεγαλώνεις σε ένα προσφυγικό στρατόπεδο δεν είναι εύκολο

I am those who are free and never fear

I am the secrets that will never die

I am the voice of those who would not give in

I am the meaning amid the chaos

I am the right of the oppressed ….

….I am the soul of those who are not forgotten

I am the voice of those who have not died

Let’s make clay out of steel

And build with it a new love

That becomes birds

hat becomes a country/home

That becomes wind and rain

I am all the free people of the world put together

I am like a bullet

I am all the free people of the world put together

I am like a bullet

Becoming a successful ballet dancer while growing up in a refugee camp wasn’t easy.

DW caught up with the Netherlands-based dancer on World Dance Day to learn about his form of artistic resistance.

Dancer Ahmad Joudeh, born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, Syria, is no stranger to overcoming the odds. At 16, totally self-taught, Ahmad Joudeh auditioned for the main Syrian ballet company, Enana Dance Theater in Damascus, and was accepted. There he was trained in ballet, gymnastics and modern dance.

Five years later, the Syrian civil war broke out, with devastating consequences for his family. Five relatives lost their lives and the family home was destroyed by a bomb. Now based in the Netherlands, Joudeh has been dancing solos in festivals across Europe and has big plans for the future of Syrian dance.

https://www.dw.com/en/dance-is-my-passport-syrian-ballet-dancer-ahmad-joudeh-on-dancing-as-home/a-48502423