History

This article was originally written in Arabic and first published in 1925 by Gibran, one of the greatest Arab-American authors of all times. Eighty-two years later, the article still strikingly applies to the Middle East of today.

There are in the Middle East today two challenging ideas: old and new. The old ideas will vanish because they are weak and exhausted. There is in the Middle East an awakening that defies slumber. This awakening will conquer because the sun is its leader and the dawn is its army.

Sixty-one years ago, on April 17, 1946, Syria achieved independence from the French Mandate. Much has been writ-ten in Syria about the armed revolts against the French, which started in 1919 and accumulated in the great re-volt of 1925-1927. The heroes of these revolts are well-known to five generations of Syrians growing up during and after the Mandate. They include General Yusuf al-Azma, the minister of war who was killed in combat against the French Army in 1920, Ibrahim Hananu, commander of the Aleppo Revolt, Saleh al-Ali, commander of the mountain revolt, and Sultan al-Atrash, commander of the Syrian revolt of 1925. Leaders of the political process, however, who championed diplomacy—rather than violence—to secure Syria’s independence, have not received their due mention in Syrian history.

The last two issues of Forward contained two articles, “Follow the heart” and “Born on the 17of the April: the story of Ahlam” by Sami Moubayed. These articles, and the author himself, encouraged me to write about my dream and how I also, followed the heart. My dream has accompanied me for the last 19-years of my life. It started in 1988 when I stood on my tiptoes and watched Ballet performances on the television show “Language of the World” by Vahe Tamazijian. It aired on Syrian TV, Channel Two. I was fascinated by the magical world of Ballet where ballerinas danced with elegance, dressed in beautiful clothes. My parents took me to audition for the Ballet School associated with the Higher Academy of Dramatic Arts at the Syrian Ministry of Culture. When we arrived we were ushered into a waiting room with hundreds of children and their parents, all waiting to become ballerinas. I waited until they finally announced my name. I ran into the hall, fascinated by the mirrors around me. The jury asked all the children, in a foreign language accompanied by Arabic translation, to perform certain moves. As a kid I was amused by what was happening so far; spontaneously I went back to my parents saying: “ballet is not only fascinating, but fun as well!” When the results were announced, the fun was over. I was not accepted. My dreams shattered and I sobbed my heart out, fainting from shock. I remember images of people around me, speaking foreign languages, the voice of my parents, and cold water over my face. I woke up and said: “Please accept me. I want to become a ballerina.” A Russian Ballet teacher replied: “Your flexibility is not enough; you did not meet the standards of Ballet.” I cried and begged, and my parents tried to explain the reason in simpler words, but their efforts were in vain. All of a sudden the teacher approached me saying: “Have you ever accepted a challenge? I am going to give you one and only one chance to become a ballerina. You will join the other children for one week on robation, and you will need to work very hard to impress me.” How could I say no to such an offer? I accepted the challenge. The month of October 1988 was the first challenge in my life. I promised myself to become a ballerina. I walked into the class-room at the Higher Institute for Music and Dramatic Arts, which was filled with twenty other girls, with one thing in mind: my dream. The countdown started. I joined as many classes as my energy could afford and worked so hard until my little body was exhausted. The ‘judgment day’ approached and I did not hear a word from Olga, the Russian Ballet teacher; she was just monitoring me with her big blue eyes. During the final day of the week, Olga requested that I wait for her at her office. My heart was beating so fast, I remember hearing her footsteps crossing the long corridor, I remember the long and heavy silence; I was accepted! Ballet became a part of my life. Actually it became my life. It was the oxygen I breathed everyday. My determination to win the challenge did not end there. I now dreamt of becoming the best—the finest ballerina in Syria. Olga went back home, to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. I bid her a tearful farewell, and this coincided with my first performance before a live audience in 1991. It was my first solo, designed by Olga as a farewell ceremony to end her teaching career in Syria. The performance took place at the ballet hall of the Higher Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts; the same hall where I was auditioned and rejected back in 1988. While Olga taught me the meaning of a dream and a challenge, my second Ballet teacher Larissa, came to sharpen, strength-en, and shape that dream. Almost six years had passed and I watched all of my friends drop out of Ballet classes, for one reason or another. Left behind were only four of us; three girls and one boy. New students had enrolled, however, and the Syrian Ballet School was growing bigger. For her part, Larissa ended her teaching tenure in Syria by putting on The Nut Cracker Ballet. It was the first time the legendary show was performed in Syria. I was the main ballerina that night in 1998, dancing away at the Hamra Theatre. That show was attended by current Vice-President Najah al-Attar (who was Minister of Culture at the time) and the dean of the Academy, Sulhi al-Wadi. Their presence was a great honor and a strong encouragement for all of us. At that time I was almost seventeen, preparing for 12th grade exams—the Syrian baccalaureate I was at the crossroads of my life. What next? There was no academic institute for Ballet in Syria, and it was time to go to university. Sulhi al-Wadi created the Department of Ballet at the Higher Academy and I had the honor of being its first student. For the next four years I studied both Ballet and English literature at Damascus University. I continued to perform and was a member of the Syrian National Choir performing with the National Symphonic Orchestra. While heading for my audition at the Ballet School in 1988, I remember my mother taking a picture of me at the Umayyad Square, near a huge building that was being constructed. The little girl in the photograph became a fourth year student at the Ballet School of the Higher Academy of Music and Art, and the building became the Dar al-Assad for Culture—known as the Damascus Opera House. When I finished my double major I received a scholarship and was honored—again—to study at the National Higher Academy of Ballet in Europe. I badly wanted to go and explore the world of ballet abroad, to obtain knowledge and sharpen my experience. I went and performed in several shows with international dancers from all around the world. I was meeting new people every day and being tutored by some of the inest names in the profession. One day, I received an offer to perform with the Youth Ballet Group of the National Higher Academy. I was to continue studying with them, and perform with them as well, all over the world. In the professional world of Ballerinas, this was an amazing chance of fulfilling the dream, but for me, I decided to follow my heart and come back to Syria. It was the place where my dream was born, along with the challenge. It was the place where the young girl watched ballerinas dancing on tiptoes in fabulous clothes. I decided to re-live my dream in Syria and took the decision to teach what I had learned throughout the last 19 years of my life to children. I hope that Ballet will remain my companion dream throughout my whole life.

The month of May has its historical importance in Syria, because it celebrates two events in modern history. One is the May 6, 1916 hanging of Syrian nationalists in the Marjeh Square during World War I, and the other being the French onslaught of May 29, 1945. On this day, 62-years ago, France bombed Damascus and tried to arrest its democratically elected leaders: Acting Prime Minister Jamil Mardam Bey, Speaker of Par-liament Saadallah al-Jabiri, and President Shukri al-Quwatli. While French planes were bombing Damascus, Prime Minister Faris al-Khury was at the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco, presenting Syria’s claim for independence from the French Mandate.