Facing death threats,Ahmad Joudeh risked everything to give Damascus children dance lessons. Now the Palestinian dances for the Dutch National Ballet
Half a year ago, ballet dancer Ahmad Joudeh was giving dance lessons to orphaned children in war-torn Damascus. Now he has made his debut at the Dutch National Ballet and is studying at the ballet academy in Amsterdam. “It took me a month to fully realise I really am in Amsterdam, and I still can’t believe my luck,” Joudeh says.
For years, as the war raged around him and his family, and Joudeh - a stateless Palestinian in Syria - had tried to make ends meet by teaching,and had received death threats from Islamic State. When the summons to enact three years of military service arrived, the 26-year-old began to believe that this was going to be the close of the dream that he had cradled from childhood. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com