Every now and then, I like to see what people are up to on Kickstarter, and how they make their pitch – in particular the video projects. Now and then you come across some really interesting projects.
“Dancing in Jaffa” is one of those projects. Imagine Jaffa, a suburb of Tel Aviv – where Israeli Jews and Palestinian Israelis have lived for years in almost complete segregation – and imagine the distrust and lack of understanding that develops from that segregation. Buttressed of course by Israelis and Palestinians shooting at each other from time to time – as they are as of this writing.
Pierre Dulaineis a renowned ballroom dancer and instructor originally from Jaffa. He decides to return home and use dance to try and bring the children of divided Jaffa closer together through his unique style of dance instruction, which in part relies upon respecting oneself and respecting one’s partner. He observes at the beginning of the process that “the children were spitting on each other. At the end of 10 weeks, they were holding each other and respecting each other.”
If that sounds interesting and worthwhile and good, you might be interested in knowing that a film is being made about this experience. Called “Dancing in Jaffa”, the film is in post-production and they are asking for help on Kickstarter – see the page for “Dancing in Jaffa” here. They need another $10,000 and there are only ten days to reach their goal.
Don’t want to back the film right now? Then just tweet this page or share it on Facebook – maybe someone else will!
Check out the trailer below:
Dancing in Jaffa Trailer from kNow Productions on Vimeo.
