Dancing in Jaffa

POLITE APPLAUSE Documentary. Directed by Hilla Medalia. Starring Pierre Dulaine. (Not rated. 90 minutes.)

Pierre Dulaine was 4 when his family left Jaffa in 1948. That was the year Jews remember as the War of Independence and Arabs recall as "The Catastrophe."

In his own small way, Dulaine, son of an Arab mother and Irish father, wants to bring peace to the region. The four-time ballroom world champion intends to use dance to accomplish the goal.

"Dancing in Jaffa" is a pleasant enough documentary that looks fairly at the difficulties faced by the two populations. Dulaine's objective is to get Arab and Jewish children dancing together in Jaffa, an Israeli city which is 30 percent Arab. He approaches schools in Jaffa, including those for Jews, for Arabs and for both.

Never mind trying to resolve the Middle East struggle with a 10-week dance program. There are other obstacles, including that unmarried Islamic boys and girls can't touch each other (the film doesn't mention that Orthodox Jews have the same restriction). Then there's the universal problem in dance - the lack of boys showing up. And there are the inevitable adolescent peer pressure issues.

A few side stories feature an Arab boy from an impoverished family and a Arab girl whose father has died. Both children blossom under Dulaine's tutelage.

Some of the children resist, some are skeptical and some embrace the idea. Through it all, Dulaine is able to put together a contest in pursuit of his goal.

One of Dulaine's first lessons is the etiquette of dance. One must ask, he says, "May I have this dance, please." Dulaine is so charismatic and charming that it's hard to resist the correct answer to his question and to this film: "With pleasure."
