Male ballet dancer hopes to break stereotypes in Jordan
AMMAN (Reuters) – When Rabee Shrouf put on his first pair of ballet shoes two years ago, he knew he had found his calling. The Jordanian’s lifelong dream was to be on stage and as a ballet dancer in Amman, he wanted to shatter stereotypes along the way.
“When you are immersed in the world you love, everything around you disappears,” the 22-year-old said. “This is what it feels like when I’m on stage.”
Shrouf, who dances in his spare time while studying languages and translation at university, is one of only a few male dancers in Jordan, where his hobby often carries a social stigma for men.
“Why did I choose ballet? Because it is a very difficult art form, one of the most difficult in the world,” he said.
The youngest of six children, Shrouf grew up in an artistic household. His father was a singer and musician, who encouraged his performing dreams.
But while confident dancing on stage, Shrouf has struggled telling people about his ballet passion and worried how it would be perceived. He has faced pressure to pursue other interests, but has refused to give up ballet.
“If you don’t pursue what you love, and if you don’t persist and believe in yourself, then those around you will not believe in you,” he said.
Shrouf last week danced in a show directed and choreographed by Rania Kamhawi, who founded Jordan’s first ballet and contemporary dance company, MISK, in 1996.
Kamhawi, who studied ballet in the UK, said ballet was growing among Jordanian audiences, who usually prefer performances of folklore or contemporary dance groups.
“There is a niche audience that loves ballet, but what I have noticed is that there is a huge audience for folklore,” she said. “So we are incorporating techniques from folklore into ballet in order to make it more lively and attract a wider audience.”
Today, MISK puts on shows at least once a year and has 12 dancers. Shrouf is the only male.
“It’s a worldwide problem, not just in Jordan but I think this stigma is fading with the emergence of [television] shows like ‘So you think you can Dance’,” Kamhawi said of the lack of male ballet dancers. “This is breaking some old stereotypes.”
Shrouf hopes to form a male dance group, even if he acknowledges he may have to hang up his ballet shoes in place of a more traditional career. “I won’t give up, I will continue to work hard and pursue what I love.”