Dance or Die by Ahmad Joudeh
Author:Ahmad Joudeh [Joudeh, Ahmad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Published: 2021-09-21T00:00:00+00:00
SEVEN
âLISTEN, ITâS A GREAT idea. Just imagineâyouâll meet loads of people, youâll have foreign teachers, youâll learn something new, maybe even have a careerâ¦and in any case, even if you donât win, youâve got nothing to lose,â Saeed said to me.
âNo, but you must be kidding. I canât imagine winningâ¦thatâs not the point,â I said.
âSo what is the point?â
Saeed looked at me and waited for an answer. But I sat staring at the cup in front of me, stirring the dregs of my coffee with a spoon, hoping that I might see there a clearer image of the tangle in my head. Iâd have liked to explain to him why I so desperately wanted to take part in a dance reality show. But there was one problem: to participate in the show, I would have to take a year off from the institute.
Saeed and I were in my room in the apartment where I was living with my mother, my brother, and my sister. It was the summer of 2014. We were discussing the announcement of an audition for a television reality show in Lebanon, an Arabic version of So You Think You Can Dance.
âPerhaps I just want to get out of here, at least for a while,â I said.
âBut you have every right to want to leave this place; donât feel guilty about that. Iâve been away, and your mom has too. I mean, we canât all just hang around here waiting for one another, no?â
From the open window came a breeze that carried with it the usual smell of dust and cement. There was also more light than usual, probably because the previous night they had bombed the building in front of ours, so now its shadow no longer reached the window.
âYes, but why donât you come too? That would really be great; weâd have a fantastic time together!â
âBut what use would I be, Ahmad? Theyâre looking for ballet or contemporary dancersâIâm a break-dancer; what would I do for the audition? A Michael Jackson moonwalk?â
âAnd why not? Youâre so good at it.â
We both laughed. I watched him get up and take our now-empty cups to the sink. He was right, I knewâof the two of us, I was the right one to respond to the advertisement.
âWell, if you canât manage to decide for yourself, then Iâll do it for you. As soon as I get home, Iâll send you the link for the application.â
He gave me a sweet smile, and I saw once again how fond he was of me. Saeed always knew what was right and wrong for me, and the best thing I could do was to trust him. After all, if it werenât for him, I would have been rotting away, together with all those who, like me, couldnât leave or didnât want to. Just waiting. But for what? For a bomb to fall and destroy this building too?
I had to find the strength to break away from the sick reality that surrounded me. I
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