Bilel Bali
Tunisia | 2012 | 58 min
Language : Arabic
Subtitle : English
Couples are spinning around to salsa rhythms in the dance hall. The scene could easily be taking place somewhere in Latin America. However, we are in Tunisia where the salsa phenomenon is gaining a new fan base. Dance is seen as the confirmation of a new way of life, questioning the country’s traditions: a country’s society may also move forward using dance steps.
In a dance hall, couples are spinning around to the frantic rhythm of salsa. The scene could easily be taking place beneath the soft lights of a locale somewhere in Latin America. However, the latitude is different here: we’re in Tunisia, where the salsa phenomenon is gaining a new fan base. We thus discover a new facet of this country, a milieu in which dance instructors and their students, by talking about their passion, evoke the elegance of the body, the links being woven between the dancers, the relationships between dance and religion, or even the place of women and men in modern Tunisian society. Thanks to this common passion, people as different as Rim, a hijab-wearing housewife, and Marwan, a civil servant, can meet and share a bit of their life. Dance is seen as the confirmation of a new way of life, questioning the country’s traditions, and the camera highlights a world where taking salsa lessons can become synonymous with freedom. A country’s society may also move forward in dance steps.
Jasmin Basic
