Ballerinas practice at an inclusive dance studio in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Egypt.
‘People of determination’
A ballet studio in Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria is breaking barriers by training ballerinas with special needs
By Alaa Elassar, CNN
Photographs by Heba Khamis for CNN
Published May 27, 2023
Ballerinas practice at an inclusive dance studio in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Egypt.
ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT — Bassma Mohamed stares at her reflection in the giant mirror hanging on the studio wall. Dressed in all black except for the purple on her glasses, she is focused and unwavering in her determination to follow her ballet teacher and perfect every plié, relevé and tendu.
Her mom, wearing a denim skirt and green headscarf, is huddled with a group of other mothers crowding the doorway, watching with pride as she jumps and twirls.
When Bassma meets her mom's eye, she winks at her and smiles.
There is nothing out of the ordinary at this small ballet studio in Egypt, except many of the dancers have special needs, including Bassma.
“These aren’t just my ballerinas,” says their teacher, Haidy Samir. “They are my daughters. Their mothers are my sisters. We’ve been together for years, we travel together, we eat together, we are family.”
Arts Studio, perched inconspicuously between a makeup store and a bakery in Alexandria’s Smouha district, opened in August 2022 with one goal: to create a space where anyone, no matter age or disability, can fulfill their dream of dancing ballet.
Owned by lifelong ballerina Noha Wasfy, Arts Studio is one of — perhaps the only — facility in the Mediterranean city that does not segregate special-needs students.
Of the 70 dancers enrolled, 10 have special needs, including autism and Down syndrome.
The inclusive space is a rarity in the region, where people with special needs don’t have many opportunities to live full lives or integrate with the wider community, especially after they complete their schooling.
”What makes us special is that we merge the special needs girls with girls without special needs,” Wasfy, 27, says, sitting in the lobby of her studio. “We don’t keep them separate because teaching them together helps with their physical, mental and emotional development.”
Known for being a mentally and physically demanding sport, ballet takes even more work for these girls. Because of developmental delays, many have to practice more than the average dancer, repeating the same moves or risk quickly losing momentum. Others who are nonverbal or struggle with speech also deal with communication gaps that can slow progress until trust is built with both their teacher and classmates.
But their differences seem irrelevant here. Each ballerina perfectly mimics Samir’s poses with striking elegance. They obey her every command — “straighten your back!” and “point your toes!”
The dancers’ discipline is only broken by the hugs and kisses they shower their teacher with throughout class.
“They are my life,” Samir, 29, says in Egypt’s distinct Arabic dialect. “I can’t imagine my life without them, even if we aren’t practicing ballet, even if something happens, we will stay friends, we will stay together.”
An unexpected lifeline in the form of dance
From the moment Bassma was born, the odds were stacked against her.
She was diagnosed with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect that required pediatric open heart surgery. Doctors said she only had a 40% chance of survival.
“I was sad and afraid,” Eman Hatab, Bassma’s mom, says. “I didn’t know what to do or what her future [would] look like. She had to go to the hospital multiple times and every time I knew I might lose her.”
Bassma survived — and blossomed — growing into her mother’s dearest confidant, her twin brother's faithful companion and one of the dance studio's most beloved ballerinas.
In fact, Bassma has been dancing since she was 6 years old. Hatab recognized her daughter’s natural love for the sport when she began frequently watching and mimicking dancers on TV as a child. In those days, she loved prancing all over the dance floor, but now, at 18 years old, she stands poised, legs crossed and arms outstretched.
Watching her dance feels like a miracle, Hatab, 50, says.
“I used to fear for her. I was afraid of bullying, the inability to participate in aspects of life like ordinary people, the lack of understanding from others about her capabilities, and the lack of opportunities,” she says.
“To see her dancing in front of me, I feel happiness, first because she is happy but also because she has been given a chance to be normal, to make her dreams come true like anyone else.”
The opportunity to “be normal” is not easy to come by for people with special needs in many parts of Egypt and the world at large. Bassma struggles with a multitude of developmental delays, including speech, movement and an intellectual impairment that makes learning more difficult.
The government guarantees equal rights for people with disabilities. But many public spaces, from sidewalks to schools, are not designed with them in mind, making it difficult for those in the special-needs community to navigate through society.
When Bassma was in school, Hatab says, the education system offered no separate curriculum for students with special needs. As she grew older, schoolwork became mentally and physically overwhelming, and so Hatab eventually stopped sending her.
“It was a very difficult and psychologically painful decision for me. I was terrified I was robbing her of the opportunity to graduate like others do,” Hatab says. “Although she is a smart girl, this was because of a serious defect in the Egyptian education system for special needs education.”
Although Bassma is unable to live independently, she’s strong-willed and can do many things on her own, like bathe, brush her teeth and arrange her bedroom. She even works as a teacher’s aide at the school she used to attend, helping other special-needs children.
Bassma is very social, but the lack of inclusive activities often leaves her feeling like an outsider, Hatab says. Ballet has become one of the few outlets she has to express her individuality and grow confidence.
It’s also provided a lifeline to Hatab and the other mothers, who say they’ve found a welcoming community at Arts Studio, where their concerns and struggles are shared and intrinsically understood.
Despite the obstacles, Bassma is the perfect embodiment of her name, which means “smile” in Arabic. She is always beaming, loves to make jokes, and is known for her impeccable fashion taste, helping her mother coordinate the perfect outfits — accessories included.
“She is my best friend, daughter and the closest one to me. I am as attached to her as she is to me,” Hatab says. “And her need for me is no less than my need for her. This class has brought both of us unbelievable joy.”
The right to dream — and make dreams come true
In Egypt, and some other countries in the Middle East, people with special needs are referred to as “Ashab Al-Himam,” or “people of determination.” It is a statement of solidarity and respect.
Over the past five years, the special-needs community in Egypt has become the focus of numerous government-led projects aimed at improving quality of life, specifically by enhancing the education system and prioritizing accessibility.
In 2020, the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education collaborated with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to launch an updated education system that includes a distinct curriculum for special-needs children from kindergarten to third grade. It also includes a guide for teachers on how to teach students with disabilities. By 2030, they plan to expand the curriculum to 12th grade and mandate it for every school, according to UNICEF.
Alexandria, in particular, is celebrated throughout the region for its recent strides with integrating the special-needs community. In 2020, the city opened a park for children with special needs, “the first of its kind in Egypt and the second in the Middle East after the United Arab Emirates,” Al-Ahram, the country’s state-run newspaper, reported.
In 2022, Alexandria also opened a beach — Mandara Beach — exclusively for people with special needs, another milestone for families with disabilities, according to Alexandria’s Central Administration for Tourism and Resorts.
“Alexandria is ahead of many places, and now it is one of the first places to offer ballet for people with special needs,” says Hend Kassem, the mother of Karma, an Arts Studio ballerina with Down syndrome. “Of course we still need more.”
But the government alone cannot bear the burden of education and accessibility. Civil society must also step up to make Egypt more inclusive for people with special needs, some of the ballerinas’ mothers say.
Before joining Arts Studio, Samir taught ballet at Wasilat Al-Kheir, a nonprofit organization for special-needs children. When she met Wasfy, who shared her vision to open a ballet studio, Samir pitched the idea to make it inclusive for those with disabilities. Wasfy agreed.
“For me, it was more of a human thing more than a business,” said Wasfy. “I wanted to make sure I offered society something that will help these families to have accessible services, not just the main services or basic quality of life. I wanted to do something more fun and enjoyable.”
When Arts Studio opened, Samir’s special-needs ballerinas from Wasilat Al-Kheir followed her there, including the daughter of the organization’s founder, Randa Elbastawisy, who has Down syndrome.
Elbastawisy believes that merging spaces so people, regardless if they have special needs or not, can learn, dance and grow side by side is necessary.
“We still aren't doing enough,” she says. “There must be increased awareness and community inclusion in all activities to make others more accepting of people with disabilities. Inclusion is a right, not a choice.”
Advocates and parents say it's important to be welcomed, but even more so to have teachers who are dedicated and patient enough to work with special-needs students.
“Even if there are clubs or studios that do something like this, to find a seriously good trainer who cares about developing them is even more rare,” says Gihan Abou Shady, whose daughter, Farah, is also a ballerina with Down syndrome. “If the trainer doesn't develop that connection, nothing will happen.”
To learn how to do that, Wasfy and Samir spend countless hours reading books, design individualized lessons and techniques for dancers, and learn cues from their parents. They also offer special-needs students a 25% discount to ensure money isn’t a barrier to learning.
Patience, practice and pirouettes
Outside Arts Studio, the scents of Alexandria are caught up in a dance of their own, the distant smell of the Mediterranean Sea and sweet aroma of treats from the neighboring bakery entangle in a pas de deux.
It’s a city of magnificent history. Every one of its 12 miles that stretches along the coast preserves a treasure from the storied times of the Greeks and Romans.
Walking the streets feels like flipping through the pages of a history book — from the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages, to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a resurrection of the celebrated library that stood in the time of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.
In spite of its famous tombs, Alexandria is teeming with life. On any given day, more than 5 million people pack its bustling streets, haggle their way through its colorful shops and get lost in its loud, boisterous crowds.
Arts Studio, with its soft music and patient teachers, offers a welcome respite from the commotion. It’s a place where dancers, special needs or not, feel heard and seen.
“This has shown me a new type of love,” Wasfy says at the end of a particularly demanding class. “It means the world.”
The ballerinas agree. Samir asks them if ballet has changed their lives. Bassma nods shyly. “What did it change?” Samir asks her. Bassma smiles and responds: “I love you.”
The ballerinas are practicing for their first public performance, which will take place on a city stage in September. To succeed will require a delicate combination of strength, flexibility, emotion and memorization — which doesn’t come easy for all the girls.
It’s a big ask, but these ballerinas are hardened in their ambitions.
“This brings them a sense of confidence and pride that we can't even imagine; they prove that they can do anything other people can,” Samir says. “Ballet is no longer just for the skinny girl, or for people who can stand en pointe. It’s for anyone. Anyone who has patience to dance will dance.”
In the studio, the ballerinas stand in front of the mirror, their legs outstretched onto the long barre that lines it. They bend sideways, arms raised, bodies light as feathers.
Some lose their balance, but undeterred, they quickly find it again.
