When we talk about dancing among men in the Arab world, the first thing that comes to our mind is Dabkeh, or dances full of rough masculine movements, but who sets these standards?
While Egyptian and Arab newspapers highlighted the story of Luca Abdel-Nour, who has been touring European theaters since March 2020 as part of international shows after winning international fame and the Prix de Lausanne on Feb. 8, Luca continues to be bullied in his own country by those who believe ballet dancing is limited to women.
Five years ago, Abdel Nour, the 18-year-old Egyptian, could not have imagined participating in the largest ballet competition in the world and winning second place in the most prestigious competition in dance, outperforming 399 dancers from all over the world.
After many years of training and moving from one country to another, Abdel Nour, the native of Maadi suburb in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, became the first Egyptian to win second place in the premier Swiss ballet competition in the world since 1973, the "Prix De Lausanne".
Born in Egypt in 2003 to a French mother and an Egyptian father, Abdel-Nour was educated from a very young age in a private school where arts were considered a very fundamental part of education and this helped give him more exposure to theatre, music, applied arts, and dancing.
Abdel-Nour succeeded in realizing his dream by moving from Cairo and winning a scholarship in a ballet school in Switzerland to begin his international journey in ballet, and then joined the most famous ballet school in Switzerland, the "ZÜRICH DANCE ACADEMY", and received a three-year scholarship.
Abdel-Nour joined the Hungarian Dance Academy for the 2017-2018 season on scholarship, where he performed in the yearly Nutcracker program and performed original works around Hungary with the school.
When he was selected by the "ZÜRICH DANCE ACADEMY" after two years of intensive training, to represent the company in the "Prix De Lausanne", Abdel Nour not only won second place, but also Web audience favorite award, and best Swiss candidate Award. Luca graduated from the "ZÜRICH DANCE ACADEMY" in 2021 with a Federal Certificate of Proficiency in Classical Dance and joined the prestigious Dutch National Ballet as a junior company artist in August 2021.
Abdel Nour recounts his journey, which began in 2012, in an exclusive interview with Majalla, noting that he is a ballet dancer in the largest schools in Switzerland now, explaining that he started dancing in several Egyptian schools before joining the Premier Baller Academy, which is run by the famous Egyptian ballet dancer Ahmed Yehia who took it upon himself to train him for many years.
"I entered the ballet world not really knowing what I wanted from it. It wasn't until I discovered that I had the potential to create a future out of it that I realized that this is what I wanted to do with my life," he said.
When asked what Upper Egypt represents to him as one of its sons, Luca said: "It merely represents half of my ancestry however I was born and raised in the big city of Cairo, this is where home is for me."
As for the source of inspiration in his life and who encouraged him, he said: "I think that everything around me inspires me a lot. In the ballet world, I'm very inspired by Marianela Nuñez, Vadimm Muntagirov, and many others including my colleagues from the past in ZÜRICH DANCE ACADEMY and my colleagues here at the Dutch National Ballet. My family has been the biggest supporters I could ask for, even if at some points there were some doubts. They always encourage my siblings and I to do what we love and not what society expects us to do."
When asked about what dancing meant to him, he said: "It is what I do for a living but it is also my passion and I couldn't imagine my life without dancing."
He owes a lot to the Egyptian ballet dancer Ahmed Yehia and his wife Anja Ahcin, whom he considered, "the first mentors that really pushed me to pursue this professionally and I owe a lot of my early success and hard work to them." he said.
As for his other hobbies; he added: "I didn't really have other hobbies that really stuck with me for a long time but I really enjoyed snorkeling in the summer and I was always interested in different art forms as well as theater and applied arts."
When asked about his opinion about bullying male dancers face in Arab countries and oriental societies, he said: "Not just only in Arab countries or oriental societies, but it is definitely more than in Europe or North America. I personally think it is because ballet is simply not mainstream enough in these countries so people are not informed about the existence of ballet for men. People think that ballet is just for girls simply because they never saw male ballet dancers, it is all a matter of information and education."
He concluded by talking about his dreams and ambitions for the future, by saying: "My dream is to have a long successful and healthy career in the ballet world, next to that I would love to bring more light to ballet in the Middle East and transfer what I learn to the next generation."
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