AbstractsHistory

"Dances with Fire" is a 30-minute video documentary about Lebanon. The story takes place during the 16-year upheaval in this country, which started in 1975. The interest of the documentary is in human endeavor and quest for balance and sanity in an environment that has little left of either. The focus is on a human sample from a mountain village, ''Besharry, represented by what is known in Lebanon as the "Cedars Artistic Troupe (CAT)." The CAT is a group of young men and women who had taken up dancing on a casual basis, and ended up being one of the few "points of light" in a long-darkened environment. From a basic standpoint, the documentary is a historical profile of the troupe, drawn against the background of turmoil and agony in the country. However, the theme is, in a sense, a reflection or meditation on the timeless and universal questions of life and death; the once morbid state of things in Lebanon versus the sprightly air about this group of young men and women. In allegorical terms, the theme is about a handful of young people making a show of life and heart amid a vast ocean of iron and fire, hence the name: "Dances with Fire."