Ayman safiah gay

The air is heavy. He had gone to the beach with friends to stay overnight. We must help each other. When he visited his old ballet school in Kfar Yassif years later, Ayman found practicing there several young dancers, who thanked him for his courage and for leaving footsteps that they could now follow.

Traditionally, women and men sit separately. For days prior, dozens of volunteers and friends had combed the coast of Israel for Ayman. Ayman Safiah, born in , was fortunate to grow up in a relatively liberal family that supported his desire to become a ballet dancer. And not only him.

Among the mourners were politicians like former Member of Knesset Muhammad Barakeh. While the women are mourning in the courtyard of the house, meters away the Greek Orthodox Church has opened its doors to the men of this Muslim family. He was the first and only boy in the village ballet school, incidentally the first Arab dance studio of its kind in all of Israel.

This was far from ordinary. She tells me about the Alaml contemporary dance organization in Nazareth, where Ayman taught young people to dance and encouraged talent. Because of the rough wind, the friends had agreed not to go into the water. Ayman was one of those rare few who had made it internationally, a talent who had managed to break the invisible bonds of a society that often makes it impossible for young people to realize their dreams and live as they want to live.

Outside the women of the family are sitting in a circle on plastic chairs in the courtyard ready to receive mourners. His friends. In May, the community mourned the passing of celebrated Arab Israeli dancer Ayman Safiah, who not only lived openly gay but was the first Arab male professional ballet dancer.

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Gay Palestinian dancer Ayman Safiah tragically drowned in the sea last May, and his Muslim funeral was a landmark for the Palestinian LGBTQ community. Despite. Many doubt whether Ayman could have enjoyed such a remarkable dance career had he been born in one of the Arab countries of the Middle East, especially given that he was openly homosexual.

The mayor of Kfar Yassif, the town where Ayman grew up, stepped in. But then one of the friends was almost swept away by the current, they said. No one felt like celebrating. And he did. I believe nothing happens without a reason. It is young people like him who break the ice, paving the way for others to follow.

Ayman pushed her towards the shore and was never seen again. After completing his studies with distinction, he went on to perform in Cats on the West End in London and with the Belgian troupe les ballet C de la B. His success took him around the world. There were no fireworks as local Muslims marked Eid al-Fitr, the festival of breaking the fast at the end of Ramadan.

It is a small, darkened room in a house in the middle of the village. Ayman was such a talented dancer that he was invited to study at the renowned Rambert Dance Academy in London, scholarship included. He and Arab members of the Knesset appealed to the authorities to extend and intensify the search.

A successful international dancer, an openly gay man who discussed the issue on national television and a Communist in his political views, Safiah's funeral was attended by family members. Ayman having embraced his gay sexuality early on in his life, did take the lead in this domain as well, he saw himself as a model to other individuals who didn’t have the courage yet to get out of the closet and embrace their sexuality.

She tells me how the day before at his funeral, thousands of people from all over Israel came to accompany her brother to his final resting place. A man should not wear tights and dance topless on a stage, that is haram , forbidden. In the morning, the weather had improved so they decided to take a quick dip.