Ballerinas are reclaiming the streets in Cairo. And it's the most beautiful thing you will see today
Women are reclaiming the streets of Cairo in a rather unique way.
The photographer did fear backlash, considering that Cairo is a conservative city. Photo courtesy: Instagram/ ballerinasofcairo Women safety is a global issue as many countries in the world fail to provide a secure environment to its female citizens. For instance, Egypt has quite a reputation when it comes to harassment of women in public. So, in an attempt to bring about a change, photographer Mohamed Taher conceived a project called Ballerinas of Cairo.
What began as a mere visual project, later took the shape of a social message. "You see this movement of the ballet dancing and the roughness of [Cairo]. It makes a lot of contrast… It was kind of a niche version of the project (sic)," Upworthy quoted him as saying.
Women in Egypt live in the fear of getting molested or harassed while walking the streets of Cairo. As many as 93% of women don't feel safe while stepping out of their homes, reported the website.
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Thus, in a bid to reclaim public spaces, Taher is trying to capture the spirit of a free woman through dancing ballerinas. These women are openly expressing themselves on the streets of the city, without any inhibitions.
"There's a huge problem for women in Egypt streets. There's a lot of sexual harassment … so now this was a layer of the project (sic)," he said.
Interestingly, the dance moves mirror a sense of empowerment and the will to break free from the free. A pattern, which is well evident in the series of pictures.
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The photographer did fear backlash, considering that Cairo is a conservative city. However, he was pleasantly surprised with all the support he has received. "I thought people were going to have some bad comments about it because it's kind of a conservative community here. But I was kind of amazed when people encouraged us to continue more and encouraged the girls to dance more," he concluded.
We are impressed with the novelty of the concept and sincerely hope that it does bring about a positive change--not just in Cairo, but in other parts of the world as well.
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