Swan Lake: A Meeting of Worlds

Seeing Swan Lake in Lebanon was a reminder that classical European art finds a home in Arab spaces. It’s a dialogue: Russian music, French ballet tradition, and Arabic hospitality all meeting on one stage.

Swan Lake was born in Russia, choreographed to Tchaikovsky’s music. Its terminology—pas de deux, arabesque, fouetté—comes from French, the language of classical ballet. And in Lebanon, the performance unfolded in Arabic surroundings, where the audience’s applause and hospitality gave the ballet a new cultural home.

French remains the universal language of ballet technique. Yet, when explained in Arabic—“رقصة البجعات الصغيرات” for the “Dance of the Little Swans”—the movement gains a poetic resonance. In English, the same phrase feels descriptive, while in French it carries elegance. Each language frames the dance differently, enriching its meaning.

Finiqia by Caracalla from the Lens of a Language Professional

Finiqia, Caracalla 's exquisite festival of choreography, costumes, cultures and LANGUAGES, is a feast for the eyes.

From English subtitling shown on a screen atop the stage, to King Ahiram and the Pharoae each speaking what sounded like a very credible and now extinct Phoenician and Ancient Egyptian dialects, to the Marquis' funny French gibberish, and fast forward to Arabic and Lebanese traditional songs.

The spectacle will certainly leave a grin on the face of every language professional.

Finiqia, The legend lives on.

فينيقيا، الأمس واليوم.

Read show Synopsis on Caracalla Dance Theatre.

Languages Through Museums

From an early age, I discovered a profound interest in languages and translation, and museums played a pivotal role in shaping that passion.

As a child, I wasn’t just wandering around looking at artifacts; I was glued to those little description cards. I’d read every single word, then challenge myself to memorize the terms in all three languages: Arabic, French, and English. It became my own little game—like, “ How do you say ‘pottery shard’ in French?” or “What’s the Arabic word for ‘mosaic’?” Before I knew it, I was building this secret multilingual dictionary in my head, one exhibit at a time.

This passion grew with every visit to my favorite museums in Lebanon _ Sursock, with its vibrant contemporary art; MIM, where minerals tell stories of science and beauty; and Nabu, blending modern creativity with ancient heritage by the sea. Each space offered not just visual inspiration but a multilingual experience that made me fall in love with words as much as with art.