"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture." This quote, usually attributed to the comedian Steve Martin, wouldn't sit too well with Virginia Hartley. A dance teacher at Dubai English Speaking School, she is a firm believer in the principle that it's not only possible to dance about architecture, but also about geography, maths, science and English literature. For the past 16 years, she has been pushing to introduce this theory into local schools, to establish dance as an integrated, integral part of academic curricula. Text books may be a key part of the learning process, Hartley argues, but so too is a good wriggle.
On the surface, there's nothing unusual about what Hartley does. In schools across the UAE, you'll find kids practising pirouettes to the tinny strains of portable iPod players. For the most part, though, dance is seen either as an adjunct of PE or as a discipline in its own right. What makes her stand out is that she doesn't view dance as something students might do before or after a history lesson. Her mission is to make dance a part of that lesson.
"I'm not teaching kids to dance," she says. "What I want to do is to use dance to supplement what they learn in the classroom. You have to remember that children learn in different ways - orally, visually or kinesthetically. Dance is a good way to access kinesthetic learners, children who learn through doing."
There are oblique precedents to her approach. The popularity of the so-called Brain Gym movement, whose underlying premise is that cortical function can be enhanced through the repetition of certain physical exercises, has snowballed in recent years. Then there's the stuff your grandmother might have told you: exercise makes you happier, healthier and more alert. What Hartley is proposing is something different, though, something broader and more ambitious.
Her idea, put simply, is that children tend to grasp basic principles more firmly when movement is involved. On a recent morning, she demonstrated this principle, leading children through a routine that saw them, in a series of exaggerated movements, making their way through a jungle - ducking beneath overhanging branches, stepping high to avoid crocodiles, wiping their sweaty brows, wading laboriously through sticky swamps. Hartley believes that this sort of play provides valuable reinforcement to the material these children may have learnt in class about the terrain, climate and wildlife associated with the jungle environment.
The children Hartley works with are generally aged between four and seven, though she doesn't rule out the possibility of working with older pupils. In fact, she believes her movement-based teaching methods to be well suited to students who have progressed from ABCs to more challenging and abstract concepts. "Think about it in terms of a word such as speed," she says, which is difficult for anyone to truly understand until they've experienced the sensation of going fast. She goes on to argue that even relatively complex scientific principles - such as mass and surface tension - can be explored through dance. "We'll talk about a balloon, look at it, describe it," she says of her students. "Then they'll do things like flop to the floor like a balloon without air, grow larger as I blow it up and then pop."
On a more tangible level, Hartley uses dance to explore things like cultural identity. "Dance is a superb way of looking at histories and traditions, because it's a common language," she says. She also uses movement to help children develop their linguistic abilities - by having them skitter like a spider, say, or slither like a snake. Mathematical concepts such as odd or even numbers, meanwhile, are addressed by having children arrange and rearrange themselves into groups. She has even taken a stab at dancing about architecture. "Yes," she says, "we've done houses."
Hartley, as might be expected, is a very popular figure with her students. As a rule, children tend to be happier trudging through pretend swamps than studying Amazonian rainfall charts. It has, however, been a little more difficult to win over some of her peers. "A lot of teachers are hesitant about dance," she explains. "They see it as frivolous." To a large degree, she has overcome such scepticism at her own school - she has, after all, been teaching there for 12 years now - but she is acutely aware that having her ideas accepted on a broader level will be difficult. "I'd like to see this adopted at schools across the UAE," she says. "But that's not likely to happen soon."
Part of the problem facing Hartley is the fact that her methods do not readily lend themselves to objective verification - even for her, this is more of an intuitive thing. Ruba Tabari, an educational psychologist at the Dubai Community Health Centre, says that the lack of scientific data precludes her from giving Hartley or her methods any kind of explicit endorsement. The best Tabari can offer, in fact, is this: "If it doesn't do any harm, why not try it?" An even trickier hurdle, however, is the sheer weight of conventional wisdom that has built up over hundreds of years and that tells us that education necessarily involves books and desks and blackboards.
Still, Hartley does have her sympathisers. Carmen Benton, a Dubai-based kindergarten teacher, argues that children, like all young animals, are hard-wired to learn about the world through play.
"My pet peeve is the way schools force academic subjects on young children," she says. "You see kids sitting in these little boxes, in orderly rows like in Victorian times, their textbooks before them. I think the current approach is doing children a disservice."
While Benton allows that the efficacy of Hartley's methods might be hard to prove, she insists that anecdotal evidence is on her side. "People think that dance takes time away from important things such as reading and writing," she says. "But if you look at certain Scandinavian countries, where they put more emphasis on these kinds of physical pursuits, you'll see they get higher academic scores than countries that don't. In Finland, the kids are dancing and they're doing great."
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 502hp at 7,600rpm
Torque: 637Nm at 5,150rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh317,671
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT
On sale: now
A general guide to how active you are:
Less than 5,000 steps - sedentary
5,000 - 9,999 steps - lightly active
10,000 - 12,500 steps - active
12,500 - highly active
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Leganes v Getafe (12am)
Levante v Alaves (4pm)
Real Madrid v Sevilla (7pm)
Osasuna v Valladolid (9.30pm)
Sunday
Eibar v Atletico Madrid (12am)
Mallorca v Valencia (3pm)
Real Betis v Real Sociedad (5pm)
Villarreal v Espanyol (7pm)
Athletic Bilbao v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)
Monday
Barcelona v Granada (12am)
A Bad Moms Christmas
Dir: John Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines
Two stars
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20Cashew%0D%3Cbr%3EStarted%3A%202020%0D%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Ibtissam%20Ouassif%20and%20Ammar%20Afif%0D%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3EIndustry%3A%20FinTech%0D%3Cbr%3EFunding%20size%3A%20%2410m%0D%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Mashreq%2C%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
if you go
The flights
Emirates offer flights to Buenos Aires from Dubai, via Rio De Janeiro from around Dh6,300. emirates.com
Seeing the games
Tangol sell experiences across South America and generally have good access to tickets for most of the big teams in Buenos Aires: Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Independiente. Prices from Dh550 and include pick up and drop off from your hotel in the city. tangol.com
Staying there
Tangol will pick up tourists from any hotel in Buenos Aires, but after the intensity of the game, the Faena makes for tranquil, upmarket accommodation. Doubles from Dh1,110. faena.com
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
RESULTS
1.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m
Winner: Dirilis Ertugrul, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Ismail Mohammed (trainer)
2.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,400m
Winner: Kidd Malibu, Sandro Paiva, Musabah Al Muhairi
2.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,000m
Winner: Raakezz, Tadhg O’Shea, Nicholas Bachalard
3.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,200m
Winner: Au Couer, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar
3.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
Winner: Rayig, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
Winner: Chiefdom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,800m
Winner: King’s Shadow, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Essentials
The flights
Etihad (etihad.ae) and flydubai (flydubai.com) fly direct to Baku three times a week from Dh1,250 return, including taxes.
The stay
A seven-night “Fundamental Detox” programme at the Chenot Palace (chenotpalace.com/en) costs from €3,000 (Dh13,197) per person, including taxes, accommodation, 3 medical consultations, 2 nutritional consultations, a detox diet, a body composition analysis, a bio-energetic check-up, four Chenot bio-energetic treatments, six Chenot energetic massages, six hydro-aromatherapy treatments, six phyto-mud treatments, six hydro-jet treatments and access to the gym, indoor pool, sauna and steam room. Additional tests and treatments cost extra.
THE%20STRANGERS'%20CASE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Brandt%20Andersen%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EOmar%20Sy%2C%20Jason%20Beghe%2C%20Angeliki%20Papoulia%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The Intruder
Director: Deon Taylor
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good
One star
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
