Syrian dancer takes a spookily empty Paris as her canvas

Syrian choreographer Yara al-Hasbani has drawn crowds across France for her performances

Published: April 26, 2020 10:40 AFP and Compiled by Christian Borbon, Digital Content Editor

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Paris: Dancer Yara al-Hasbani is used to causing a stir everywhere she goes. | Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance in front of Paris' Arc de Triomphe. Image Credit: AFP

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The Syrian choreographer has drawn crowds across France for her performances in public squares and parks. | Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance on the empty Trocadero square. Image Credit: AFP

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But there wasn't a soul in sight as she performed a series of spectacular ballet moves in front of the deserted grand monuments of Paris for AFP. | Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance in front of the Moulin Rouge cabaret. Image Credit: AFP

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With the French capital in lockdown for nearly six weeks because of the coronavirus, the 26-year-old had some of the most visited sites in the world to herself. | Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance in front of the Sacre Coeur basilica. Image Credit: AFP

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Wearing a white mask, she danced an arabesque in front of the Louvre museum, an "attitude derriere" on the steps of Sacre Coeur and did a "six o'clock" with one leg right up to her head by the Arc du Triomphe. | Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance in front the Louvre museum pyramid. Image Credit: AFP

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Trained as a ballet and contemporary dancer in Damascus, al-Hasbani left her war-torn homeland six years ago and is now a member of the Atelier of Artists in Exile in the French capital, where she has lived since 2016. | Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance in front of Notre Dame cathedral. Image Credit: AFP

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"It is really strange to see these monuments deserted," said the choreographer. | Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance in front of Paris' Opera Garnier. Image Credit: AFP

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She said it was wonderful "to admire the city without noise and tourists but at the same time it was sad, as if it was abandoned." | Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance in Montmartre with Paris in the background. Image Credit: AFP

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Perhaps the most spectacular images come from Human Rights Square - a cause dear to Al-Hasbani's heart - at Trocadero looking out at the Eiffel Tower. | Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance on the empty Trocadero square. Image Credit: AFP

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She has previously danced at Place de la Republique, a traditional rallying point for protests in the French capital, where she created her first piece outside Syria in memory of the hundreds of children killed in a chemical attack near Damascus in August 2015. Yara al-Hasbani performs a dance in front of the Louvre museum's pyramid. Image Credit: AFP

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