The cellos were once looted by roaming armed gangs and suicide bombers have shattered the ballerinas? mirror-paneled halls. But love of the arts keeps bringing a group of students to Baghdad?s Music and Ballet school.

?My grandfather played the violin so my family encouraged me to play it. I like to play Mozart?, said Medya Sarmad, 14. ?I want to continue in this school despite the bad situation. One day I want to become a composer.?

The school stands next to a military base which has been the target of many suicide and mortar attacks by insurgents bent on toppling the US-backed government. Inaugurated in 1969, it was once one of Iraq?s most prestigious arts centres. But now it struggles to stay open in the chaos that is Baghdad three years after the US invasion.

Men with assault rifles guard the school?s gates as children carrying violin cases or wearing tutus enter the building. Despite its location in a dangerous district, the students ? Muslim Shiites and Sunnis as well as Christians ? say they find solace in the school away from Baghdad?s daily bloodshed, which has pushed the country close to sectarian civil war. ?When I enter the ballet hall, I forget all the chaos outside?, said 10-year-old Balsam Imad, dressed in a bright red tutu and a white leotard.

Bilal Auf, a 12-year-old who plays the bassoon, said his family moved from the dangerous Dora neighborhood after receiving death threats ? a common occurrence these days as sectarian violence engulfs Iraq. ?If we dropped out of school and stayed home, Iraqi culture would die,? he said.

In its heyday, the school sent its students to Russia, Hungary and Czechoslovakia ? testimony to Saddam?s good relations with former communist-bloc counties. Teachers from eastern European countries came to teach music and ballet to Iraqi students, but they all left amid war and sanctions in the 1990s.

Despite life?s hardships, the students said they dream of one day joining the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra or dancing before an audience in Baghdad?s National Theater.

?I love ballet. It is the place where I can breathe,? said Rola Falah, 14.

Omar AL-IBADI