Dance In Israel » Israeli Festivals

International Exposure 2011: The Year in Israeli Dance

Deborah Friedes Galili — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:59:25 +0000

Renana Raz’s The Diplomats. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

As 2011 draws to a close, it’s natural to reflect on the year that has passed – and for those of us who follow Israeli contemporary dance, International Exposure offers the perfect opportunity for reflecting on the works created here in the last twelve months. From November 30-December 4, International Exposure 2011 will present much of the past year’s bounty to an audience of presenters and journalists from around the globe. Most of the festival focuses on Israeli contemporary dance, but a few other genres including flamenco and belly dance will also be represented.

While the festival will include a number of studio showings just for guests of International Exposure, a number of programs have tickets available for purchase through the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s box office (03-5105656). Here’s a video preview of the festival, with an emphasis on the shows that are open to the public.

Wednesday, November 30

After finishing registration, guests of International Exposure will be treated to a performance by Orly Portal and the Andalusian Orchestra in Studio Varda. At 8:00 p.m. in the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s main theater, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak will offer their brand new work, Bombyx Mori. The first night will finish in Yerushalmi Hall with Maria Kong Dancers Company in a program called Kong’s Night, featuring works by Leo Lerus, Anderson Braz, and Artour Astman.

Video: Maria Kong, trailer for Kong’s Night

Thursday, December 1

The second day of International Exposure starts with a performance of Yoram Karmi’s Jungle Book by Fresco Dance Group at the Holon Theater, followed by the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company’s performance of Rami Be’er’s Ben Kodesh Le’Hol at Suzanne Dellal at noon.

Video: Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company

Yoni Soutchy’s Ben, one of two winners in the biennial Shades of Dance competition, will be performed along with Anat Grigorio’s Eternal Mission in the more intimate Yerushalmi Hall at 2:00 p.m.

Video: Yoni Soutchy’s Ben

Some guests will head to Tamar Borer’s studio for a showing of her work, YAMUNA.

Video: Tamar Borer’s YAMUNA

Everyone will reconvene at 6:00 p.m. in the main theater at Suzanne Dellal for Roy Assaf’s 6 Years Later and Noa Zuk’s Speaker, two dances from this year’s Curtain Up.

Video: Roy Assaf’s 6 Years Later . . .

Video: Noa Zuk’s Speaker

A mixed bill in the main theater at 9:00 p.m. will include Dafi Altabeb’s High Expectations, Dana Ruttenberg’s Poly, and Rachel Erdos’s Why We Tell.

Video: Dafi Altabeb’s High Expectations

Sahar Azimi and Tamara Erde’s Cell in a Human Scale will be presented in Studio Varda at 10:30 p.m.

Video: Sahar Azimi and Tamara Erde’s Cell in a Human Scale

Friday, December 2

The third day of the festival begins at 10:00 a.m. at Suzanne Dellal with Vertigo Dance Company in Noa Wertheim‘s Null.

Video: Vertigo Dance Company in Noa Wertheim’s Null

Yasmeen Godder will present Storm End Come at the Nahmani Theater at 1:00 p.m.

Yasmeen Godder’s Storm End Come. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Back at Suzanne Dellal at 4:30 p.m., Ido Tadmor offers Three Rooms. And after a Shabbat reception, Suzanne Dellal will show its latest production: a mixed bill featuring Renana Raz‘s The Diplomats and Barak Marshall‘s Wonderland.

Video: Renana Raz’s The Diplomats

Video: Barak Marshall’s Wonderland

Saturday, December 3

Saturday kicks off at 10:00 a.m. in Suzanne Dellal with COMPAS Dance Company, a flamenco troupe, in Pavo Real.

Video: COMPAS in Pavo Real

At noon in the Inbal Theater, Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor present Ship of Fools, which premiered in this past year’s Israel Festival.

Video: Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Ship of Fools

Across the courtyard in Yerushalmi Hall, Ronit Ziv offers With Subtitles at 2:00 p.m.

Video: Ronit Ziv’s With Subtitles

At 3:30 p.m., the main theater will feature a mixed bill with Idan Cohen’s Mad Siren, Lee Meir’s Translation Included (one of the winners of the Shades of Dance competition), and the Be’ersheva-based Kamea Dance Company in Uri Ivgi’s Four Legs.

Video: Idan Cohen’s Mad Siren

Video: Lee Meir’s Translation Included

Over in the Inbal Theater at 18:00, Tami Dance Company will perform La by Nimrod Freed with Israel Brait. This work premiered during the Israel Festival in Jerusalem.

Video: Nimrod Freed’s Tami Dance Company in La

Idan Sharabi’s Rak Tamid will be performed in Studio Varda at 8:00 p.m.

Video: Idan Sharabi’s Rak Tamid

Saturday’s programming will end with the Jerusalem-based Kolben Dance Company in Amir Kolben’s Babel in the main theater at 10:00 p.m.

Video: Amir Kolben’s Babel

Sunday, December 4

After a tour to Jerusalem, International Exposure 2011 will come to a close in Suzanne Dellal’s main theater with a 9:00 p.m. performance of Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin’s Sadeh21, which premiered in the Israel Festival.

Video: Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin’s Sadeh 21

Curtain Up 2011: A Festival of Dance Premieres

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:11:11 +0000

In Her Own Words by Rachel Erdos. Photo by Yaniv Cohen.

Founded in 1989, Curtain Up (Haramat Masach in Hebrew) has become a centerpiece of Israel’s contemporary dance calendar. In many ways, the core of this yearly platform has remained the same over the decades: up-and-coming choreographers who operate outside of the country’s major companies receive financial and artistic support to present new works on a series of mixed bills in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Yet in its most recent editions, Curtain Up has added another layer: cultivating artistic directors who are themselves choreographers. Last year, four alumni of the festival – Tamar Borer, Sahar Azimi, Ronit Ziv, and Renana Raz – were each charged with curating an evening. This year, Borer, Azimi, and Ziv are returning as artistic directors, applying the lessons they learned in 2010 to Curtain Up 2011, which runs from November 3-12.

Curtain Up’s three programs will each be performed twice at the Suzanne Dellal Centre and once at the Jerusalem Theatre. In cooperation with the Choreographers Association and Tarbut L’Yisrael, the works created for Curtain Up will also be performed in Israel’s northern and southern regions, enabling these younger choreographers to gain further exposure.

So just what is on the bill for Curtain Up this year? Here is a video preview of the three programs:

Curtain 1

Artistic Director: Tamar Borer
Choreographers: Iris Erez, Maya Brinner, Maya Weinberg
Performances at the Suzanne Dellal Centre: November 3 and 12 at 21:00
Performances at the Jerusalem Theatre: November 10 at 20:30

Video: Shuttered by Iris Erez

Video: Forest by Maya Brinner

Video: Some Fish (swim up the river to die) by Maya Weinberg

Curtain 2

Artistic Director: Sahar Azimi
Choreographers: Doron Raz, Roy Assaf, Gili Navot, Noa Zuk
Performances at the Suzanne Dellal Centre: November 4 at 22:00 and November 10 at 21:00
Performances at the Jerusalem Theatre: November 8 at 20:30

Video: Valentia by Doron Raz

Video: 6 Years Later by Roy Assaf

Video: Subject to Change by Gili Navot

Video: Speaker by Noa Zuk

Curtain 3

Artistic Director: Ronit Ziv
Choreographers: Hillel Kogan, Rachel Erdos, Osnat Kelner
Performances at the Suzanne Dellal Centre: November 5 at 21:00 and November 11 at 22:00
Performances at the Jerusalem Theatre: November 9 at 20:30

Video: Obscene Gesture by Hillel Kogan

Video: In Her Own Words by Rachel Erdos

Video: The sad little, unappreciative, Pisces, Jesus man by Osnat Kelner

More Information

Tickets for Curtain Up performances are 60 NIS. For tickets to Curtain Up at Suzanne Dellal, call 03-5105656. For tickets to Curtain Up at the Jerusalem Theatre, call 02-5605755.

Shades of Dance 2011 Video Preview

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 08:00:16 +0000

Lilach Livne’s Monday Larissa. Photo by Lilach Livne.

After months of work, sixteen up-and-coming choreographers are ready to unveil their creations in the 2011 Shades of Dance competition at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. Whether you’re wondering which programs to attend or live afar and wish you could see the latest work coming out of Israel, here’s a video preview that will give you a glimpse of this year’s lineup.

Tickets for Shades of Dance performances are available at 03-5105656 or online at the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s website.

Program Alef

September 7 at 20:00
September 9 at 20:00

Video: Gil C. Harush’s TAKANA

Video: Smadar Goshen’s Urbania

Video: Sharon Vaisvaser’s 42 Inch

Program Bet

September 8 at 20:00
September 10 at 22:30

Video: Idan Yoav’s Almost Human

Video: Lee Meir’s Translation in the Body of the Text

Video: Yuval Goldstein’s Expensive Shit

Program Bet also includes Ran Ben Dror’s Agasi Pallas.

Program Gimel

September 7 at 17:30
September 8 at 22:30
September 9 at 12:00

Video: Meytal Blanaru’s Aurora

Video: Moran Yitzhaki Abergel’s Over Me

Video: Lilach Livne’s Monday Larissa

Program Daled

September 7 at 22:30
September 8 at 17:30
September 9 at 14:30

Video: Yoni Soutchy’s Ben

Video: Merav Cohen’s And When the Beast Returned

Video: Amit Zamir’s Buba (Doll)

Program Hey

September 9 at 22:30
September 10 at 17:30 and 20:00

Video: Liron Ozeri’s Caravan

Video: Ido Batash’s Bread and Circuses Blood

Video: Artour Astman’s Foosho

Shades of Dance 2011: 16 New Choreographers at Suzanne Dellal

Deborah Friedes Galili — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:45:31 +0000

Liron Ozeri’s Caravan. Photo by Kobi Ben Sasson.

As Idit Herman stepped up to the podium in Yerushalmi Hall at the Suzanne Dellal Centre for the press conference announcing Shades of Dance (Gvanim Bemachol) 2011, she reflected on how meaningful this moment was for her. Herman – who co-founded Tel Aviv’s adventurous Clipa Theater with Dmitry Tyulpanov – first received widespread acclaim as a creator in 1997 at Shades of Dance, a biennial platform for new choreographers. Winning the top prize at the 1997 competition helped launch Herman and Tyulpanov’s career; indeed, the award enabled the partners to embark on their next project, and the momentum that built from that initial success progressed until Clipa became a well-known player in the country’s art scene. Now Herman has come full circle, returning to Shades of Dance as artistic director and helping the next generation of choreographers get their start.

Shades of Dance, which takes place every two years and is now in its sixteenth edition, has undergone numerous changes since its inception in 1984. The inaugural event was held in Ramla as a celebration of independent choreographers, boasting both concerts and workshops. Moving to the Duhl Auditorium in Tel Aviv in 1987, the second Shades of Dance bore a closer resemblance to today’s platform with a competition structure inviting new choreographers to vie for a prize. Shades of Dance found a long-term home at Suzanne Dellal in 1990, and here, it has been led by a string of artistic directors from Ellida Geyra to Naomi Perlov to Hanoch Ben Dror to Herman. In some years, the choreographers were organized into bills based on themes, while in other years the programs had no titles. Some editions of the festival included additional shows featuring works by choreographers still in high school. Occasionally, more than one top prize was awarded, while in 2007 and 2009, Shades of Dance was not organized as a competition. Amidst all this variation, the constant has been an emphasis on showcasing a broad spectrum of work by new artists who are, more often than not, as yet unknown to the larger public.

Idan Yoav’s Almost Human. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

This year’s Shades of Dance, to be held from September 7-10, will certainly fulfill this aim. From the 90 aspiring choreographers who applied, Herman selected 16 artists whom she believed were “the bravest among them, who wanted to go all the way.” These choreographers went through an intensive process, sometimes consulting with the artistic director about how to clearly bring out their works’ content and craft their visual design. Herman has arranged the resulting dances into five programs according to theme, and noting the great push that the first prize once gave her and Tyulpanov, she is reinstating the competition model so that an award contributed by an anonymous donor may propel the most promising of these young voices to even greater heights.

The five different programs of Shades of Dance 2011 are as follows:

Sharon Vaisvaser’s 42 Inch. Photo by Araleh.

Program Aleph: Pure Dance highlights virtuoso movement in Gil Carlos Harush’s TAKANA, Smadar Goshen’s Urbania, and Sharon Vaisvaser’s 42 Inch. Program Aleph will be performed on September 7 at 20:00 and September 9 at 20:00 in Dellal Hall.

Ran Ben Dror’s Agassi Pallas. Photo by Sarah Ben Dror.

Program Bet: Dream Big features work by four creators whom Herman described as “daring artists with chutzpah.” The program includes Idan Yoav’s Almost Human, Ran Ben Dror’s Agassi Pallas, Lee Meir’s Translation in the Body of the Text, and Yuval Goldstein’s Expensive Shit. Program Bet will be performed on September 8 at 20:00 and September 10 at 22:30 in Dellal Hall.

Meytal Blanaru’s Aurora. Photo by Julie Betrad.

Program Gimel: The Future is Now centers on work that Herman calls “futuristic dance” with refreshingly unfamiliar movement. The bill is composed of Meytal Blanaru’s Aurora, Moran Yitzhaki Abergel’s Over me, and Lilach Livne’s Monday Larissa. Program Gimel will be performed on September 7 at 17:30, September 8 at 22:30, and September 9 at 12:00 in Yerushalmi Hall.

Yoni Soutchy’s Ben. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Program Daled: Forbidden Fruit has been dubbed “sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll” by Herman and includes Yoni Soutchy’s Ben, Merav Cohen’s And When the Beast Returned, and Amit Zamir’s Buba (Doll). Program Daled will be performed on September 7 at 22:30, September 8 at 17:30, and September 9 at 14:30 in Yerushalmi Hall.

Artour Astman’s Foosho. Photo by Alexander Sherbakof.

Program Hey: Rare Animal showcases artists who, according to Herman, “researched the physical border between human and animal” and boast “rare physical abilities, almost beyond human.” The bill features Liron Ozeri’s Caravan, Ido Batash’s Bread and Circuses Blood, and Artour Astman’s Foosho. Program Hey will be performed September 9 at 22:30 and September 10 at both 17:30 and 20:00 in Yerushalmi Hall.

A closing ceremony will take place on September 10 at 23:30.

Tickets are available at 03-5105656 or online at the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s website.

World Dance: Machol Olam 2011

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:59:49 +0000

Video: Trailer for World Dance

This summer, dance from Israel has been crisscrossing the globe with tours and performances at major festivals. In recent weeks, with the five-day Contemporary Israeli Dance Week as part of LaMaMa Moves! in New York City and an extraordinary number of appearances by Israeli artists at the Montpellier Dance Festival in France, Israeli dance has triumphantly showcased its strengths on the world’s stages. Now, from July 11-28, Israel’s stages are about to get a dose of the world’s best dance in a brand-new festival called Machol Olam – World Dance.

Presented by the Suzanne Dellal Centre at the Wohl Amphitheater in Ganei Yehoshua, World Dance offers local dance fans an array of styles. While Israeli contemporary dance makes an appearance on the celebratory opening night with an excerpt from Barak Marshall’s Rooster, and The Project (a joint production of Suzanne Dellal and the Israeli Opera) will perform Jacopo Godani’s Light Years, by and large, the amphitheater’s stage is ceded to those artists who draw on ballet and flamenco forms.

Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Frank. Photo by Amitava Sarkar.

Indeed, it is the other component of the opening night’s mixed bill – the powerhouse dancers Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Pronk – who more aptly reflect the festival’s stylistic thrust. Jacoby, a native of Idaho, and Pronk, who originally hails from Holland, met while members of Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York City. Realizing they had similar artistic ideas, they left the comfort of the company in 2007 for a more adventurous existence as freelance dancers; ever since, they have toured the world in works by a range of choreographers who have capitalized on the pair’s virtuosity and stunning stage presence. For their first performance in Israel, Jacoby and Pronk will perform three duets: an excerpt from Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s One, Leo Mujic’s B Sonata, and Lightfoot Leon’s Sofly As I Leave You.

Video: Compas in Pavo Real

On July 13, the festvial continues with Pave Real, a co-production between Michal Natan’s COMPAS: The Israeli Flamenco Dance Company and Spanish flamenco dancer Miguel Angel Espino. Live flamenco and Argentine tango music helps create the mood for the work, which is set in a dance club in the 1930s.

Video: The Israel Ballet in Don Quixote

Hewing closely to Marius Petipa’s original choreography as revised by Aleksander Gorsky, the Israel Ballet’s spirited production of Don Quixote is scheduled for July 16. Valeria Martynyuk, a member of the famed Mariinsky Ballet since 2004, will dance the lead role of Kitri.

Video: Victor Ullate Ballet

World Dance contains a mini-festival, Madridanza, which kicks off with the Victor Ullate Ballet – Comunidad de Madrid on July 18-19. Since 1988, the company has been an integral part of Madrid’s dance scene, but this is the first time the troupe is appearing in Israel. Ullate and Eduardo Lao provide the choreography for El Arte de la Danza, a production that displays the strengths of the company’s dancers.

Video: Compania Flamenca Jose Porcel

Enlivening Madridanza on July 23-24 is Ballet Flamenco José Porcel. The company will present Moralejas with choreography by Porcel, Rocio Molina, Isabel Bayon, Alfonso Losa, and Ruben Olmo.

Madridanza also boasts a Spanish Gala celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of mutual diplomatic relations between Spain and Israel. Held on July 21, the concert will feature Porcel, dancers from Victor Ullate Ballet, Michal Natan and Miguel Angel Espino, Silvia Duran, and Gentian Doda and Dimo Kirilov in duets by Doda and Nacho Duato as well as the Ladino singing of Galit Giat.

After Madridanza finishes, World Dance continues with ballet luminaries from both sides of the Atlantic. Tom Gold Dance – run by the former New York City Ballet soloist – presents a mixed bill on July 26. Members of NYCB will perform George Balanchine’s Who Cares, Jerome Robbins’s In the Night, Petipa’s white swan pas de deux from Swan Lake, and Gold’s Tango. The entire extravaganza draws to a close on July 28 with soloists and dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet under the direction of Bruno Bouché in Incidence Choreographique. The program includes a new work by Nicholas Paul, the premiere of Arantxa Sagardoy’s Timeless, José Martinez’s Overture, an excerpt from William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated and Bouché’s Bless, which was created in July 2010 at Suzanne Dellal. Ballet connoisseurs outside of Tel Aviv can catch the dancers from NYCB at the Herzliya Performing Arts Centre or the dancers from Paris Opera at Haifa’s Rappaport Hall on the evening of July 30.

For more information, view World Dance’s page on the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s website. Tickets to performances at the Wohl Amphitheater are available through Suzanne Dellal’s box office: 03-5105656.

Related Websites

Intimadance 2011: Breaking the Fourth Wall at Tmuna Theater

Deborah Friedes Galili — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:37:27 +0000

Dafi Altebab’s High Expectations. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Don’t be surprised if you find dancers peering out at the risers, posing questions to viewers, or requesting some assistance from spectators at Intimadance 2011. Held at Tel Aviv’s Tmuna Theater since 2000, Intimadance has drawn a steady following from local art crowds with its adventurous, inquisitive spirit – and this year’s festival is slated to draw audiences in even further as a particularly intriguing roster of choreographers tackles this year’s theme of the fourth wall.

Reflecting on the twelfth incarnation of what has now become a summer tradition, co-artistic director Nava Zuckerman mused, “With each festival we embark on a journey, a series of questions. The word ‘art’ is an enormous word. It tries to express many voices, opinions, sensations, everything that screams inside you. It tries to express them in many languages and ultimately to communicate them from one person to another . . . For me, the dialogue with the audience is important.”

Leo Lerus in PTP. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Under the artistic direction of Zuckerman and choreographer Irad Mazliah, Intimadance 2011 places this dialogue with the audience center stage, and a sneak peek at the festival reveals a range of approaches to closing the gap between performer and viewer. Choreographers Michal Herman, Dafi Altebab, and Yuval Goldstein all mix their movement with text that pierces the fourth wall; whether seeking the spectators’ approval or questioning the audience’s reaction, the dancers engage the crowd and even elicit chuckles. Skillfully maneuvering through a quickening sequence in his solo PTP, Leo Lerus invites a viewer to hold tight to the end of a long rope hooked around his neck. And Hillel Kogan captures attention with his contemporary, socially conscious interpretation of Stravinsky’s iconic The Rite of Spring, layering the score’s crescendos with his amplified singing of well-known nationalistic anthems.

Hillel Kogan in The Rite of Spring. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Besides these choreographers, a number of other artists are also exploring the fourth wall during the four days of Intimadance 2011. Program A features not only Michal Herman and Yuval Goldstein’s solos but also works by Sharon Weissvesser, Anat Katz and Erez Maayan, Shir Medvetsky and Dina Ziv, Maayan Moses, and Yifat Pell Barkai. Program B includes the choreography of Dafi Altebab, Leo Lerus, and Hillel Kogan alongside works by Rina Schenfeld, Or Marin, and Yifat Pell Barkai. Adding to the festival is an array of photography, video, and performance by Lazaro Godoy, Efrat Rubin and Osnat Wald, Noga Shatz, Gadi Dagon, Ella Ben Aharon, Ella Rothschild, and Roni Halban. Also featured in Tmuna’s gallery will be videodances by eighth grade students in the film and dance departments at the Arison campus of the Tel Aviv School of the Arts. Rounding out the programming are guest performances of works recently created for the Israel Festival by Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor as well as by Nimrod Freed. Intimadance kicks off on Thursday, June 30, and in conjunction with White Night Tel Aviv, the first two performances will be followed by a free indie music concert and party.

More Information

Tickets (65 NIS for one performance; 100 NIS for two performances) are available at Tmuna Theater’s box office, 03-5611211.

June 30:
19:00 Program A
21:00 Program B
23:00 Future Shock Live: Free indie music party and concert with Umlala, Lorena B, 2013, and Phototaxis

July 1:
14:00 Program B
20:30 Guest performance: Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor
21:00 Program A

July 2:
18:00 Guest performance: Nimrod Freed
20:00 Program A

July 3:
20:00 Program B

The 50th Israel Festival: Batsheva, Merce Cunningham, and More

Deborah Friedes Galili — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:33:25 +0000

Video: The 2011 Israel Festival
50 years of the Israel Festival – this country’s most prestigious multidisciplinary arts festival – is a milestone worthy of celebration. And for local dance lovers, the jubilee season offers even more reasons to celebrate, for the programming features an extraordinary lineup of artists from home and from abroad. With a rich calendar of performances through June 18, the 2011 Israel Festival is set to lure concert-goers from around the country to Jerusalem. Here’s a peek at this year’s dance events:

Video: Strange Fruit

The first day of the festival featured the physical marvels of Australia’s Strange Fruit in Zion Square and the lyricism of the Israel Ballet and soloists from Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet performing Giselle in Safra Square.

Video: Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin’s Sadeh21

Batsheva Dance Company returns to the festival with Ohad Naharin’s new Sadeh21, created in collaboration with the troupe’s full roster of dancers. Bathed in soft lighting by Avi Yona Bueno (Bambi) and clothed in variously hued and textured costumes by Ariel Cohen, the company presented a short preview to the press on Monday. Although the cast is large, the rapport among the dancers often lends the work an intimate feel and effectively draws the viewer into the world onstage. Sadeh21 premieres on May 25 and continues its run in Jerusalem through May 27.

Naharin is not the only well-known Israeli choreographer premiering work in the Israel Festival. On May 28-29, choreographer Nimrod Freed and composer Israel Breit will unveil La, a work for four singers and three dancers. Drawing on their respective backgrounds in dance and theater, longtime partners Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor will debut Ship of Fools on June 9.

Video: Merce Cunningham Dance Company

Two years after Merce Cunningham’s death, the legendary choreographer’s company is appearing in the Israel Festival as part of its worldwide Legacy Tour. On June 6, the Sherover Theater will host the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s performance of Split Sides (2003) and Sounddance (1975), while the Israel Museum will be the site of several Events – programs including excerpts of Cunningham’s renowned repertory – on June 9-11.

Merce Cunningham’s Events. Photo by Anna Finke.

Besides these performances, a series of lectures, discussions, and workshops called MerceCampus will be offered at Bezalel, Yaffo 23 in conjunction with the Jerusalem Season of Culture. Sessions include a workshop with Dance Forms, the computer software used by Cunningham to compose his dances; film screenings and performances of music by Cunningham’s famed partner John Cage; and conversations with the company’s dancers and artistic director. Entry to MerceCampus programming is free, and the full schedule in English is available here.

Video: The Danish Dance Theatre in Tim Rushton’s Kridt

The 2011 Israel Festival will close with the Danish Dance Theatre in two programs. Artistic director Tim Rushton teams up with jazz artist Caroline Henderson for Love Songs on June 15. A mixed bill including Rushton’s Kridt, Enigma, and CaDance will be performed in Jerusalem on June 17 and in Modi’in on June 18.

For more information about programming and ticketing, visit the Israel Festival’s website.

International Exposure 2010: Video Preview

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:24:29 +0000

Nir Ben-Gal and Liat Dror’s Terminal B. Photo by Naama Nada.

Even though December has started and the shelves of Tel Aviv’s bakeries are lined with sufganiot, the jelly donuts traditionally eaten during Hanukkah, many of Tel Aviv’s residents are still walking around in tank tops and sandals. Unusually hot days and sunny skies have made it easy for the masses to pretend that summer never ended. But for those of us who follow the dance field, there is no denying that the calendar year is coming to a close. The tip-off is in the posters and fliers on display at Suzanne Dellal as well as the press releases and invitations received via e-mail, all announcing the arrival of the annual showcase of Israeli dance: International Exposure.

Nimrod Freed’s Flash. Photo by Itamar Freed.

The exact shape and scope of International Exposure have shifted since its first incarnation sixteen years ago. For many years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it operated in conjunction with Curtain Up, the country’s premiere platform for new works by independent choreographers. The festival has stretched over a varying number of days and welcomed crowds both intimate and large. But throughout, the goal has remained the same: to display the wealth of works premiered over the past year to foreign arts presenters, dignitaries, and journalists in the hopes of sending Israeli dance around the world.

Orly Portal’s Gnawia

International Exposure 2010 will run from Wednesday, December 8 through Sunday, December 12, and the schedule features an enticing array of established companies and independent choreographers. Most of the programs will take place at the Suzanne Dellal Centre, but a number of concerts and informal showings will take place at other performance venues and studios. And while some of the events are offered only to the festival’s guests, many of the shows are open to the public. Below is a guide to the events that are accessible to local dance lovers (and a sneak peek at International Exposure for those of you who are not in town). All shows are at Suzanne Dellal unless otherwise noted.

Wednesday, December 8

Video: Ohad Naharin’s Kyr/Zina

International Exposure starts out with the Batsheva Ensemble, the Batsheva Dance Company’s junior division, performing Ohad Naharin’s Kyr/Zina at 20:00.

Thursday, December 9

Rami Be’er’s Transform. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

International Exposure’s first full day kicks off at 11:00 with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in Rami Be’er’s new Transform, which premiered during the international Tel Aviv Dance festival this past fall.

Curtain Up 2010 will be represented by three separate bills shown at 16:00, 19:00, and 22:30.

Video: Tamar Borer and Tamara Erde’s Ana

Thursday’s offerings also include a performance of Tamar Borer and Tamara Erde’s latest collaboration, Ana, at 20:30.

Friday, December 10

Friday’s programming includes a fair amount of moving about to different theaters in the area.

Video: The Project in Jacopo Godani’s Light Years.

At 14:00, The Project – a joint initiative by the Suzanne Dellal Centre and the Israeli Opera – will present a mixed bill at the Opera House in the heart of Tel Aviv. The program includes Emanuel Gat’s Through the Center, Jacopo Godani’s Light Years, and Marco Goeke’s Supernova.

Video: Vertigo in Mana

Vertigo Dance Company presents a hit from last year, Mana, at the Givatayim Theater at 17:00. Choreographed by Noa Wertheim, Mana premiered during the twentieth anniversary of the Curtain Up festival.

Video: Maria Kong in Miss Brazil

Maria Kong reprises its program from the Tel Aviv Dance festival, Miss Brazil, at 21:00 at Suzanne Dellal. The company’s four founders – Anderson Braz, Talia Landa, Leo Lerus, and Ya’ara Moses – collaborated on the first half of the bill, Miss, while guest choreographer Idan Cohen contributed the second half, Brazil.

Saturday, December 11

Saturday is primarily a day of mixed bills, titled Exposures, that feature both shorter dances in their entirety alongside excerpts from full-evening works.

Video: Yoram Karmi’s Particle Accelerator

Exposure 1, at 11:00, features Fresco Dance Group in an excerpt from the evening-length Particle Accelerator. The bill is rounded out by Rachel Erdos’s OU’.

Video: Rachel Erdos’s OU’

Odelya Kuperberg’s Tzitzushka.

At 13:00, Exposure 2 will include Odelya Kuperberg’s Tzitzushka and a new work from Idan Sharabi.

Video: Liat Dror’s Terminal B

Nir Ben-Gal and Liat Dror bring their company from Mizpe Ramon to show Dror’s Terminal B at 14:00.

Video: Mami Shimazaki’s Loop People

At 15:00, Mami Shimizaki’s Loop People shares the bill with Orly Portal’s Gnawia in Exposure 3.

Video: Kamea Dance Company in Tamir Ginz’s Srul

The day finishes at 22:30 with Exposure 4, featuring Kamea Dance Company in an excerpt from Tamir Ginz’s Srul along with Nimrod Freed’s Flash.

Sunday, December 12

Video: Sharon Eyal’s Bill

After a whirlwind of performances, International Exposure 2010 closes with Batsheva Dance Company in Sharon Eyal’s Bill.

Curtain Up 2010: Video Preview

Deborah Friedes Galili — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 07:13:38 +0000

Dana Ruttenberg’s Private I’s premieres in Curtain 3. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

In its 21-year history, Curtain Up – Israel’s primary platform for premieres by independent Israeli choreographers – has cycled through a series of artistic directors and experimented with different formats. To celebrate two decades of the festival’s existence in 2009, six alumni of Curtain Up created new works and selected up-and-coming choreographers to share their evenings. Now, in a development of last year’s innovative programming, this year’s artistic directors are four artists who have previously shown their work in Curtain Up: Tamar Borer, Ronit Ziv, Renana Raz, and Sahar Azimi. Each veteran choreographer is overseeing an evening-long program of new works by emerging choreographers, providing a valuable outside eye for the creators on his or her bill. With this setup, Curtain Up has added a layer of artistic support to the financial assistance that has long been a major benefit of participation in the festival.

Iris Erez’s Homesick is featured in Curtain 1. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

This year’s line-up of choreographers includes some faces familiar to Curtain Up audiences. Iris Erez was featured last year on Yasmeen Godder’s curtain, Elad Schechter shared the stage in 2009 with Vertigo Dance Company, and Maya Brinner showed her work on Noa Dar’s 2009 program; meanwhile, Michael Getman presented his work in previous seasons of Curtain Up. Other artists in this year’s festival have shown their recent works in Tmuna Theater’s annual Intimadance and in Shades of Dance, a biennial platform for new choreographers that often serves as a stepping stone to Curtain Up.

Shlomi Frige’s Rashomon premieres in Curtain 4. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Besides the four programs, this year’s Curtain Up includes an array of events that encourage interaction between the artists and the wider public. Conversations with the artistic directors and choreographers will precede some of the performances, and a series of workshops will be held in conjunction with the Amuta (the Choreographer’s Society). The culminating event of Curtain Up 2010 is a landmark symposium geared to spark conversation about dance and the body. Organized by Yael Nativ, this symposium will be held on Friday, December 3 in Jaffa at the Teiva, 19 Sderot Yerushalayim, from 9:00 until 1:30 in the afternoon. The first session will contain more academic discussions of selected topics, and the second session will feature four dialogues between dance scholars and each of the artistic directors of this year’s Curtain Up festival. Admission is free to the public.

Rotem Tashach’s Monuments is featured in Curtain 2. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Dance lovers in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem can catch the four curtains in late November and early December at bargain prices – tickets are a mere 60 NIS. The Curtain Up programs will tour later this season to other areas around Israel, including Kfar Blum and potentially Dimona. And if you’re not in Israel – or if you just want a sneak peek at what you’ll see onstage soon – check out the video preview of each curtain below!

Curtain 1

Directed by Tamar Borer, Curtain 1 features works by Iris Erez and Michael Getman.

Performance schedule:
Suzanne Dellal: November 25 and December 3
Jerusalem Theatre: December 2

Video: Iris Erez’s Homesick

Video: Michael Getman’s Father and Feather

Curtain 2

Ronit Ziv served as the artistic director for Curtain 2, which includes works by Tammy and Ronen Itzhaki, Rotem Tashach, and Ofra Idel.

Performance schedule:
Suzanne Dellal: November 24 and December 2
Jerusalem Theatre: December 1

Video: Ofra Idel’s Horse Tail

Video: Tammy and Ronen Itzhaki’s Have You Done

Video: Rotem Tashach’s Monuments

Curtain 3

Under the artistic direction of Renana Raz, Curtain 3 features the work of three female choreographers: Gili Navot-Friedman, Maya Brinner, and Dana Ruttenberg.

Performance schedule:
Suzanne Dellal: November 27 and December 1
Jerusalem Theatre: November 29

Video: Maya Brinner’s The Show

Video: Dana Ruttenberg’s Private I’s

Video: Gili Navot-Friedman’s Check-in

Curtain 4

Three male choreographers – Ariel Cohen, Elad Schechter, and Shlomi Frige – will show their work in Curtain 4, under the artistic direction of Sahar Azimi.

Performance schedule:
Suzanne Dellal: November 26 and December 4
Jerusalem Theatre: November 30

Video: Elad Schechter’s Funis

Video: Ariel Cohen’s The Battle for the 21st Century’s Love

Video: Shlomi Frige’s Rashomon

Tel Aviv Dance 2010

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 09:37:55 +0000

Video: Preview of Tel Aviv Dance 2010

Four years after its founding, the Tel Aviv Dance festival – an outgrowth and expansion of the earlier Dance Europa festival – is now an eagerly anticipated annual staple of Israel’s jam-packed dance calendar. From October 4-30, dance lovers can take a whirlwind world tour of exciting, exceptionally diverse dance from the comfort of two local dance hubs, the Suzanne Dellal Centre and the Israeli Opera – Tel Aviv Performing Arts Centre (TAPAC).

Yair Vardi (director of Suzanne Dellal) and Hannah Munitz (director of the Opera House) declared in a press release, “As each year in the festival, we try to keep the Israeli audience up to date and present contemporary dance from all over the world, including intriguing, far-away places. This year the festival will host premieres from dance companies from South Africa, South Korea, and China alongside those from the U.S., Canada, France, and Israel.”

The numbers are indeed impressive: by the end of the festival, 12 companies from 9 countries will present 34 performances. And the breadth of genres and aesthetics on display is breathtaking. Tel Aviv Dance 2010′s programming runs the gamut from hip-hop to ballet and offers lavish large-scale works alongside more intimate and modest approaches.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Sutra. Photo by Hugo Glendinning. Photo courtesy of Ora Lapidot PR.

Tel Aviv Dance 2010′s lineup includes some of the biggest names, old and new, in modern and contemporary dance. From Belgium hails Eastman, a young company headed by the acclaimed Flemish-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Eastman will offer Aleko, Faun, and a new work at Suzanne Dellal. Cherkaoui’s striking Sutra, a collaboration with sculptor Antony Gormley, composer Szymon Braska, and monks from the Shaolin Temple in China, will also be performed at the Opera.

The U.S. modern dance powerhouse Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will also visit the Opera, bringing not only Ailey’s masterpiece Revelations but also George Faison’s Suite Otis, Ronald K. Brown’s Dancing Spirit, and Robert Battle’s Unfold.

Kader Attou’s Petites Histoires.com. Photo courtesy of Ora Lapidot PR.

Hip-hop also makes a few appearances on this year’s program. The French troupe Accrorap brings Algerian choreographer Kader Attou’s PetitesHistoires.com, while ten male dancers from South Korea will offer Shin Chang Ho’s No Comment. On the same bill with No Comment is Kim Jin-Mi’s A Body Conflicting with Emotion, a work for four women.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Carmina Burana. Photo courtesy of Ora Lapidot PR.

Some ballet influence is visible as well in Tel Aviv Dance 2010′s lineup. From Canada hails the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Mauricio Wainrot’s Carmina Burana and Peter Quanz’s In Tandem. 10 principal dancers from the acclaimed New York City Ballet present a program called To Dance, with excerpts of works by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, and Tom Gold.

Dada Masilo’s Carmen. Photo courtesy of Ora Lapidot PR.

Rising star Dada Masilo, a 24-year-old dancer and choreographer from South Africa, has also revealed a predilection towards ballet influences in her work. For Tel Aviv Dance, Masilo brings her dance theater work Carmen to Suzanne Dellal.

Also among this year’s offerings is the Spanish dancer and choreographer Miguel Angel Berna’s sweeping Goya, inspired by painter Francisco Goya.

Maria Kong in Miss Brazil. Photo by Ascaf.

Dance from Israel forms a strong presence in this year’s programming. Barak Marshall’s Rooster, which was a success at the Opera House during Tel Aviv Dance 2009, will make an appearance in 2010 at Suzanne Dellal. Batsheva Dance Company will present house choreographer Sharon Eyal’s Bill, which debuted last May, while the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company will unveil Rami Be’er’s newest work, Transform. Maria Kong Dancers Company, a collective of dancer-choreographers Anderson Braz, Talia Landa, Leo Lerus, and Ya’ara Moses, will offer their own creation Miss as well as Brazil by Idan Cohen.

For a more in depth look at what is in store during Tel Aviv Dance, check out the longer video below. The clips are, in order, Accrorap, Shin Chang Ho, Kim Jin-Mi, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Dada Masilo, Barak Marshall, New York City Ballet, Batsheva Dance Company, Eastman, Miguel Angel Berra, Winnipeg Royal Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Maria Kong, and Eastman.

Maholohet: SummerDance 2010 Heats Up at Suzanne Dellal

Deborah Friedes Galili — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:00:34 +0000

Video: Batsheva Dancers Create

The Batsheva Dance Company’s dancers might have cooled off at the beach to make this video, but this July, they – and many of Israel’s finest dancers – will be heating up the Suzanne Dellal Center’s stages during SummerDance 2010. The annual festival, called Maholohet in Hebrew (a play on the words for “dance” and “hot”), will take place from July 1-August 31 and boast 84 performances.

Nuevo Ballet Español. Photo courtesy of Ora Lapidot PR.

This year’s programming kicks off with a festival within the festival. From July 1-10, Madrid Dance will showcase Spanish dance including the Antonio Najarro Dance Company, Nuevo Ballet Español, Sharon Friedman and Jesus Pastor, and Pastor and José Marino. More international guests arrive later in the summer with dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet performing their own creations in Incidence Choreographique and with the Black Light Theatre from Prague in Africania.

Video: Rachel Erdos’s OU’ premieres at SummerDance 2010

As in previous years, premieres abound at SummerDance. This year’s bounty, totaling 19 new works, will include premieres by Dana Ruttenberg, Kamea Dance Company, Tamar Borer and Tamara Erde, Portal Dance Company, DaNaKa Dance Group, Yoni Soutchy, Idan Sharabi, Ronit Ziv, Sigal Ziv, Elina Pechersky, Rena Schenfeld, Dafi Altebab, Mami Shimizaki, Sharon Vazanna, Anat Grigorio, the Jerusalem Ballet, and Rachel Erdos. Sahar Azimi, Elad Shechter, and Ido Tadmor offer pre-premieres, and Yaniv Cohen’s work will be shown in its Israeli premiere.

Arkadi Zaides’s Quiet. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

For audiences who missed some of this year’s most intriguing premieres, SummerDance offers a second chance to check them out. Among the offerings are Arkadi Zaides’s Quiet, which recently returned from a tour of Europe, as well as the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in Rami Be’er’s Infrared, Fresco Dance Group in Yoram Karmi’s Particle Accelerator, Kamea Dance Group in Tamir Ginz’s SRUL, Kolben Dance Company in Min-Hara, and Animato Dance Company in Nadine Bommer’s American Cinema. Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Rushes Plus and Ohad Naharin’s Kyr/Z/na 2010, both highlights of the last season, combine excerpts of older works in a strikingly new context. And Vertigo Dance Company presents not only its recent hit Mana but also White Noise and the now classic Birth of the Phoenix.

Batsheva Dancers Create. Photo by Yoav Barel.

Several evenings pop out from the schedule with a mixture of interesting fare. This year’s festival includes Batsheva Dancers Create, an annual workshop featuring two programs of Batsheva’s dancers in an array of their own choreography. Another intriguing evening is Noa Dar’s presentation of her recent Anu alongside a work-in-progress, Banu, which is the extension of her previous creation. And audiences will have a chance to sample a combination of choreographers when established artists host up-and-coming contemporary choreographer. These programs include Dana Ruttenberg and Shlomit Fundaminsky hosting Neta Ruttenberg and Uri Shafir; Sahar Azimi hosting Elad Shechter and Yaniv Cohen; Dafi Altebab hosting Mami Shimizaki; and Idan Cohen hosting Sharon Vazanna.

Beta Dance Troupe in Meeka Yaari and Ruth Eshel’s Fathers and Sons. Photo by Ofer Zvulun.

SummerDance 2010 also features several companies and choreographers that add an ethnic flavor to the Israeli concert dance scene. Beta Dance Troupe blends Ethiopian traditions with contemporary choreography in Meeka Yaari and Ruth Eshel’s Fathers and Sons as well as Adam McKinney and Daniel Banks’s What We are Saying. Rona Bar-On, Sigal Ziv, and Elina Pechersky bring belly dance to the stage, while COMPAS, Silvia Duran, and Tania Vinokur offer variations on flamenco. Adding to the mix is Bangoura, an African dance company that will perform The dance of the drums.

Batsheva Ensemble in Ohad Naharin’s Kamuyot. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Want to attend a dance performance with your family? Several family-friendly programs are dotting this year’s bill, including the Batsheva Ensemble in Ohad Naharin’s Kamuyot, Kamea Dance Group in Or Abuhav’s The Ugly Duckling, COMPAS in Carmen and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and Noa Dar Dance Group in Children’s Games.

Rounding out the programming are several critically acclaimed works created in recent years, including Yasmeen Godder’s Singular Sensation and Yossi Berg and Oded Graf’s Four Men, Alice, Bach and the Deer, and evenings of work by independent choreographers including Iris Erez, Shlomi Frige, Maya Levy, Michael Miler, and Michal Herman.

SummerDance 2010

View more documents from DeborahGalili.

Israel Festival 2010

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sat, 22 May 2010 12:56:01 +0000

ISRAEL FESTIVAL 2010 from ISRAEL FESTIVAL on Vimeo.

Video: Preview of the Israel Festival 2010

As mid-May turns into late May here in Israel, spring is in full bloom. The sun is now everpresent, no longer occasionally blocked by clouds, and the days grow hotter. Rain showers are replaced by trickles of tourist groups, portending the forthcoming wave of summer visitors. And in Jerusalem, the Israel Festival opens, providing the season’s freshest programming in theater, music, and dance.

The Israel Festival traditionally mixes some of the top names from the international arts scene with local favorites, and this year is no exception. The 2010 dance line-up promises a particularly diverse array of renowned artists hailing from around the world. Tangokinesis, based in Buenos Aires, brings a tantalizing mix of Argentinean tango and modern dance to Nuevo Tango. Shen Wei Dance Arts will arrive in Jerusalem from its home in New York, but the Chinese-born Wei’s style is infused with elements of Chinese opera, and his work Re is colored by his travels in Tibet, Cambodia, and China. British choreographer Akram Khan is known for blending Indian kathak dance with more modern movement, and his Gnosis is inspired by the Hindu Mahabharata. And the masterful Bill T. Jones will take on American history in Serenade/The Proposition, which incorporates striking video art along with the choreographer’s signature contemporary vocabulary.

Video: Bill T. Jones’s Serenade/The Proposition

Joining these visiting troupes on the festival’s stage is a hometown favorite, Vertigo Dance Company, which maintains a studio in Jerusalem as well as an innovative Eco-Art Village on nearby Kibbutz Netiv HaLamed-Hey. Vertigo will kick off the festival with two free shows of Noa Wertheim’s landmark environmental work, Birth of the Phoenix, before performing Wertheim’s White Noise and her most recent dance, Mana.

Vertigo Dance Company in Noa Wertheim’s Mana. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

The 2010 Israel Festival runs from May 25 until June 11.

Exploring Israeli Society through Dance at International Exposure 2009

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:45:06 +0000

Video: Promo for Arkadi Zaides’s new Quiet

As guest writer Brian Schaefer wrote in his article, for most visitors from abroad, International Exposure is a veritable “crash course” in Israeli contemporary dance. For me, however, International Exposure serves another purpose. Since I’m now intimately familiar with both the scene as a whole and with the artists themselves, this festival provides an unparalleled opportunity to consider developments in the field over the last year.

While Brian rightly noted that the vast majority of works in International Exposure did not overtly address the Israeli context, a few works did tackle issues in Israeli life – and as someone who has seen the vast majority of contemporary dance created in Israel since 2007, I can vouch that this is a notable shift. Out of all the dances I watched during my first two years in the country – a number which easily surpasses 100 and probably nears 200 – I can probably count the number of works which explicitly examine Israeli culture and society on less than two hands. Most of them, such as Renana Raz’s We Have Been Called to Go, were works that had premiered in previous seasons; while I saw this dance on stage, I had to seek out other works such as Yasmeen Godder’s Strawberry Cream and Gunpowder on DVD. Indeed, when I saw Hillel Kogan’s Everything at Exposure in January 2008, its focus on Israeli machismo was such a revelation because it was the only new work I had seen which openly examined an aspect of Israeli identity.

So it was absolutely astonishing for me to watch as not just one but a handful of the offerings at International Exposure unmistakably explored Israeli society. Two of these dances had premiered just weeks earlier in the Curtain Up festival, and while they both took the relationship of the individual to the surrounding Israeli society as their main theme, they approached the subject from different personal perspectives and aesthetics.

Noa Dar’s Anu. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

In Noa Dar’s trio Anu (Us), one dancer – perhaps dressed to look younger in pigtails and a skirt – is initiated into the group, first observing her two fellow performers and then modeling herself after them until she becomes a participating member. Though at times the context is universal, there are several scenes which bear the recognizable imprint of Israeli culture. Gathered center stage in a tight circle, the trio performs a speeded-up mishmash of Israeli folk dance steps; occasionally, one dancer breaks out of the group, causing the others to pause, but then the three immediately resume their folk dance at an even more frenetic pace. Another powerful section references the army service which is compulsory in Israel. Juxtaposing stylized miming of military actions (loading, aiming, and shooting guns; throwing grenades; scoping out a building and breaking in; strip searching a suspect) with sweetly tranquil classical music, the scene is chilling.

Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Big Mouth. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Whereas Anu follows the process of indoctrination into society, Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Big Mouth considers the reverse process of an individual critically considering this group mentality. The strains of an Israeli folk song set the stage even before the curtain rises, and the tone is further established as the three dancers (Sheinfeld, Laor, and Keren Levi) begin by turning their backs on the audience and striding in unison around the perimeter of the space. Gradually, the trio’s regimented marching is punctuated by Israeli folk dance steps – a mayim here, a three-step turn there – and eventually, Levi tries to break out of this seemingly never-ending pattern with her own idiosyncratic movement. Later, to the swelling melody of an Israeli military hymn, Levi stands downstage and slowly opens her mouth wide until her face is distorted in the shape of a silent, terrible scream; this simple yet virtuosic act leaves a haunting imprint even after the booming music dies down and Levi’s face returns to its normal state. Despite the tenderness with which Sheinfeld and Laor cradle Levi during their final trio, keeping her perpetually aloft while passing her back and forth, the emotion which prompted such an agonized cry clearly lingers, prompting her to leave the group at the close of the work.

Besides Anu and Big Mouth, two other brand-new works showcased in International Exposure 2009 also seemed to be colored by the political and social dynamics within the Israeli context. Rami Be’er’s choreography has often explored Israeli life, and his Infrared, which the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company premiered in November, seems to follow in this pattern. Though much of the choreography itself is more abstract, the work opens with a man’s voice solemnly intoning a poem (written by Be’er) about soldiers in a garden and with one dancer slowly emerging from what appears to be a body bag. Meanwhile, Arkadi Zaides’s Quiet, which was presented in a studio showing as a work-in-progress, features a mixed cast of Jewish and Arab performers and effectively plays off the tensions between these two groups.

After two years of barely seeing any choreography explicitly grappling with the Israeli context, I couldn’t help but wonder why so many dances were now openly invoking this subject and its intense undercurrents. Could it perhaps be that, after the war in Gaza last year, some choreographers felt compelled to reexamine their surroundings? What other political and personal factors were at work?

Noa Dar’s Anu. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

In a conversation with Noa Dar prior to the premiere of Anu, she said that her latest work stemmed from her experiences as “a mother and also as a citizen” of Israel. While Dar talked about how her young children’s education was already “printing on them their future and the future as soldiers,” she also recounted her experience at a protest against the incursion into Gaza in 2008, during which not only right-wing counter-protesters but also passersby cursed the demonstrators as traitors. The choreographer further discussed the media’s one-sided account of both Gaza and the 2006 Lebanon war and brought up recent legislation curtailing the rights of Arab Israelis. “This work came out of these experiences, out of this fear that this country is getting more and more closed,” Dar acknowledged. She continued, “It’s about the uniformity that Israeli culture brings and trying to explore how to survive it, to go against it but still be inside, to be able to comment on it, to try to change it.”

Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Big Mouth. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

While these recent developments spurred the creation of Anu, Big Mouth emerged from somewhat different roots. Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor choreographed the dance during a period when they were frequently away from Israel; sometimes they were on tour with previous works, and at other times they were in the Netherlands where they collaborated on the new trio with Amsterdam-based Israeli dancer Keren Levi. Sheinfeld remarked, “Somehow I think it affected this work; it made the piece somehow with reference to the Israeli culture.” Laor chimed in the conversation, noting not only the physical distance of the three collaborators from Israel during the creative process but also other events which caused the artists to consider issues of nationalism and group identity. While Big Mouth does include specific allusions to the Israeli context, Sheinfeld reflected that ultimately, “the way that we treat the subject is the personal level, is the individual, and how an individual acts in a group.”

Arkadi Zaides’s Quiet. Photo courtesy of Arkadi Zaides.

Meanwhile, in the publicity for Quiet, which premieres this weekend at Tmuna Theater in Tel Aviv, Zaides explains the backdrop for his latest work. He writes:

“Quiet arose from a real sense of emergency; in light of the growing violence and mistrust between communities in Israel, constantly subjected to states of shock which never allow the space needed for reflection, and thus never allow for change. In such an environment it felt acute to create a platform which allows for an open and honest communication; a place where it is safe to let one’s demons out and set them free; where the irrationality of response is examined and emotions are bravely explored; where a broad perspective is sought and where trust is continuously built.”

With these works’ diverse reference points and perspectives, they are welcome, thought-provoking additions to the Israeli contemporary dance scene.

International Exposure 2009: A Perspective from Abroad

Deborah Friedes Galili — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:58:21 +0000

Video: Maya Brinner’s Red Ladies was one of several works exploring the individual within the group at International Exposure

A few weeks after International Exposure 2009, not only am I continuing to mull over some intriguing works that I saw, but I am still thinking about the many attendees I met and contemplating the conversations I had with them.

It was truly remarkable to see how many presenters were scoping out Israeli dance with the hopes of bringing Israeli choreographers or companies to their venues. The audience at International Exposure was well-informed, sophisticated, and worldly; its members were knowledgeable about the contemporary dance scene in their own home countries and had seen some of the latest productions from around the globe.

This diverse array of cultured visitors – and their well-informed observations – reinforced my own perception that there is indeed something especially appealing about Israeli contemporary dance. It was illuminating to talk to repeat attendees and learn that they found this year’s festival stronger than in previous years; it was also encouraging to speak with first-time visitors and discover that they found several works of interest.

I had several stimulating conversations about the festival with Brian Schaefer, a dance writer and administrator based in San Diego, California. He has generously written a thorough, thoughtful reflection on the festival for Dance In Israel, offering an invaluable perspective from outside the scene. Enjoy!

* * *

Seeing Israel through the Lens of Dance

By Brian Schaefer

Oil and water may be the most contentious of the commodities in the Middle East. But who says art can’t be a country’s natural resource as well?

Such is the purpose of International Exposure – a type of cultural trade fair to encourage the export of one of Israel’s most valuable products: its creativity. Each year for the past fifteen years, a flock of foreign presenters, managers, choreographers, and journalists has descended upon the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv to get a crash course in contemporary dance in Israel in the hopes that we fall in love with an artist or company and take them home with us to introduce them to our families, or rather, audiences. It’s souvenir shopping on an entirely different scale.

The Israeli Ministry of Culture brings us here to demonstrate the wealth of dance in Israel, show us Tel Aviv as an exciting, cosmopolitan city, and let us discover just how far Israel has come from the pioneering, agricultural days of the kibbutzim and sabras when Israeli dance meant communal folk gatherings, which is still how most Americans consider it. So the point of International Exposure is to destroy that myth and show us an Israel that is innovative and cutting-edge, both in its technology and in its art.

The process of actually bringing a company to the States is a complicated pas de deux that relies on a lot of other factors that come later on. But for now, for this week, it’s about seeing work. A lot of work. An exhausting amount of work.

Still, the experience is extraordinary. And the impact is powerful. Five days later, we leave with a semblance of an idea of what makes contemporary dance in Israel so vibrant. Without trying to lump everything together – after all, one of the strengths of the program is its diversity – there are a few noticeable characteristics, trends, and themes that emerge.

Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Big Mouth. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

It’s difficult as an outsider not to read too much about the regional conflicts into the work we see. Few artists, save perhaps for Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor who explicitly reference Israel’s military history in the engaging trio Big Mouth, admit to addressing politics in any way.

Yet as foreign critics and presenters who for the most part view Israel from the lens of international media, we inevitably look for ways that artists respond to their social surroundings. Maybe we look too much. But perhaps also the fact that such intentional reactions to the political environment are conspicuously lacking in so much of the work we saw is equally telling.

What we actually got in many instances was a complete departure from the realities of this world, and surprisingly often, we were thrust in to the realm of the absurd where the unexpected can occur at any moment, where things are never quite as they seem or can in an instant morph into something unrecognizable. The absurdity is also in the behavior, where over-the-top characters cavort about with exaggerated gestures, inhabiting fantasy worlds in extravagant costumes and bright make-up.

Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Trout. Photo by Asaf Ashkenazi.

Perhaps no Israeli choreographers better encapsulate this aesthetic and sensibility than Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak. At International Exposure, the duo showed excerpts from the company’s repertory, the charming Rushes, made a few years ago for the American company Pilobolus, and the new evening-length work Trout, created in 2008 in Norway. In each, the zany characters and extravagant sets and props transport audiences into an imaginary place that may resemble reality at times but clearly isn’t.

Barak Marshall’s Rooster. Photo by Kfir Bolotin.

In Barak Marshall’s Rooster, we took a colorful visit to the shtetls of the 19th century to witness a love triangle mixing stories from the Bible and Yemenite folklore with a period aesthetic and surreal scenes of, for example, a man “laying” eggs in his mouth. It’s a work that, while perhaps a bit unfocused and difficult to follow for non-Hebrew speakers, exudes energy and charm and provides a strong showcase for the performers.

Across the board (for the most part), International Exposure guests walked away with a deep appreciation for Israeli dancers, whose focus and commitment is a noticeable strength of the performances.

Other works that dove into the absurd included Yasmeen Godder’s LOVE FIRE, complete with the gutting of a stuffed creature resembling some combination of goat and lion, an unexpected shower of blue glitter, and a dramatic illuminated heart made of diagonal fluorescent tubes. Yossi Berg and Oded Graf’s study in masculinity, 4 Men, Alice, Bach and the Deer, also made use of a life-sized dead animal, raising peculiar questions about the role of taxidermy in Israeli society. Okay, not really, but seeing both works in one night gave something to think about.

Michal Herman Dance Group’s Fellowship, based on a short Kafka story, embodied absurdity in the extreme mannerisms of its characters and their exaggerated interactions, as did Irad Mazliah’s Unter den Linden.

While not necessarily “absurd,” Artour Astman & Ilana Bellahsen’s ArtLana presented the two artists as babies in a wide-eyed, charming duet. The grotesque masks in Noa Dar Dance Group’s Anu suggested something of the absurd but dealt more explicitly with another theme that was largely prevalent throughout the festival – the struggle between the urge for individual expression and the pressure to conform.

The aforementioned Big Mouth tackled the topic effectively as did Maya Brinner’s Red Ladies, which followed a trio of women from synchronized harmony to individual awareness and then group conflict.

But perhaps no dance company in the world embodies this tension between group cohesion and individual identity than the Batsheva Dance Company, whose new work Hora closed the festival.

Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin’s Hora. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Batsheva’s artistic director Ohad Naharin shifts quickly and effortlessly between complicated group sections, done in perfect unison (in a way that no other company can approach), to solos that marry abandon and control in surprising harmony. It’s a tactic utilized in several of his recent works, and just because it’s a recognizable pattern doesn’t mean its predictable. Yet here, the tool loses its impact. While past works like Shalosh (Three) or Mamootot, though still abstract, feel like they follow some sort of arc, Hora in comparison feels circular. At the end, we’re back at the beginning and as a result, it’s a bit harder to appreciate the journey, but then again, maybe that’s the point.

Naharin has always had eclectic music taste, easily moving from a traditional Passover song to the Beach Boys to soundscapes that he himself creates. In Hora, the score consists of some of the most recognizable and clichéd pieces of music by Strauss, Wagner, and John Williams borrowed from the archives or classic science-fiction films. Like the title of the work, Naharin challenges the audience to rearrange its reference points for the associations we have created throughout our lives.

As a result, he creates extremes of possibilities and the space in between where anything can happen and meaning is left ambiguous. Throwing viewers from one end of the spectrum to the other (from familiar to unfamiliar) with unrelated and nonsensical movements forces us to fill in the gaps of how they relate and what it all amounts to. And while you may not walk away with an answer, Batsheva ultimately leaves an impression that, indeed, there is something human within this controlled chaos after all.

I always get a sense, watching Batsheva, that there is something dark and explosive just under the surface, and that’s another thread that seemed to weave its way through the festival of Israeli choreographers and companies. Noa Dar’s Anu plunged suddenly into simulated rape, and Berg and Graf’s 4 Men, Alice, Bach and the Deer similarly incorporated sexual violence into the narrative.

Rami Be’er’s poem Infrared, which is also the name of the work for his Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, follows multi-colored soldiers into a garden, which the over-produced performance suggested rather explicitly. The company appears to have a wealth of resources at its disposal and produced a glossy show that, ultimately, was lacking in the substance and urgency that many of the smaller companies displayed.

Vertigo Dance Company in Noa Wertheim’s Mana. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Noa Wertheim’s Vertigo Dance Company similarly approached the theme of complicated group dynamics. Yet their work Mana offered a depth and sense of intrigue that made it one of the most compelling pieces of the entire week, one that brings together many of the themes discussed here in a tight, luscious, and appealing package that foreign audiences are likely to respond well to.

If another theme might be added, it’s the embrace of classical music mashed with contemporary, fragmented movement. It’s not a new idea in contemporary dance, but the idea was particularly noticeable at this festival. In addition to the well-known scores in Batsheva’s work, Godder also used the waltz for inspiration, and Idan Cohen’s take on Swan Lake paired the Tchaikovsky score with sharp, defined, lightning-quick movement that actually made the idea feel current and relevant – no small feat for such an overused score and well-known ballet. But the sense that Israelis are resisting tradition, or at least looking to re-contextualize it to their new realities, came through loud and clear.

Maria Kong in fling. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Of course, one can’t possibly force all of the performances into only a few basic themes. Defying all categorizations was the work by Maria Kong, a new company comprised of former Batsheva dancers. fling opens with an aching violin solo, performed facing away from the audience, while projections on two columns conjure a world of dark hallways, mysterious rooms, and the constant shift of shadows, which gives the sense that time is passing us by. Without a dancer on stage for the first nearly twenty minutes, a captivating world is created. When they do appear, the dancers move with robotic precision. The slight turn of a head sends waves that reverberate throughout another dancer’s body. Similarly, fling is a subtle work that makes a big impression.

And while International Exposure aims to present contemporary dance, we were also brought to the Israel Ballet studios to view excerpts from the company’s repertoire. The dancers were proficient, the partnering well-executed. But the formality of the ballet language doesn’t seem to fit this country.

Interacting with and observing Israelis on a daily basis during the week of the Exposure, the intimacy, suspicion, joy, tension, spirit, and vitality that seems to hover over society here is reflected in the works of contemporary artists that display the same such characteristics.

In comparison, the ballet, with its sterilized look, organized structure, clear gender roles, and polished edges seems to be just what everyone else is fighting against. And that conflict is what makes the dance in Israel so fascinating.

Brian Schaefer is the dance writer for San Diego News Network and the Program & Audience Development Manager for ArtPower! at UC San Diego, the university’s multi-arts presenting organization.

Machol Shalem 2009: A Cutting-Edge Dance Festival in Jerusalem

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:00:34 +0000

Video: Trailer for Less Mess, a collaboration between Ruby Edelman, Sascha Engel, and Christina Gehrig Binder

Just as the dance scene has quieted down a bit in Tel Aviv after a series of festivals, the growing Jerusalem scene is heating up with Machol Shalem’s SHALEM festival 2009. Unlike most of the festivals which took place here in Tel Aviv, SHALEM features not only concerts but classes, such as Ronen Itzhaki’s workshop for men and Claudia Hauri’s workshop for dancers and actors, cleverly titled “Don’t try it at home.” This year’s programming runs in Jerusalem from 29-31, and Tel Aviv audiences can see some of the festival’s offerings when they come to the Opera House’s rehearsal room on January 1-2.

To get the scoop on SHALEM 2009 and its parent organization Machol Shalem, I talked to Ruby Edelman, who co-directs the festival along with his partner Idel. The article below was first published in the Jerusalem Post as “Daring Dance in Jerusalem.”

* * *

Daring Dance in Jerusalem

“It’s a whole different playground,” Ruby Edelman says of Jerusalem’s dance scene. Tel Aviv is typically recognized as the hot spot for concert dance in Israel but Edelman and his partner Ofra Idel are injecting new energy into Jerusalem’s fledgling scene with Machol Shalem.

Edelman recalls, “The initiation of Machol Shalem started in 2002, [with] me and some other independent dancemakers in Jerusalem who were looking for a place to continue [our] creation.” Initially, the organizers invited young choreographers to present their work on a single evening and each year, the group’s activities expanded. Eventually they founded a multi-day festival called SHALEM – The Jerusalem Dance Festival and established a home base with a studio in Jerusalem’s Musrara neighborhood.

Or Marin’s Origami. Photo by Ascaf.

Now, with three days of inventive workshops and cutting-edge performances by both Israeli and foreign artists, SHALEM is easily one of Israel’s most adventurous dance festivals. SHALEM’s progressive programming flies in the face of conservative stereotypes that characterize both Jerusalem itself and the city’s arts scene. Indeed, Edelman affirms that the festival’s mission is “to present an alternative channel to what modern, contemporary, independent dance can be at this time . . . to search for things which are not obvious and which present variations of what dance can be about.”

Running from December 29-31, SHALEM 2009 advances this search for bold, experimental approaches to dance with what Edelman calls an emphasis on “unique, fresh collaborations of new dance and new media.” Efrat Rubin joins forces with animation artist Osnat Wald to create her latest work, Yom (Day). Meanwhile, Copenhagen-based Israeli choreographer Esther Wrobel performs while hanging on a rope against the backdrop of Marlene Nielson’s video projections in CRUST. Even Splash, a work for young audiences by Australian-born, Jerusalem-based choreographer Joel Bray, includes an interactive video along with live dance.

Less Mess by Ruby Edelman, Sascha Engel, and Christina Gehrig Binder. Photo by Christian Glaus.

Video and an exploratory spirit also play a prominent part in Edelman’s work, a co-production of Machol Shalem and Tanzhaus Zurich with Swiss dancemaker Christina Gehrig Binder and German filmmaker and choreographer Sascha Engel as creative collaborators. The trio, graduates of the Rotterdam Dance Academy and frequent artistic partners, embarked on a road trip throughout Israel that was filmed by Seffy Hirsch. Then the three choreographers built a series of duets based on their experiences during this journey. The resulting work, called Less Mess, includes clips of the video as reference points.

Technology plays an even more active role during the performances of a few innovative works to be showcased in SHALEM 2009. During Or Marin’s new Origami, a real-time recording of the work will be projected while the dancers perform. Berlin-based choreographer Efrat Stempler is also working with real-time recording and projection in her evening-length Shu Shu. In this trio, the dancers are outfitted with miniature surveillance cameras that monitor the other performers and expose them by screening images in all directions throughout the space.

SHALEM 2009 also features Entr’acte, a duet by Holland’s dance theater cabaret group Gato Bizar that was a previous success in the festival. The shows are rounded out with excerpts from the Jerusalem-based Kolben Dance Company’s latest production, Amir Kolben’s Min-hara, and a new solo by former Kolben dancer Evelin Ifrach.

Entr’acte by Gato Bizar. Photo by Maarten Eiland.

While SHALEM’s exciting programming should be enough to attract crowds from outside Jerusalem into the city, the festival is also catering to Tel Aviv’s committed dance audience by bringing both Less Mess and Shu Shu to the Opera House’s rehearsal room from January 1-2. Machol Shalem’s purpose may be to strengthen dance in Jerusalem, but with its daring curatorial vision, it is enriching the entire country’s cultural scene.

More Information

SHALEM’s performances run from December 29-31 at the Gerard Behar Center in Jerusalem and from January 1-2 at the Opera House in Tel Aviv. Tickets are available at www.bimot.co.il or 02-6237999.

International Exposure 2009: Showcasing Israeli Dance

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:30:17 +0000

Barak Marshall’s Rooster. Photo by Avi Avin.

As autumn turns into winter, there’s an interesting progression from one dance festival in Tel Aviv to the next. Tel Aviv Dance introduces Israeli audiences to top-notch dance from around the globe before giving way to Curtain Up, a celebration of new Israeli-made works. And then, in a few concentrated days of concerts, International Exposure attempts to introduce Israeli dance to the world by showcasing the past year’s bounty (including recently premiered Curtain Up works) to foreign arts presenters who just might invite local choreographers to perform in their home countries.

Now in its fifteenth year, International Exposure will present the work of twenty-seven Israeli choreographers to over ninety guests including theater directors, festival directors, and journalists. These visitors will witness a stellar lineup boasting Israel’s most prominent dance companies as well as many independent choreographers at various stages of their careers. Some of the works on the program have been performed many times over the course of the year; others, such as the selections from the still in progress Curtain Up festival, are in their initial performances. Together, these dances offer a valuable retrospective on the past season and paint a representative picture of Israel’s vibrant contemporary dance scene.

International Exposure 2009 runs from Wednesday, December 9 until Sunday, December 13. Many of the concerts will be held at the Suzanne Dellal Centre and are open to the public, so local audiences can catch up on shows they missed during the last year. Other performances will be held at the Israel Classical Ballet Centre, the Nachmani Theater, Clipa Theater, and the Herzliya Theater, giving visitors a peek at the larger scale of dance venues in Israel.

Below is a day-by-day virtual tour of the festival with photographs and videos of many of the dances which will be performed. Want to learn more about the choreographers, companies, works, and festivals I mention? Click on the underlined names to see related articles published on Dance In Israel.

As we say here in Israel, צפייה מהנה – tzfiya mehana, pleasant viewing!

Wednesday, December 9

Last year’s International Exposure closed with Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak‘s Hydra, and now the couple’s company will kick off this year’s festival with a double bill. The first program features Rushes, which was originally made for the American company Pilobolus. The second program moves to Yerushalmi Hall for a showing of Pinto and Pollak’s Trout and a new work by company member Talia Beck.

Video: Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Trout

Thursday, December 10

Video: Tel Aviv Dance Company in Yaara Dolev’s BLOSSOM.

Day 2 of International Exposure 2009 starts early with the Tel Aviv Dance Company in co-artistic director Yaara Dolev’s BLOSSOM, which recently premiered in Curtain Up. Participants will then visit the Israel Classical Ballet Centre in Tel Aviv to view excerpts from the Israel Ballet’s repertory.

Video: Artour Astman and Ilana Bellahson in Artlana

A mixed bill at Suzanne Dellal will include excerpts of two works that premiered this summer in Maholohet, the center’s SummerDance festival. Artour Astman and Ilana Bellahsen perform part of their evening-length duet Artlana, while Rina Schenfeld and her company take to the stage in Angels.

Video: Maria Kong in fling

Across town at the charming Nachmani Theater, the collaborative company Maria Kong offers fling, the group’s debut work. The day’s programming also features a visit to Clipa Theater for Michal Herman’s Fellowship, based on a short story by Kafka, as well as presentations by the Acco-based group Hamama and choreographer Shlomi Frige.

Video: Vertigo Dance Company in Noa Wertheim’s Mana

Thursday closes with another recent premiere from Curtain Up. Vertigo Dance Company will perform Noa Wertheim’s Mana.

Friday, December 11

Friday’s schedule boasts works from some of Israel’s most prominent choreographers. The day begins with a trip to the Herzliya Theatre for Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company‘s performance of Rami Be’er’s Infrared, which premiered in November.

Video: Barak Marshall’s Rooster

Back at the Suzanne Dellal Centre, we’ll take a look at Barak Marshall‘s Rooster, a co-production of Suzanne Dellal and the Opera House which premiered in this year’s Tel Aviv Dance festival. The afternoon will also include a celebration for the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s twentieth anniversary.

Iris Erez’s Numbia. Photo by Itay Merom.

In the early evening, we’ll visit Yasmeen Godder’s studio in Jaffa for a showing of Iris Erez’s Numbia and Noa Shadur’s Into the Night, both of which were unveiled recently as part of the Curtain Up festival.

Yasmeen Godder’s LOVE FIRE. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

Friday concludes at Suzanne Dellal with Yasmeen Godder‘s LOVE FIRE, which premiered in November at Curtain Up.

Saturday, December 12

Video: Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Big Mouth

Saturday starts with new works from the Curtain Up festival. Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor take the stage first with Big Mouth, a collaboration with Amsterdam-based dancer Keren Levi.

Nimrod Freed’s Subtext. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Next up is the Tami Dance Company in Nimrod Freed’s Subtext, along with Dafi Altabeb’s Under the Carpet and Anat Grigorio’s Daydream.

Yossi Berg and Oded Graf’s 4 Men, Alice, Bach and the Deer. Photo by Matyas Krotziger.

In the afternoon, Yossi Berg and Oded Graf’s 4 Men, Alice, Bach and the Deer will be performed at the Inbal Theatre in Suzanne Dellal.

Noa Dar’s Us. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

In another program from Curtain Up, Noa Dar‘s Anu (Us) shares the stage with Irad Mazliach’s Unter den Linden and Maya Brinner’s Red Ladies.

Video: Dana Ruttenberg’s NABA

Saturday includes another triple bill at the Inbal Theatre. Improvisation-based artist Ilanit Tadmor presents Happiness is Real, Dana Ruttenberg equips the audience with audio guides in NABA, and Tammy and Ronen Izhaki perform their duet This Now Is, which was shown in the Shades of Dance festival in March. After this program, we’ll move to Studio Varda for a presentation of Arkadi Zaides‘s work-in-progress, Quiet, which has a cast of both Israeli Jews and Arabs.

Video: Idan Cohen’s Swan Lake

The night ends with one more triple bill of excerpts from works which were featured in the SummerDance festival. Sally-Anne Friedland offers A Private Collection, Idan Cohen presents part of his full-length contemporary Swan Lake, and Ronit Ziv performs in her Tide.

Video: Ronit Ziv’s Tide

Sunday, December 13

After a tour of Jerusalem on Sunday, International Exposure guests will be treated to a few last performances at Suzanne Dellal.

Video: Tamar Borer and Tamara Erde’s Izaora Hun

Butoh-influenced performance artist Tamar Borer and filmmaker Tamara Erde present part of Izaora Hun in the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s Inbal Theatre.

Video: Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin’s Hora

Back in the complex’s main hall, the festival closes with Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin’s latest work, Hora.

Curtain Up 6: Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor Host Noa Shadur

Deborah Friedes Galili — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:02:13 +0000

Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Big Mouth. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Dance In Israel: What is your relationship to Curtain Up?
Niv Sheinfeld: We made several pieces [for the festival]. I was doing work for the Batsheva Ensemble and the Kibbutz Dance Company in the beginning, but it was part of Curtain Up. And then I did Co-Variance, Pig, and Jorona for Curtain Up, together with Oren.

Noa Shadur’s Into the Night. Photo by Jewboy.

DII: What drew you to invite Noa Shadur to be the choreographer to share the bill with you?
Oren Laor: I suggested Noa’s name, and Niv immediately said “Yes, that’s a good idea,” because we saw Noa’s work in the past, and among many Israeli independent choreographers, Noa’s sources are the ones that we feel are the best. She looks at humans; we saw it’s never just strictly movement. She’s an explorer, like we like.

Noa Shadur’s Into the Night. Photo by Jewboy.

NS: I think [it was] also the fact that we had a good dialogue with her. We started seeing her work and talking to her and checking things out, and we found that the language of the dialogue was fluent, and it gave us a good base.

Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Big Mouth. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

DII: Can you tell me a bit about how your new work Big Mouth started?
NS: The beginning was not from an idea; it was from working with Keren [Levi], because Keren is a good friend of mine for more than 25 years. We went to high school together, and I got to know the dance world from her. She was talking about coming to Israel; we said maybe we’ll make a solo for you. We started by joking about it. And then we invited her to get into the studio for two weeks in Tel Aviv, and interesting things came up for us. Then we went for Amsterdam for the second period of work.

Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Big Mouth. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

NS: We were touring sometimes in this period, and we weren’t in Israel a lot, and somehow I think it affected this work. [Also] the fact that Keren left Israel, it made the piece somehow with reference to the Israeli culture. It’s only a reference. It’s from a very personal point of view, from our connection, this trio. This solo became a trio; of course we found ourselves drawn in.

* * *

For listings of Curtain Up performances, please visit the Dance In Israel Calendars page.

Curtain Up 5: Noa Dar Hosts Maya Brinner and Irad Mazliah

Deborah Friedes Galili — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:36:16 +0000

Noa Dar’s Us. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

Dance In Israel: What is your relationship to Curtain Up?
Noa Dar: I choreographed for Curtain Up from 1996-2000, 5 years in a row. And then I was a guest artist in 2001 and again in 2004 . . . It was very important thing for me, this Curtain Up. It really was my school or my initiation program for my choreography, so I found this project very important. And I think it’s very that good this time the choreographers have a chance to express their own artistic choices and also to guide young choreographers. I’m excited about this opening of the establishment to the ideas of independent choreographers. This is important.

Maya Brinner’s Red Ladies. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

DII: What drew you to invite Maya Brinner and Irad Mazliah?
ND: These are dancers of mine. Maya is dancing with me since 2000, already nine years. And Irad is dancing with me for the last three years. I found both of them to be very creative, very interesting in their research. Both are also involved in other mediums of art; Irad came from visual art and Maya from film. We had some mutual understanding, because for years we are working together. I’m very happy to give them this opportunity.

Irad Mazliah’s Unter den linden. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

DII: Are there any links between the three works in Curtain 5?
ND: We had a lot of mutual talks and plans and trying to research what we have in common in order to build not a program of three different dances but to have an evening which has as many connections of possible . . . the three of us [are] looking at differences versus conformity, and stillness or stuck positions versus mobility and change. And each one deals completely differently [with these ideas]. So there are different tones on a common basis in these three pieces.

Maya Brinner’s Red Ladies Photo by Tamar Lamm.

ND: Maya is working with three female dancers who are [like] workers in a factory. They’re all the same, and in this sameness they’re looking for their individuality and the way they can be unique in this competitive world.

Irad Mazliah’s Unter den linden. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

ND: Irad is coming from a different place. He took three people who are very different, but he put all three of them in one world, with very distinct rules of its own.

Noa Dar’s Us. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

ND: My work is again three dancers that deals more with the Israeli common experiences that create the uniformity of the way of thinking, the way of acting, and the negative attitude towards difference. I came [to this work] with very strong experiences that I’m having in the last few years as a mother and also as a citizen.

* * *

For listings of Curtain Up performances, please visit the Dance In Israel Calendars page.

Curtain Up 4: Tel Aviv Dance Company & Yaara Dolev Host Michael Miler

Deborah Friedes Galili — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:15:33 +0000

Yaara Dolev’s Blossom. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Dance In Israel: Can you tell me about the relationship you and Amit Goldenberg have had with Curtain Up?
Yaara Dolev: The first work we did with Haramat Masach [Curtain Up] was a collaboration between us and plastic artists in 2001. It was in the space between the theater and the Batsheva offices. The whole place was covered with these mobile statues and we danced with [them], and it was a very nice project. In 2002, we did another piece for Haramat Masach. It was a very political piece; the name of it was Ivrim, about fascism . . . And in 2003, we did a piece called Machine. It was a whole evening. And that’s it. That was when we decided that we want to create outside of this festival, to be more independent when we create.

Yaara Dolev’s Blossom. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

YD: This 20 year [anniversary of] Haramat Masach is a great opportunity to come back to this and to do it in an independent way. It’s really unique and wonderful that they gave this option for the six creators to really do [the festival] without interference, without questioning, just to give this freedom to create.

Michael Miler’s Number 6. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

DII: What drew you to select Michael Miler to join you on the bill?
YD: Of course when we knew that had to select someone, we tried to see as much as possible . . . I think it’s a good collaboration because there’s something about his creation that is more [about] the pure, clean movement in space, and less [about] theater. And [there’s] something about it that we believe in . . .

Michael Miler’s Number 6. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

YD: I think Michael is very talented. I think he’s very interesting. He’s coming from math; in university, he studied engineering and mathematics. You can see it in his compositions, and it’s very interesting for me. I think it’s very clear what he wants, and you can see he’s very mature about his creation.

Yaara Dolev’s Blossom. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

DII: Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you’re premiering, Blossom? Where did it come from?
YD: Actually, it started by chance. I took a DVD from the Third Ear [a DVD store in Tel Aviv], and it was a Sean Penn movie, Into the Wild. It’s a wonderful film, and when I finished the film, immediately I knew what I want to do in this work. And what we’re doing now is pretty much the same vision that I had when I finished [seeing] this movie . . . it was the first pulse for me for the creation. Also, I thought because it’s the first creation I [am doing] without Amit, it’s really my blossom.

Yaara Dolev’s Blossom. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

YD: I was really with myself in this creation. I feel like I could really put my dream on the dancers onstage. There’s my truth there, so it feels good.

* * *

For listings of Curtain Up performances, please visit the Dance In Israel Calendars page.

Curtain Up 3: Yasmeen Godder Hosts Iris Erez

Deborah Friedes Galili — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:04:26 +0000

Yasmeen Godder’s LOVE FIRE. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

Dance In Israel: What is your relationship to Curtain Up?
Yasmeen Godder: I’ve presented many times, from 1999-2004 consecutively. I’ve experienced the festival many times, and it has had a great impact on my career in a sense that it allowed me to present a work for those six years every year . . . I would premiere something in the winter, and in the summer I would start working again towards the new creation in the winter, so it created a cycle for me that made a lot of sense during the years that I did it.

Iris Erez’s Numbia. Photo by Itay Merom.

DII: What made you choose to host Iris Erez?
YG: When we first had the meeting at the Ministry of Culture, the concept was to invite people whose work has evolved from working with us or from growing within our work. And so when I thought of who has done that, obviously Iris was a very clear choice.

Iris Erez’s Numbia. Photo by Itay Merom.

DII: Do you see strong links between your work and Iris’s work?
YG: Given that Iris has worked with me for many years, I think that her method of generating materials is influenced by the methodology which I have developed over the years and therefore [it] perhaps has similar roots, but ultimately each of our works is developed through the very personalized prism of our worlds both thematically and in the different ways of constructing them . . .

Yasmeen Godder’s LOVE FIRE. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

DII: Can you tell me a little bit about where LOVE FIRE came from?
YG: I was commissioned to make a work using three waltz pieces in October of last year. At first I found myself rejecting the idea of accepting this commission; I didn’t immediately find an interest in it. And then I decided that because it presents a challenge for me, because the music that was sent to me was not necessarily music that I knew what I wanted to do with [it], that this was interesting and this was an opportunity to do something differently.

Yasmeen Godder’s LOVE FIRE. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

YG: I was fascinated by this idea that I received this CD with classical waltzes to my Jaffa mailbox. I tried to keep this tension of this music that doesn’t relate to here, and how do we approach it; how can we relate to it. And that was the beginning.

Yasmeen Godder’s LOVE FIRE. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

YG: Then I collaborated with Yochai Matos, the visual artist. For many years he approached me about doing [something], and we’ve talked with each other about our work. Ultimately, we decided that what would be interesting would be that he would create a response – not a collaboration with me, but rather a response to my work. So that’s what’s happening on my stage . . . It’s a performative installation-based response, because he’s actually a visual artist; he’s not a performance artist, but there’s an aspect of what he does that can be seen as performance.

* * *

For listings of Curtain Up performances, please visit the Dance In Israel Calendars page.

Dance In Israel » Israeli Festivals

International Exposure 2011: The Year in Israeli Dance

Wednesday, November 30

Thursday, December 1

Friday, December 2

Saturday, December 3

Sunday, December 4

Related Links

Curtain Up 2011: A Festival of Dance Premieres

Curtain 1

Curtain 2

Curtain 3

More Information

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

Shades of Dance 2011 Video Preview

Program Alef

Program Bet

Program Gimel

Program Daled

Program Hey

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

Shades of Dance 2011: 16 New Choreographers at Suzanne Dellal

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

World Dance: Machol Olam 2011

Related Websites

Intimadance 2011: Breaking the Fourth Wall at Tmuna Theater

More Information

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

The 50th Israel Festival: Batsheva, Merce Cunningham, and More

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

International Exposure 2010: Video Preview

Wednesday, December 8

Thursday, December 9

Friday, December 10

Saturday, December 11

Sunday, December 12

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

Curtain Up 2010: Video Preview

Curtain 1

Curtain 2

Curtain 3

Curtain 4

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

Tel Aviv Dance 2010

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

Maholohet: SummerDance 2010 Heats Up at Suzanne Dellal

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

Israel Festival 2010

Related Articles on Dance in Israel

Related Links

Exploring Israeli Society through Dance at International Exposure 2009

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

International Exposure 2009: A Perspective from Abroad

Seeing Israel through the Lens of Dance

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Machol Shalem 2009: A Cutting-Edge Dance Festival in Jerusalem

Daring Dance in Jerusalem

More Information

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

International Exposure 2009: Showcasing Israeli Dance

Wednesday, December 9

Thursday, December 10

Friday, December 11

Saturday, December 12

Sunday, December 13

Curtain Up 6: Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor Host Noa Shadur

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

Related Links

Curtain Up 5: Noa Dar Hosts Maya Brinner and Irad Mazliah