Sahar Azimi Speaks about Choreography and Contemporary Dance (Podcast)

Deborah Friedes Galili — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:03:44 +0000

(Sahar Azimi in Come Feel. Photo by Gadi Dagon.)

(This podcast was initially produced for Israel Seen, and the text is amended from my writing there. You can subscribe to this podcast using the iTunes software by clicking this link to the podcast feed.)

In a festival with more than fifteen concerts – each of which features multiple works – dances are bound to blend into one another. But when a work stands out in this context, you know it’s the real deal. That’s what happened again and again with Sahar Azimi’s choreography at Machol Bamidbar (Dance in the Desert) in June 2008. From the first duet I saw to the gasp-inducing solo for a woman from Bo Targish (Come Feel), and then to the poetic group piece Ze, Sahar’s artistic voice captured my attention and remained in my mind long after the festival was over.

Join us as we talk about Sahar’s early career as a dancer with some of Israel’s most famed companies, his more recent choreography, and the larger field of Israeli contemporary dance.

See below for more photographs and for video excerpts from Bo Targish (Come Feel).

(Sahar Azimi’s Come Feel. Photo by Gadi Dagon.)

Video: Sahar Azimi’s Bo Targish (Come Feel)

(Sahar Azimi’s Come Feel. Photo by Gadi Dagon.)

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International Exposure Sends Israeli Dance Around the World

Deborah Friedes Galili — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:10:30 +0000

(Photo: Barak Marshall’s Monger has been invited to tour abroad. Photo by Gadi Dagon.)

Ynet, the website for the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, announced this week that International Exposure has already yielded invitations for several Israeli choreographers to travel abroad. I’ve gleaned the following information from Ynet’s Hebrew article.

Barak Marshall’s production, Monger, proved to be a big hit among the visitors to International Exposure. It will tour to Spain, Switzerland, Croatia, and Romania this spring. The dance will later be shown at the Joyce Theater in New York and at the 2010 Dance Umbrella Festival in London.

Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Hydra also attracted the attention of several International Exposure attendees. The Inbal Pinto Dance Company will tour this work to England (Dance Umbrella Festival), the United States (American Dance Festival), and Canada (Montreal’s dance festival).

Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, which already is scheduled to tour part of Europe this spring, has been invited to the Sibiu International Festival this May in Romania. The company will also present its production of Peter and the Wolf at a children’s festival in Seoul, Korea, and they will create a new project in conjunction with the International Dance Festival Bytom in Poland.

Several independent choreographers also received offers to perform abroad. See below for videos and details:

Video: Nadine Bommer’s Manimation was a crowd-pleaser at International Exposure. Bommer’s company will join the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company at Romania’s Sibiu International Festival.

Video: Sahar Azimi’s Come Feel. Sahar Azimi has been invited to a festival in San Vincenti, Croatia; he will also create a new work for the Zagreb Dance Company.

Video: Idan Cohen’s A Year in a Fish Life was presented at International Exposure. Cohen will choreograph on the Silesian Dance Theatre in Poland.

Video: Adamdam by Arkadi Zaides. Portugal’s Duplacena Festival will showcase two of Arkadi Zaides’s works.

Video: Ov, by Renana Raz and Ofer Amram. This work will be performed at the Duplacena Festival in Portugal.

Links to Choreographers and Companies

Sahar Azimi
Nadine Bommer
Idan Cohen
Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (Rami Be’er)
Inbal Pinto Dance Company
Renana Raz
Arkadi Zaides

Dance In Israel » Come Feel

Sahar Azimi Speaks about Choreography and Contemporary Dance (Podcast)

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*This post was made possible thanks to a Fulbright student grant funded by the U.S.-Israel Educational Foundation and hosted by the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.

International Exposure Sends Israeli Dance Around the World

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