Quiet by Arkadi Zaides. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Heads up, New Yorkers!  In June, a wave of contemporary dance from Israel is coming your way as part of the annual La MaMa Moves Festival.  The city is already home to an astonishing number of Israeli-born choreographers, and La MaMa’s celebration will include five of these New York-based artists and groups: Deganit Shemy, LeeSaar The Company, Netta Yerushalmy, YelleB Dance Ensemble, and Neta Pulvermacher.  But the Contemporary Israeli Dance Week mini-festival is also scheduled to feature a stellar line-up straight from Israel.  Yasmeen Godder, Arkadi Zaides, Idan Cohen, Maya Brinner, and the team of Tamar Borer and Tamara Erde will offer a glimpse of the latest in Israeli-made productions, and master classes will give New York dancers a taste of what’s happening in local studios.

On Monday, January 31, a gala evening featuring Deganit Shemy, LeeSaar The Company, Netta Yerushalmy, and YelleB Dance Ensemble will be held at La MaMa E.T.C. (Experimental Club). The gala is a fundraiser for the Contemporary Israeli Dance Week, and more information about tickets can be found at the festival’s website.  For those of you who can’t make it to the gala, here’s a sneak peak at the festival with clips of works by Godder, Zaides, Cohen, Brinner,and Borer and Erde.

Video: Preview of Contemporary Israeli Dance Week

Related Links

• Contemporary Israeli Dance Week website
• La MaMa
• Yasmeen Godder
• Arkadi Zaides
• Idan Cohen
• Tamar Borer
• Neta Pulvermacher
• Deganit Shemy
• LeeSaar The Company
• Netta Yerushalmy
• YelleB Dance Ensemble

Idan Cohen’s Swan Lake.  Photo by Marek Weis.

During a preview of the Maholohet festival at Suzanne Dellal in June, the sounds of Tchaikovsky’s famous Swan Lake filled the air.  But what I saw on stage had no overt connection to the images which popped into my mind: a ballerina executing 32 fouettes, four petite dancers doing petit allegro with their arms interlinked, and row after row of “swans” waving their arms like powerful wings.

I was intrigued, and a few weeks ago, I sat down with choreographer Idan Cohen to hear about his contemporary take on one of the most famous ballets in history.  While the three minutes I saw of his work caught my eye, I’m now even more curious about the entire piece.  This is an unmistakably 21st-century Swan Lake, but the connections to the popular 18th-century version run deep.

This article was first published in the Jerusalem Post as “When the Cygnet Grows Up.”

* * *

When the Cygnet Grows Up

“I think the only reason to create something has to be out of love and out of a connection,” states choreographer Idan Cohen.

Like many in the dance world, Cohen feels a strong love for and a deep connection to Swan Lake, the iconic ballet which Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov presented at the famed Mariinsky Theatre in 1895.  Celebrated choreographers from George Balanchine to Mats Ek to Matthew Bourne have put their own spins on the work.  Now with the generous support of several organizations, including Israel’s Culture Ministry, the Pais Foundation and the Suzanne Dellal Center, Cohen is unveiling his own contemporary version in Tel Aviv.

Cohen cites the choreographic history of Swan Lake as one motivating factor in undertaking this production, and he adds, “I feel I have a very deep connection both to the music [by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky] and also to the cultural place that the music and the ballet takes inside our culture, the western culture.  Swan Lake presents such a beautiful, romantic image of strong forces: good opposite evil, beauty opposite alternative beauty, animal versus human . . . all those ideas that are portrayed in Swan Lake in such a defined way – I kind of wanted to open them up and to research how we relate to those forces today.”

Idan Cohen’s Swan Lake.  Photo by Marek Weis.

Cohen’s updated interpretation marks a dramatic, decidedly modern departure from most previous versions of Swan Lake.  Both the royal court and the tutu-clad corps de ballet of swans that dominate ballet renditions are replaced by three female contemporary dancers (Reut Levi, Rita Komisarchik and Daniel Gal) who remain onstage the entire time.  Whereas many productions of the dance stretch over four acts and last three hours – a structure typical of classical ballet – his work runs for an hour and 20 minutes, with one intermission.

Yet despite differences in the technique, setting, characters and length, Cohen’s Swan Lake retains significant links to the legendary Petipa and Ivanov version.  Cohen cut some sections from Tchaikovsky’s stirring orchestral score, but unlike many other contemporary choreographers, he did not manipulate the portions he retained.  “I hope the result is very respectful to the music,” he says, “because this is the most important thing in my eyes.  The music is so brilliant and so strong and so full and so deep that you have to come with a lot of respect and modesty when you work with music such as that.”

Moreover, Cohen explains that regarding his treatment of the music, “I related a lot to the Petipa version in the sense that there’s a lot of similarities in the construction of the group parts and of the solos and how he relates to the music.”

Idan Cohen’s Swan Lake.  Photo by Marek Weis.

While Cohen’s Swan Lake also abandons the fairy-tale narrative of earlier productions, his innovative adaptation goes straight to the core of the original story for inspiration.  “What I tried to create in this piece is what I call an abstractization of the basic ideas that form the Swan Lake synopsis,” he reveals.

From the conventional first act, which features the birthday party of Prince Siegfried, Cohen extracted the concept of birthdays.  During the choreographic process, he and his dancers reflected on their own previous birthdays, exploring the idealization that accompanies these yearly landmarks.

Next, Cohen examined the traditional transformation of the enchanted swans from the second act and reversed this metamorphosis in a sharper look at human nature.  He remarks, “Instead of the animals becoming more and more beautiful or human, the people become more and more animalistic.”

Finally, the choreographer focused on the lake that claims the lives of Swan Lake‘s heroes, and he builds this into a powerful metaphor of what he calls “the lake we’re all struggling to get out of or are living in.”

Cohen discloses that as he and the dancers traced this alternative through-line, they asked themselves very personal questions. Thanks to the performers’ resulting emotional connection to the work and the choreographer’s adventurous, contemporary take on the original ballet’s themes, this Swan Lake proves particularly compelling and relevant for 21st-century viewers.  As Cohen prepares for the dance’s Israeli premiere at the Suzanne Dellal Center, he expresses a wish: “I do hope that the piece will touch the hearts and minds of the audience that is coming to watch it.”

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Maholohet: SummerDance2009 at Suzanne Dellal Center”
• “More on Maholohet: A Hot Summer of Dance Continues”

Related Links

• Idan Cohen
• Suzanne Dellal Center

Sheetal Gandhi’s workshop group.  Photo by Tully Chen.

Sheetal Gandhi watched attentively as three pairs of her students transformed the material she had taught into duets.  The dancers chatted with each other in Hebrew, occasionally asking their teacher questions in English.  Yet there were other unfamiliar sounds peppering their speech: bols, syllables from an Indian drum and dance language.  The dancers’ lilting chants created a mesmerizing rhythmic pulse for their kathak-influenced movement.

Meanwhile, in another studio at the Suzanne Dellal Center, Jackie Lopez – aka Miss Funk – was introducing her students to wack’n, one genre of hip-hop.  Starting off slowly, she layered arm gestures onto a full-bodied rocking action, sped up the movement, and played even more with the coordination.  After reviewing a popping phrase and moving onto a house combination, she turned to the dancers.  “I don’t want professional house dancers,” she told them.  “I just want you to feel something new.”

Trying something new is the driving force behind Bridge: Choreographic Dialogues, a unique summer workshop which creates links between the Israeli and American dance scenes.  Claudio Kogon, deputy director of the Suzanne Dellal Center, elaborated, “The point of this program is to bring people who have a unique background, to bring choreographers that could offer people here in Israel something different.”  While the Israeli dancers who participated in this workshop had years of experience in contemporary dance, most of them had little contact with either Sheetal’s kathak-flavored fusion of dance or Jackie’s rich hip-hop vocabulary.  They came, as Jackie hoped, to feel something new.

Jackie Lopez’s workshop group.  Photo by Tully Chen.

Initiated by Miki Yerushalmi and directed by Barak Marshall, Bridge: Choreographic Dialogues is an Education Exchange Project of the Los Angeles/Tel Aviv Partnership.  The project has received support from organizations in both communities, most notably the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, UCLA’s Center for Intercultural Performance, and the Suzanne Dellal Center.  To bridge the gap between choreographers living thousands of miles apart – and to bridge the gap between their respective cultures – this program has been held both in Los Angeles and in Tel Aviv.

This is the third year that Tel Aviv has hosted Bridge: Choreographic Dialogues, and both Sheetal and Jackie traveled from L.A. to teach and create short works on Israeli dancers from August 2-14.  Barak, who is also based in L.A. for part of the year, flew in to teach a week-long repertory workshop with excerpts from Monger and material from Rooster, which will be premiered this fall in Tel Aviv.  The program also featured a choreography workshop with renowned New York-based choreographer Shen Wei.  Jay Auguen’s ballet classes and Noemi Perlov’s contemporary classes rounded out the intensive’s schedule.

Sheetal Gandhi.  Photo by Tully Chen.

For Sheetal, who recently received her MFA from UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures department, the workshop has been an opportunity to explore how she can teach her unique style of movement.  Sheetal calls herself an “intercultural, interdisciplinary artist and choreographer,” and indeed, her work is influenced by diverse forms including kathak, jazz, modern dance, and West African dance.  Her creative choreography blends the complex rhythms, strikingly percussive feet, and fluid, almost calligraphic arm and hand motions of kathak with more contemporary turns, jumps, floorwork, and choreographic motifs.

Sheetal Gandhi’s workshop group.  Photo by Tully Chen.

Speaking about kathak dance, which she has studied in India in Kumudini Lakhia’s Kadamb School and in L.A. with Anjani Ambegaokar, Sheetal remarks, ”I use kathak as a way to teach the things that I do – which is the gestural language, focus, presence, rhythm, timing, musicality, and footwork.  So I would never claim to teach a pure kathak class, but I use it as a springboard.”  Sheetal was excited to share her knowledge of kathak dance with the students in her Bridge: Choreographic Dialogues workshop class.  “I love to pass it on,” she says.  “It’s a form that otherwise people wouldn’t have any exposure to.”

Jackie Lopez.  Photo by Tully Chen.

Likewise, Jackie was eager to educate Israeli contemporary dancers about what was for them an unfamiliar dance style.  Jackie is steeped in the hip-hop culture of L.A., where she has won several house battles, and she has worked with the groundbreaking hip-hop artist Rennie Harris.  “I just love it so much, and it’s my job to pass it on so this hip-hop culture never dies,” she explains.

While studying for her bachelor’s degree in UCLA’s World Arts and Culture, Jackie went deeper into her research of hip-hop dance.  Her approach to teaching reflects what she learned, from the history of hip-hop’s origins to the array of subgenres within hip-hop dance.  During the workshop, Jackie’s students found video clips of different hip-hop legends online, and she says proudly, “They come back [to the studio], and they look better, because they understand it . . . now they’re able to connect to it in their own way, and it comes more naturally.”

Jackie Lopez’s workshop group.  Photo by Tully Chen.

At the final showing for the entire workshop last Friday, both Sheetal and Jackie’s students demonstrated not only their understanding of this new material but also their enjoyment.  Delighted smiles often crept onto Sheetal’s students faces as their fluid arms traced patterns through the air.  When Jackie’s class took the stage, they exuded enthusiasm for the energetic, fast-paced movement.

Both the teachers and the students alike are looking forward to continuing these dialogues with each other and with these genres of dancing.  Jackie said that several of the dancers in her workshop will be taking hip-hop classes this year, and she herself hopes to return to Israel in the future.  “All I crave is to maybe come back and keep making it grow,” Jackie reveals.  “I can tell the students now after this, I hope you guys start practicing so if I come back next year, I’ll see stronger dancers.”

Related Links

• Suzanne Dellal Center

Karmiel Dance Festival.  Photo by Mati Elmaliach.

When many people hear the phrase “Israeli dance,” they think of Israeli folk dance.  And while the Karmiel Festival includes all sorts of dance done in Israel – including contemporary, jazz, and ballroom – it’s Israeli folk dance which forms the core of the country’s largest dance festival.

Shlomo Maman, who has been involved with the festival for ten years and took over the artistic directorship from Karmiel’s founder Yonatan Karmon, explained that the idea to have some mix of dance styles was present from the festival’s start in 1988.  “The main issue of the festival is the Israeli folk dances, but it’s very important for us to bring other groups,” he says.  “All meet together which makes this very big and very interesting . . . everyone will learn from the others.”

This year, the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Ido Tadmor, Rina Schenfeld, Vertigo’s second company, and a group of dancers from the renowned Paris Opera Ballet will make appearances at Karmiel.  Yet the bulk of the festival – which boasts 5,000 dancers and 80 events over a mere 3 days – is composed of concerts, competitions, and even classes in folk dance.

Karmiel Dance Festival. Photo by Mati Elmaliach.

This year’s festival is built around a motif of song festivals.  For one folk dance competition, choreographers are creating dances to songs from the festival HaZemer HaYisraeli, while for a jazz competition, choreographers are using songs from the popular Eurovision contest.  Other choreographers are using music from a children’s song festival for a program of children’s dance troupes.

While the town of Karmiel is in the north of Israel, the festival is dedicating its opening performance to Tel Aviv in honor of the city’s centennial.  An extraordinary array of 1,500 dancers will be performing pieces that tell the story of dance in Tel Aviv, from the popularity of dance in old-time cafes and modern clubs to the pioneering efforts of Baruch Agadati, Mia Arbatova, and other teachers and choreographers.

Another highlight will be the closing performance, an annual tradition in which each folk dance group presents its best piece of choreography from the past year.  Like the opening concert, this will be a celebration on a grand scale, with 2,000 dancers participating.

As he prepared for the festival’s opening, Maman reflected, “What’s important is that people will come and will be happy and will have a good time.  I think if people come one time, they won’t stop – they will come again and again every year.”  Maman’s prophesy appears to be true: a whopping 250,000 people are expected to attend the 2009 Karmiel Festival.  Sounds like a good time indeed.

* * *

Related Links

• Karmiel Festival

Video: Aviv Eveguy’s Dimona will show at Maholohet on August 4

Yes, I know, I already posted one article about Maholohet (SummerDance).  But some people might need a reminder that there’s still one month left of nearly nightly performances at Suzanne Dellal, and perhaps those of you who are abroad would like to hear a bit more about this Israeli summer tradition.

Although I was lucky enough to see many of the festival’s offerings earlier this season, several of this summer’s works were new (or new to me), and so in July I found myself walking over to Suzanne Dellal a few times a week.  One of the standouts so far was Yoram Karmi and Uri Morag’s Man, Woman, Reflections, with its brilliant use of swinging lamps, illuminating projections, and clever choreography involving innovative sets.  The two-part Under by Matanicola and Yasmeen Godder also delivered a punch with its intense atmosphere and powerful performances.  And just this week, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Rushes caught my eye with images that were simple, striking, and sustained for just the right amount of time.

Even if you’ve missed these concerts, there’s still plenty to come!  Read on to see what else will heat up the stage this summer – all of the works I’ve mentioned below will be performed during August.

The article below was first published as “Some Summer Spice” in the Jerusalem Post on July 12, 2009.

* * *

Some Summer Spice

Even the numbers of the Suzanne Dellal Center’s SummerDance Festival are impressive: eight weeks of concerts, 76 performances, 11 premieres and one group of special guests from abroad. But what’s behind the statistics – an exceptionally diverse assortment of dance – is even more extraordinary.

SummerDance 2009 (Maholohet, a play on the phrase “hot dance” in Hebrew) has showcased the wealth of Israeli concert dance since its inception 13 years ago.  What started as a three-week festival gradually expanded, and now, with the Suzanne Dellal Center celebrating its 20th anniversary, SummerDance is having its hottest season yet.

In contrast to many shorter and more narrowly focused dance festivals, SummerDance is jam-packed with an unparalleled array of performances displaying the breadth and depth of Israel’s dance scene.  Besides well-established troupes such as the Batsheva Dance Company and Inbal Pinto Dance Company, many independent choreographers will be included on the program.  Older artists with a distinguished history of performing and creating, such as Rina Schenfeld and Alice Dor-Cohen, will be featured alongside relative newcomers, like the team of Artour Astman and Ilana Bellahsen.  Large ensembles, smaller groups, and solos all find their place on the festival’s stage.

But most striking is the range of dance genres which will heat up SummerDance.  All shades of contemporary dance, from more classically influenced styles to cutting-edge experimental work, will be represented.

Video: Elina Pechersky’s Burgandy and Turquoise will be at Maholohet on August 13

Israeli choreographers also put their own flavor on many dance forms from around the world.  Bangoura offers energizing African dance, Anjali blends classical schools of Indian dance, Elina Pechersky puts her own twist on Middle Eastern dance, and several artists will spice up the festival with their take on Spanish flamenco dance.

This year’s SummerDance is particularly notable for its large number of premieres.  In their first choreographing effort together, virtuoso dancers Astman and Bellahsen journey through a vibrant imaginary world in ArtLana.

Meanwhile, Idan Cohen transforms a world that is well-known to many dance-goers: Swan Lake.  Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s famed score seems to reverberate through three dancers’ bodies in Cohen’s riveting contemporary choreography.

After intensive periods of creation, several seasoned dance makers are also revealing their latest works.  Sally-Anne Friedland’s A Private Collection captures the eye not only with her dynamic movement vocabulary, but also with video and photographs that provide an inside look into her process.  Dor-Cohen’s Talk to Me speaks of communication and partnership through the powerful performances of Talia Paz and Amnon Damti.  And set to music by Laurie Anderson, Rina Schenfeld’s Angels is filled with visions of both earthly and heavenly beings.

Other highlights of SummerDance include premieres by the Acre Dance Center, Kolben Dance, Elina Pechersky, Ronit Ziv, Niv Sheinfeld and Matanicola vs. Yasmeen Godder.  In addition to this tempting spread of homegrown talent, dancers from the renowned Paris Opera Ballet will light up the stage in a mixed bill.  With a program so richly varied, SummerDance2009 promises something hot for everyone.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Maholohet: SummerDance2009 at Suzanne Dellal Center”

Related Links

• Dance In Israel Events calendar – with listings of the festival’s performances
• Suzanne Dellal Center

Video: Yoram Karmi and Uri Morag’s Man, Woman, Reflections will be performed during SummerDance

It seems like every country has its share of summer dance festivals, and Israel is no exception.  The country’s main concert dance festival, SummerDance (Maholohet in Hebrew) is already underway at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv.  My preview of the festival, “Damn Hot,” was first published in the Jerusalem Post.

* * *

Damn Hot

The Suzanne Dellal Center is turning up the heat with its Maholohet (Hot Dance) summer dance festival.  This year’s program boasts a full summer of sizzling performances, showcasing the best of Israeli dance.  From July 1 until August 29, hundreds of dancers will take the stage in 76 concerts.

Part of Maholohet‘s appeal is the appearance of so many preeminent companies.  The Batsheva, Inbal Pinto and Vertigo Dance Companies are each presenting multiple programs of critically acclaimed works.  Many popular smaller groups and up-and-coming independent choreographers are also heating up the program with their creative fires.

Raising the temperature further this summer are 11 hot-off-the-press premieres by choreographers as diverse as Yasmeen Godder, Alice Dor-Cohen, Ronit Ziv, Idan Cohen and Elina Pechersky.  Another much anticipated highlight is a special guest program with dancers from the famed Paris Opera Ballet.

But with its decided focus on Israeli artists, Maholohet often reveals fresh trends in the country’s dance scene. This year, video is at the top of the list. Among the premieres are Rina Schenfeld’s Angels, Sally-Anne Friedland’s A Private Collection, and Amir Kolben’s Gates of Jerusalem – all of which are illuminated by video art.  Video also lights up Arkadi Zaides’s Solo Siento, Ofra Idel’s Harmony Sucks 4, Tania Vinokur’s Cinco – Flamenco Fusion, Yoram Karmi and Uri Morag’s Man, Woman, Reflections, and Tamar Borer and Tamara Erde’s Isaora Hun.

Another revelation is the wide range of dance styles performed in this small country.  Besides contemporary dance – which itself is varied – Maholohet includes African dance, Middle Eastern dance, Indian dance and quite a bit of Spanish flamenco.  Regardless of style, each program is filled with imaginative artistic vision and talented, energetic performers.  It’s a good thing that the theater has air conditioning, for Maholohet‘s program is as hot as Tel Aviv’s steamy summers.

Video: A preview of Tamar Borer and Tamara Erde’s Isaora Hun, which will be performed in Studio Suzi

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Amir Kolben’s Gates of Jerusalem – Dancing the Real Jerusalem”
• “Rina Schenfeld Dance Theatre: About Angels“

Related Links

• Dance In Israel Events calendar – with listings of the festival’s performances
• Suzanne Dellal Center

Video: CityDance Ensemble

You would have thought that to meet Paul Gordon Emerson, the director of the Washington D.C. based CityDance Ensemble, I would have taken a train from New Jersey (my home state) to the capital of the U.S. while I was still living there.  But instead I grabbed a bus to Jerusalem a few nights ago.

Let’s backtrack: Paul’s interest in reviving older modern dance masterpieces and my research on these works first brought us together online nearly six years ago. We’ve kept up our correspondence over the years, reconnecting this fall when CityDance staged Sophie Maslow’s Folksay from Labanotation score (this was doubly exciting for me: my undergraduate thesis on Jewish-American choreographers highlighted Maslow’s career, and I studied Labanotation intensively in graduate school). Yet we never met face to face – until now.

CityDance is currently touring the Middle East, and as part of the Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival – which features companies from around the world performing both in the West Bank and in Israel – the company had concerts in Jerusalem and Nazareth this week. Since the Tel Aviv is only an hour away from Jerusalem, I jumped at the chance to see the company and hopped on a bus.

After years of corresponding with Paul, it was fantastic to talk with him in person (and we could have continued for much more time). I also saw firsthand that CityDance lives up to the promise delivered in its slogan, “Power. Passion. Purpose.” The talented dancers threw themselves body and soul into their performance, and the choreography had something to say; indeed, the program’s closing work – Christopher K. Morgan’s Thirst – tackled environmental issues effectively and movingly.

But my trip came with an added benefit: the chance to reflect on some structural differences between concert dance in America and Israel. Some of my thoughts below came up in a post-show conversation with Paul and Christopher, while others struck me later.

CityDance was, in a sense, the perfect troupe to shed light on a few of these contrasts. For one, it is a repertory company. Rather than showcasing work by only one choreographer, CityDance’s program in Jerusalem featured work by Christopher and Paul himself along with Ludovic Jolivet and Kate Weare. While some other American troupes are based on this repertory model, few Israeli companies operate in this fashion. Here, nearly every group is devoted to the work of one or two choreographers.

This wasn’t always the case. The Batsheva Dance Company, the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, and the now defunct Bat-Dor Dance Company were all repertory companies at the start. Indeed, from the 1960s until the 1990s, the repertory structure was the model of a dance company in Israel. But as more Israeli choreographers found their artistic voices in the 1990s and 2000s, they started their own groups to present their work. At the same time, both Batsheva and KCDC found artistic directors whose own choreographic visions could guide those companies to international success. Thus the repertory model not only lost its dominance but nearly disappeared from the landscape of Israeli contemporary dance.

Connected to this contrast in company structure is a difference between dance concerts in the U.S. and in Israel. Like most modern dance concerts I attended or performed in stateside, CityDance’s program was a mixed bill. I have seen plenty of mixed bills here in Israel, but usually they are evenings shared by several independent choreographers and often they are within the context of a festival. Typically, established Israeli dance companies present concerts composed of one full-length work. Sometimes the same set-up is true for concerts by independent choreographers. I’m not sure why full-length work seems so much more predominant in Israel than in America; perhaps a combination of artistic and economic factors contribute to this tendency.

Finally, while the particular concert I saw included more recently made works, CityDance’s inclusion of older pieces in its repertory also sets it apart from Israel’s dance companies. Though it is a particularly strong proponent of reconstructions, CityDance is by no means the only American company which presents older choreography. Some modern dance companies in the U.S., like the Martha Graham Dance Company, are completely dedicated to performing existing repertory; others such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Limón Dance Company keep the older works of their founders alive while commissioning new dances.

In contrast, Israel’s contemporary dance companies rarely include restagings of decades-old choreography in their seasons. Earlier this year I wrote about a few revivals which took place at a special opening performance of the Shades of Dance Festival, but other than that unique concert, it’s hard to see even the most significant works in Israeli dance history onstage here. The emphasis is on the new to the extent that the old is barely visible.

Certainly this situation is related to the relative youth of homegrown Israeli contemporary dance. None of Israel’s existing dance companies were in operation fifty years ago, and few of the country’s choreographers were creating work twenty years ago. The new-ness of the field is partly what makes it so exciting and vibrant, but I wonder if the scene will preserve its treasures as it ages. Dances made prior to the formation of Batsheva have already been lost, and I worry that the same fate awaits comparatively more recent choreography.

This is just the start of a comparison, but I’ll save more thoughts for another post! Many thanks to Paul and CityDance for both a wonderful concert and a point of departure for this reflection.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• ” ‘Then and Now’ Brings Old and New Together at Shades of Dance” – my article about revivals at the Shades of Dance Festival

Related Links

• CityDance Ensemble
• Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival

(Video: The Batsheva Dance Company in Deca Dance)

Whenever possible, I try to publish my writings from last year in conjunction with a related event that’s happening now.  As the Batsheva Dance Company embarks on an extensive North American tour and takes Ohad Naharin’s Deca Dance on the road, it seems like the right moment to re-post my writing on the work.

I first published this article as “A Cycle Completed: Deca Dance in Israel” on The Winger on July 11, 2008.

* * *

It’s fitting that I saw the Batsheva Ensemble perform the latest version of Ohad Naharin’s Deca Dance at the Suzanne Dellal Center last week.  You see, Deca Dance is the piece that drew me here to Israel.  I wrote my Fulbright grant proposal having only seen the Batsheva Dance Company perform an earlier incarnation of this work (albeit 3 times).   I hadn’t seen any of Naharin’s other dances, nor had I seen any other Israeli companies.   Now – 4 years after I last saw Deca Dance, 9 and 1/2 months after landing in Israel, 2 days after finishing the term of my Fulbright grant, and 90-some dance concerts later – I feel I have come to the end of a cycle.

I set out to learn about the wider field of Israeli contemporary dance, and although there is still more to explore, I have a much deeper understanding of dance’s history in Israel as well as the scope of the field today.  I devoted a considerable amount of time to independent choreographers and to companies other than Batsheva, but again and again, my attention returned to the origin of my interest, the center point of Israeli contemporary dance.

With many avenues of entry, my research on this company was extraordinarily rich.  To learn about the past, I sorted through files of newspaper clippings, viewed old repertoire on video at the Dance Library of Israel, and heard Batsheva’s history retold by former dancers and directors.  To learn about Batsheva’s more recent years, I traveled with the Batsheva Ensemble, spoke with company dancers and ensemble members, studied Gaga, and attended live performances: Ohad Naharin’s Kamuyot, Zachacha, Seder, MAX, Shalosh, and Furo; Sharon Eyal’s Bertolina and Makarova Kabisa; and several evenings featuring short creations by company dancers.

And then came Deca Dance.

Just as I have changed, so too has Deca Dance, an unfixed assemblage of excerpts from Ohad Naharin’s repertory. Sure, there were some old favorites which I recognized from past versions, most notably the accumulative “Echad Mi Yodea” segment and the perennial crowd pleaser, “Dancing with the Audience” (and at this show the audience members invited onstage were more than willing to participate, with one man hamming it up to great applause).

But much of this Deca Dance was built from segments of the more recent MAX, Shalosh, and Seder – none of which existed when I last saw Deca Dance in 2004 – and there was even a brand new female duet to an unusual rendering of Ravel’s “Bolero.”   Having seen these later works multiple times, I found myself engaged in an interplay with this new Deca Dance: expecting certain sequencing, guessing what would come next, cataloging where I had seen each segment.  The direct contrast of these excerpts next to older sections and the absence of other portions that I remembered from my previous Deca Dance viewings provided a chance to reflect on what I perceive as a shift in Ohad Naharin’s choreography towards sparer works which emphasize marvelously textured movement and finely tuned compositional forms over theatricality.

As I place Deca Dance within the context of Naharin’s repertory, Batsheva’s history, and the larger frame of Israeli contemporary dance, I realize how much I have gained from my research.  I love being able to look at a dance from different angles, and with the information I have gathered, I now have a tempting menu of choices for how to view each performance.

I also have had the pleasure of watching the same dancers develop over the course of the season and talking with them offstage.  As I’m sure many of you know, it’s a delight to watch dancers that you know, to seek them out during the sections at which you know they excel, and to find your attention captured unexpectedly by them when they perform something with added nuance or new skill.

A part of me wishes that my Fulbright could continue – after all, it’s been a dream to structure my own time and pursue independent research with few restraints! – but I am blessed with the gifts of this grant as I complete this cycle and start the next.

* * *

You can see the Batsheva Dance Company’s production of Deca Dance in Houston (January 28), Philadelphia (February 3), Chicago (February 7), Ann Arbor (February 15), and Vancouver (February 20-21).  The company will perform Shalosh (Three) and MAX in other locations throughout North America.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Getting to Know the Batsheva Ensemble”
• “Mamootot – Challenging the Performer-Spectator Divide”
• “MAX – Connecting to Ohad Naharin’s Choreography”
• “Going Gaga: My Intro to Gaga Dance Classes”
• “Gaga: Ohad Naharin’s Movement Language, in His Own Words”
• “Gaga: A Foreigner Explores Ohad Naharin’s Movement Language”
• “Ohad Naharin on Gaga (Video)”
• “A Glimpse into the Gaga Workshop”
• “Researching Dance in Israel: The Jumping-Off Point”
• “Ohad Naharin to Receive 2009 Scripps/ADF Award”
• “Ohad Naharin in America: Out of Focus Documentary”
• “Batsheva Dance Company Premieres Ohad Naharin’s Hora“
• “The Batsheva Ensemble on Tour at Home and Abroad”
• “Batsheva Dance Company: From Graham to Gaga”

Related Links

• Batsheva Dance Company’s website
• Dance In Israel’s Events page – with the company’s tour dates in North America

*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.

Studio at Adama in Mizpe Ramon, Israel

At my first Hebrew lesson last year, I approached my tutor with this request: please teach me the names of body parts.  I realized that this vocabulary was essential if I wanted to conduct physical research in dance classes and workshops.  Yes, teachers were happy to translate their instructions into English for me, but I also wanted to understand their Hebrew instructions and their comments to Israeli students.  Just as the body is central to my research, it was the logical starting place for my study of the Hebrew language.

By the end of the year, I had mastered the names of numerous body parts and of many verbs commonly used in dance classes.  My teachers no longer needed to translate quite as much for me, and I felt I was more fully grasping their instructions by operating in their native tongue.  Now I’m continuing my quest to dance in another language by studying Hebrew in an ulpan, an intensive 5-month long language program.

I wrote the post below for my website on October 19, 2007.  Though I still have a long way to go with my Hebrew skills, it is fun for me to read this and recognize my progress!

* * *

I have often thought of dance as a religious experience. That has been quite true here in the holy land: upon entering the studio, I find myself praying that I’ll be able to follow along despite the language barrier, and I thank God for my previous experience in Bartenieff Fundamentals and in classes taught by Bebe Miller and Michael Estanich, which are the most stylistically similar to what I have experienced in Israeli contemporary dance classes thus far.

Indulge me in the following exercise:

Imagine that you are in a dance class, standing with your legs in parallel. First you are asked to close your eyes (you can at least understand that phrase, since you learned the word for “eyes” as a child and you have seen the word for “closed” on signs in darkened store windows). Now, without any visual cues and barely knowing the words for different parts of the body – let alone any other verbs or qualitative phrases that might be used in a typical dance class – you are given verbal instructions. Mostly likely, you are not actually moving (you cheat and open your eyes periodically to confirm that the teacher’s monologue calls for a mental examination of your internal state rather than a physical exploration of external space). When you recognize the foreign words for “head” and “down,” you assume that you are supposed to roll down your spine – and thankfully, once you have rolled down to the point where you can peek between your legs to the dancers behind you, you find that your best guess was very good indeed.

This should give you a taste of my most recent ventures into Israeli dance studios. I had already mastered the words for right, left, up, down, body, head, legs, and hands prior to my arrival in Israel, but otherwise, I lack the vocabulary used within the context of a contemporary dance class. Because of previous experience, I assume that I should be taking stock of my body and clearing extraneous information from my mind during exercises such as the one described above, but instead I find my mind working overtime to catch any meaning – which means I can’t truly fulfill the intent of the exercise.

Improvisational exercises are the most difficult; I want to find the movement within myself rather than copy it from someone else, but in order to get a sense of the instructions, I usually need to observe the teacher or my fellow classmates. Fully choreographed exercises are easier because there is some mimicry involved, and I treat these as fun challenges. How much information can I absorb visually? What parts of the verbal instructions can I understand, and what new words can I learn because of their repetition and the accompanying visual cue? Can I really see the difference in the two versions that the teacher is demonstrating? What do my instincts tell me? It is a true adventure!