Michael Miler’s The Speed of Light will be performed in program 1 of Shades of Dance.  Photograph by Eyal Landesman.

Last Saturday night was chilly and wet, but despite the discouraging weather conditions, I bundled up and trekked down to the Suzanne Dellal Center.  Choreographer Micheal Miler of Haifa’s Sigma Ensemble had invited me to a rehearsal for the Shades of Dance festival (called Gvanim in Hebrew).  Shades of Dance is mounted biennially, and since last year was an off year, I had effectively been waiting to attend the festival for over a year and a half.  A little rain wasn’t about to stop me from this special sneak peak.

Since its inception in 1984, Shades of Dance has showcased artists who are relatively fresh to the field of choreography.  It has helped launch the careers of some of Israel’s best-known choreographers including Yasmeen Godder, Inbal Pinto, Emanuel Gat, Ronit Ziv, Barak Marshall,  Renana Raz, Shlomi Bitton, Anat Danieli, Itzhik Galili, Sally-Anne Friedland, Yossi Yungman, Tamar Borer, Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal of Adama, Noa Wertheim and Adi Sha’al of Vertigo Dance Company, and Yoram Karmi of Fresco Dance Group.

Perhaps this is why my anticipation of this festival feels different: I can’t help but wonder what new choreographic voices will be revealed this year.  A mind-boggling 80 dances were submitted to the festival’s selection committee, composed of artistic director Hanoch Ben Dror with Ya’ara Dolev, Sally-Anne Friedland, Renana Raz, and Niv Sheinfeld.   I’m looking forward to seeing what sets the 10 chosen works apart from their competition when the 15th Shades of Dance festival opens this week.

Left to right: Shaked Dagan’s We are going back is in program 3; Anat Va’adiya’s Ashetish is in program 1.  Photographs by Eyal Landesman.

If the rehearsal I saw was any indication, this year’s festival has a batch of promising choreographers with very diverse aesthetics.  Michael Miler’s The Speed of Light is one of the most abstract works I have seen since moving to Israel, and it is thoroughly absorbing.  Clad in dark skinny jeans and colorful athletic jackets, Miler and seven other talented dancers maneuver skillfully through a sophisticated movement vocabulary.  As they swiftly skate across the floor and slide to the ground, they appear to be constantly gauging the changing formations of their fellow performers.

The relationship between dancers Adam Ben Zvi and Idan Porges in Shaked Dagan’s We are going back is equally engaging.  At times the well-matched men create a stop-frame effect with their cleverly-timed partnering; at other times they move hypnotically in slow motion.

The other two pieces I saw at Saturday’s rehearsal were worlds apart from each other in their tone. While choreographer/dancer Anat Va’adiya established an unsettling mood for her solo, Dafi Altebab used text and motions from a flight safety presentation to humorous effect in her trio’s quirky scenario.

Dafi Altebab’s new work is in program 3.  Photo by Eyal Landesman.

While I wish I could have stayed for the remainder of the rehearsal, I left early to attend another performance at the Home Port festival.  I suppose that after waiting a year and half to attend Shades of Dance, another few days is bearable!  The festival opens on Wednesday, March 18 with with excerpts of old and recent works by former Shades of Dance participants Nir Ben Gal & Liat Dror, Noa Wertheim & Adi Sha’al, Ronit Ziv, and Barak Marshall.  Then three programs shown back-to-back on Thursday night and Friday afternoon will present the new works from this year’s harvest.

Here are a few more sneak peaks of what will be onstage in the three programs of Shades of Dance 2009:

Anat Meirav’s is in program 2.  Photographs by Eyal Landesman.

From left: Galit Hazor’s Blind Spot is in program 3; Tami and Ron Yitzhaki’s work is in program 2.  Photograph by Eyal Landesman.

Shir Medvetsky’s solo is in program 3.  Photograph by Eyal Landesman.

From left: Ron Amit and Mor Shani’s Lu Carmela; Or Marin’s vanishing point. Photographs by Eyal Landesman.

Related links:

• Dance In Israel’s Events page (with concert information)
• Information on the festival from Suzanne Dellal (in Hebrew)
• Ayelet Dekel’s preview of Shades of Dance in the Jerusalem Post

Choreographers celebrating before the opening of the Home Port festival.  Photo by Dorit Talpaz.

This may sound a bit extravagant, but I don’t think I am exaggerating.  Last night I witnessed dance history – and I hope that the opening night of the Home Port Festival (and the festival itself) will go down in the books not as an isolated moment in time but as the recognized beginning of a new stage, figuratively and literally, for Israel’s independent choreographers.

The excitement was palpable when I arrived at the festival last night, and the energy only grew as more people streamed into the enormous hangar.   While Oy Division played a rousing klezmer set, I mingled with choreographers, dancers, administrators, government officials, dance writers, and dance fans.  Everyone seemed to recognize that this collective celebration of individual creation was a momentous occasion.  The dream for a permanent home for the Amuta’s artists, though still not fully realized, no longer seemed like an impossibility; indeed, the possibilities of what the dance scene would gain in the next weeks at Home Port emboldened the choreographers to dream anew.

After the enthusiastic crowd overflowed the risers, a one-of-a-kind dance marathon commenced.  39 choreographers from the Amuta presented a total of 33 solos and 3 duets, and 38 of the choreographers themselves delivered electrifying performances.

My intention was simply to watch and enjoy, but as each piece sparked snippets of ideas, I started scribbling furiously.  What follows is my ode to the Amuta, a series of one-line impressions from each selection.   Please read on . . .

* * *

Group 1

Talia Paz’s superbly articulate body

Sahar Azimi’s commanding and sometimes comedic presence

Idan Cohen tearing across the stage to Tchaikovsky

Tamar Borer’s fingers walking like a spider’s legs

strength and passion merging in Neta Shizef’s body and beats

Dafi Altebab, super smooth and subtle in her Superman shirt

Aviv Eveguy as Superman, soaring through the air with tour jetés and a cape

Yasmeen Godder, emanating fierceness and thoroughly transfixing

Nimrod Freed, totally transformed with wig, mask, and finely-tuned motions

* * *

Group 2

Ran Ben Dror’s liquid legs and hypnotic undulations in Mimi Ratz Wiesenberg’s work

Anat Katz’s intriguing angles and invigorating energy

Robby Edelman meandering mysteriously through the space

Ya’ara Dolev and Amit Goldenberg’s marvelously measured, jointed movement

Noa Dar’s swaying hips and supremely expressive face

Dina Telem’s clever costuming and childlike exuberance

Ronit Ziv’s pitch-perfect speech and fabulously full-bodied dance

Tomer Sharabi getting down with a loose-limbed groove

Renana Raz showing national spirit with extraordinary verve

Arkadi Zaides’s body propelled through space as if possessed

* * *

Group 3

each body part a surprise in Anat Shamgar’s solo

Shlomit Fundaminsky’s characteristic quirkiness mixed with a dash of cool

Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor offering a lens into their collaborative choreographic process

Ofra Idel riding guitar riffs with sultry swirls of movement

Dana Ruttenberg’s legs transcending their flesh and bone

Sally-Anne Friedland, queenly in her lettuce headdress

Sigal Ziv’s mesmerizing isolations and layered rhythms

Abigail Rubin, blindfolded but still bold

Nadar Rosano’s quiet power while beating his breast and collecting himself

* * *

Group 4

Ilanit Tadmor’s body singing with the live vocalist

Alice Dor-Cohen, speaking with both her voice and her body

Odelia Kuperberg sneaking surreptitious glances and springing from the floor

Gilat Amotz keeping the beat in the most amazing ways

Maya Levy curving into the deepest of contractions

Michal Herman’s sinuous long limbs and prolonged arch

Sharona Florsheim’s subdued stances to the sounds of a mellow saxophone

Yossi Berg and Oded Graf slow dancing bare-chested before becoming fast-moving sculptures

* * *

Kol hakavod and mazal tov to all of the choreographers and to Sigalit Gelfand, head of the Amuta.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Home Port Festival: 54 Choreographers in 33 Concerts at the Jaffa Port – preview and schedule

Related Links

• Amuta (Choreographers Association/Choreographers Society) website
  
• Home Port schedule (in Hebrew)
• Dance In Israel’s Links page – with links to the websites of many members of the Amuta

]]> http://www.danceinisrael.com/2009/03/home-port-festival-history-in-the-making-for-the-choreographers-association/feed/ 4 http://www.danceinisrael.com/2009/03/home-port-festival-54-choreographers-in-33-concerts-at-the-jaffa-port/ http://www.danceinisrael.com/2009/03/home-port-festival-54-choreographers-in-33-concerts-at-the-jaffa-port/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:48:38 +0000 Deborah Friedes Galili http://www.danceinisrael.com/?p=953

The choreographers of the Amuta in Jaffa for the Home Port Festival.  Photo by Dorit Talpaz.

The first hint that something big was happening in Israel’s concert dance scene was an e-mail from Yossi Berg and Oded Graf about their upcoming performance schedule.  One listing mysteriously said that the duo was presenting Heroes at the Jaffa port for a choreographers festival.  Choreographers festival?  In Jaffa?  Many dance festivals here are annual ones, and I didn’t remember anything like that from last year.

Next I started to see some Facebook events popping up, with choreographers including Hillel Kogan, Noa Dar, Shlomit Fundaminsky, and Niv Sheinfeld & Oren Laor inviting friends to attend performances at the port during March.   My curiosity grew as the number of choreographers involved increased.

Finally, Yasmeen Godder pulled me over before class one day and told me I should look into a very exciting, unprecedented event: the Home Port festival.  As I talked more with her and followed a few leads, I found out that this was, indeed, something big.

The Home Port festival was initiated by the Amuta (which translates as the Choreographers Association or the Choreographers Society), an umbrella organization for fifty-four independent choreographers who draw from styles as varied as contemporary dance, flamenco, and belly dance.  Working outside of the country’s larger companies, these established choreographers are responsible for much of Israel’s flourishing concert dance scene – and all of them will present their creations in thirty-three different concerts over the next four weeks in a hangar at Jaffa’s port.

The Home Port festival kicks off on Thursday, March 12 with what promises to be one of the most unique performances since I’ve arrived in Israel.  The organization’s choreographers have assembled a special marathon of forty-four solos to celebrate the opening of their festival, and the evening will also include a reception and two lively musical performances.

In fact, nearly every concert in this series will also feature a musical act.  The association invited Levontin 7, a well-known music venue, to participate in the festival, and many of the bands or artists that perform at the club will also appear down in Jaffa.

I’ll be attending many of the performances at the Home Port festival, and I look forward to writing more about the events here on Dance In Israel.  If you’re in Israel during the next month, I hope you will have a chance to check out the festival yourself!

Schedule of Home Port Festival in Jaffa

Most of the information online about the Home Port Festival is in Hebrew, so I have roughly translated the choreographers’ names and some titles of works along with the performance times below.  Please note that I have only included the choreographers and not the rotating roster of (wonderful, diverse, talented) musicians who will perform at the concerts.

• Thursday 3/12 @ 7:00 pm – Opening Night Celebration – Marathon of 44 Solos
• Friday 3/13 @ 9:30 pm – Oded Graf  & Yossi Berg’s Heroes; Noa Shadur’s Hunting Rabbits in the North
• Saturday 3/14 @ 9:00 pm – Aviv Eveguy’s Animus and Dimona
• Tuesday 3/17 @ 9:00 pm – Yasmeen Godder’s Singular Sensation
• Thursday 3/19 @ 8:00 pm – works by Ilanit Tadmor, Abigail Rubin, and Noa Rosenthal
• Thursday 3/19 @ 9:15 pm – works by Mimi Ratz Wiesenberg, Silvia Duran, and Tomer Sharabi
• Friday 3/20 @ 9:30 pm – Noa Dar’s The Sweetest Embrace and Arnica
• Saturday 3/21 @ 11:00 am – family-friendly performance by choreographer Dina Telem
• Saturday 3/21 @ 8:00 pm – Tel Aviv Dance Company in Tokyo Oranges
  
• Saturday 3/21 @ 9:15 pm – works by Yoram Karmi/Fresco Dance Company, Neta Shizef, and Tami & Ronen Yitzhaki
• (Cancelled due to rain) Monday 3/23 @ 8:00 pm – Idan Cohen’s Joy Ride, My Sweet Fur, and The Year of the Fish
• (Cancelled due to rain) Monday 3/23 @ 9:15 pm – Nadine Bommer’s Manimation
• Tuesday 3/24 @ 8:00 pm – Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Post-Martha
• Tuesday 3/24 @ 9:15 pm – works by Sharona Florsheim and Nadar Rosano
• Wednesday 3/25 @ 8:00 pm – Arkadi Zaides’s Meeting Brian Wash
• Wednesday 3/25 @ 9:15 pm – works by Hillel Kogan, Talia Paz, and Anat Shamgar
• Thursday 3/26 @ 7:30 pm – work by Smadar Emor
• Thursday 3/26 @ 9:15 pm – works by Michal Herman, Anat Katz, and Oren Nachum & Or Narin
• Friday 3/27 @ 12:00 pm – work by Sally-Ann Friedland & Galit Lis
• Friday 3/27 @ 9:30 pm – Nimrod Freed’s Flies in Peepdance
• Saturday 3/28 @ 10:30 am – family-friendly performance by choreographer Nima Yacoby (Voyage Box)
• Saturday 3/28 @ 12:30 pm – family-friendly performance by choreographer Nima Yacoby (Cinderella’s Dance)
• Saturday 3/28 @ 8:00 pm – Elina Pechersky
• Saturday 3/28 @ 9:15 pm – Ronit Ziv’s La Femme 1, La Femme 2
• **NEW DATE** Sunday 3/29 @ 8:00 pm – Idan Cohen’s Joy Ride, My Sweet Fur, and The Year of the Fish
• **NEW DATE** Sunday 3/29 @ 9:15 pm – Nadine Bommer’s Manimation
• Monday 3/30 @ 9:00 pm – Shlomit Fundaminsky & Itay Yatuv’s TICKING/Improformance
• Tuesday 3/31 @ 9:00 pm – work by Ofra Idel & Robby Edelman
• Wednesday 4/1 @ 8:00 pm – Renana Raz’s Motel
• Wednesday 4/1 @ 9:15 pm – works by Maya Levy, Odelia Kuperberg, and Sally-Ann Friedland
• Thursday 4/2 @ 8:00 pm – Rikudnetto Dance Group’s Conversations
• Friday 4/3 @ 9:30 pm – Alice Dor-Cohen’s A Little After the Middle
• Saturday 4/4 @ 11:00 am – family-friendly performance by choreographer Anat Danieli (The Four Seasons)
• Saturday 4/4 @ 8:00 pm – works by Ilanit Tadmor, Gilat Amotz, and Dafi Altebab
• Saturday 4/4 @ 9:15 pm – works by Maya Stern, Dana Ruttenberg, and Tamar Borer & Tamara Arda

Visit the Dance In Israel Events page for listings of each concert along with a Google map of the location at the Jaffa port (Nemal Yafo 2, Tel Aviv-Yafo).  To get to the hangar, descend from HaMigdalor Street to the port.   There is parking in the area, and several buses have stops on Yefet Street, relatively near the site.   You’re advised to wear layers since the hangar can be a bit chilly.  Want a little something to drink?  The hangar is outfitted with a bar and cafe.  Enjoy!

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Home Port Festival: History in the Making for the Choreographers Association

Dance In Israel Articles about Members of the Amuta

• Close Encounters Series: Yasmeen Godder
• Dancing Through the Intifada: Yasmeen Godder’s “Strawberry Cream and Gunpowder”
• Renana Raz: Choreographing Israeli Culture and Beyond
• Viewing an Israeli Vision with Diasporic Eyes: A Look at Renana Raz’s “We Have Been Called to Go”
• Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor: An Interview with Dramatic Dancemakers

Many members of the Amuta are mentioned in my articles about the Curtain Up and International Exposure festivals.  I will also be publishing more articles about members of this organization in the future, so please keep following the website!

Related Links

• Amuta (Choreographers Association/Choreographers Society) website
  
• Home Port schedule (in Hebrew)
• Dance In Israel’s Links page – with links to the websites of many members of the Amuta
• Levontin 7

Tel Aviv may be the undisputed center of contemporary dance in Israel, but Jerusalem also boasts several dance companies, studios, and presenters as well as its own dance festival.  Now in its fourth year, Machol Shalem – also known as the Jerusalem Modern Dance Festival – will run from Wednesday, November 19 until Friday, November 21.  The festival opens on Wednesday with Nimrod Freed’s unique PEEPDance and continues with two mixed bills showcasing work by Israeli and African choreographers.  On Friday, the festival will finish with four hours of live dance and music at Jerusalem’s Havatzelet passage.

To get a sense of the festival, you can take a peek at the videos from 2007 (above) and 2006 (below – click on “Read the rest of this entry”); you’ll see snippets of backstage preparations, engaging performances, and happy audience members.  For more information, visit the Machol Shalem festival’s website, and check out Dance In Israel’s Events page for listings.

A video about the Jerusalem Modern Dance Festival 2006