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 The first program features Rushes, which was originally made for the American company Pilobolus.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.

Video: Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Trout

A trail of miniature puddles leads a curious crowd of writers to Studio A at the Suzanne Dellal Center for a sneak preview.  In the center of the room, a large protective tarp has been laid strategically over the marley floor.  Overhead, the ceiling is awash in rippling shadows from a two centimeter-deep layer of water that, for now, calmly covers the tarp.  But this water won’t lie still forever.  Part of the set for Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Trout, it is meant to be danced upon.

Newton said that to every action there is a reaction, and in Trout, the reactions to many actions are made visible.  Even the most careful steps trigger a cascade of gentle, circular waves across the surface of the water, while the dancers’ more vigorous jumps and falls shoot a spray of droplets into the air.  The larger the action of the dancer, the larger the reaction of the water.

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

Pinto and Pollak were invited to choreograph Trout in Stavanger, Norway, as part of the city’s celebrations during its year as the European Capital of Culture in 2008 .  The couple harbored a desire to work in an alternate space, and in Stavanger they were drawn to Tou Scene, a former brewery that has been transformed into a thriving center for contemporary art.  One long room in particular called to them; Pollak said it felt like a “living space.”  This became the first home for Trout.

Now Pinto and Pollak are transporting Trout to Tel Aviv, where the work will take up residence at the Yaron Yerushalmi Theater in the Suzanne Dellal Center.  In the black box theater, as in Tou Scene, the walls of the space do not simply bound the action but become a central part of it.

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

As always, Pinto and Pollak have developed a highly distinctive, detailed movement vocabulary for this work which requires the dancers to engage their entire bodies.  Yes, there are the sucked-in cheeks of fish faces and hands that alternately conjure up images of gills or fins, but some of the choreographic choices are more subtly evocative.  One dancer skims across the surface of the water, first sliding her foot to one diagonal and then to the other; after a few steps, it seems as if each cell of her body is a fish in a perfectly coordinated school, zig-zagging decisively through the sea.

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

Into this magical mixture of mesmerizing movement and strikingly unusual space, Pinto and Pollak have added another key ingredient: live music.  The dancers are joined onstage by five members of the Kitchen Orchestra, an experimental group of musicians from Stavanger.  Combined with the sounds of water splashing and metal pails clanking, the Kitchen Orchestra’s music creates an otherworldly atmosphere for Trout.

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

Trout will be performed as as a guest concert in the Curtain Up festival on December 7, with additional performances from December 5-December 12.  The program also features a new solo choreographed by Talia Beck, a dancer with the Inbal Pinto Dance Company.

Related Posts on Dance In Israel

• Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak: An Interview on Imagination (Podcast)
• Inbal Pinto Dance Company: Oyster and Shaker

Related Links

• Inbal Pinto Dance Company
• The Kitchen Orchestra
• Tou Scene
• Suzanne Dellal Center

The Curtain Up 2009 poster.  Courtesy of Ora Lapidot PR.

The annual Curtain Up festival has figured prominently in my understanding and appreciation of Israeli contemporary dance.  Every autumn, this festival presents a fresh harvest of premieres by some of the field’s most promising choreographers.  I have now attended Curtain Up twice, and both seasons introduced me to some new faces and showcased the latest creations by choreographers whom I was already following.

As the buzz about this year’s 20th anniversary celebration grew, I wanted to find out more about the history of Curtain Up.  I talked with each of the six headlining presenters in this year’s festival, veteran choreographers who received support from the festival earlier in their careers.  They related their own personal pasts with Curtain Up, but wanting even more of an overview, I decided to go straight to the founder of the festival: Nilly Cohen, who directs the dance division of the Ministry of Culture.

Nilly’s retelling of Curtain Up’s history traces the rise of the Israeli contemporary dance scene.  “20 years ago, there were not so many choreographers in Israel,” she remembers.  “There were only three dance companies, and all the young choreographers, all the fringe simply didn’t exist.  And this was the main target for my initiative.  I [wanted] to build the next generation of choreographers in Israel.  That was the aim 20 years ago.  And now we can see that this aim succeeded.  Now we have many choreographers and many dance companies.”

Nilly continued, “I [initiated] Curtain Up 20 years ago because of the bad conditions for the choreographers.  They didn’t have the money to make their creations, to do the performances, to do the public relations, the marketing, and so on.  It takes [a lot of] money to do this, and they were very young; they were beginners in this profession.  And it was very difficult.  So I initiated this stage to give the young choreographers all the conditions to make their art.”

Then as now, Nilly explained, the government stepped in to help independent choreographers.  “We give them the money for the creation: for the costumes, for the dancers, for the lighting, for the design,” she elaborated.  “Besides this, we give them free the [concert] halls, Suzanne Dellal in Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem Theatre in Jerusalem . . . We do the public relations for them.  And we also give them the income.”

This generous public support spurred the flowering of Israeli dance, fostering its growth from a small pool of struggling choreographers to a vibrant scene featuring both an array of full-fledged companies and a seemingly multiplying set of individual artists.  Nilly recounted with pride, “I began [Curtain Up] 20 years ago, and then many creators were born on this stage and developed.  They developed to be dance companies like Vertigo Dance Company, like Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s company, like Noa Dar’s dance company, like Yasmeen Godder and many others.”

As this significant anniversary of Curtain Up approached, Nilly said, “I thought that the best thing to celebrate 20 [years] is to show what is the fruit of this stage.  And the fruits are all of these dance companies, so I invited them to perform on this stage this year.”  She added that she also was pleased to offer these now mature choreographers the chance to curate the festival by selecting emerging choreographers to join them on their respective programs.

Below is my preview of Curtain Up 2009, which was originally published in the Jerusalem Post as “Celebrating Creative Choreography.” My next few articles on Dance In Israel will zoom in on each individual program, with excerpts from my interviews with the choreographers and photographs of the new works.

* * *

Celebrating Creative Choreography

Participating in the annual Curtain Up festival, the country’s major platform for new works, is a rite of passage for Israeli choreographers.  Reflecting on her history with the festival, choreographer Noa Dar explains, “It really was my school and my initiation program for my choreography.”  Now Dar and other veteran choreographers are returning to Curtain Up for a special 20th anniversary season and they are initiating a new generation of dancemakers into the circle of Curtain Up participants.

As in past years, Curtain Up 2009 boasts several programs of hot-off-the press choreography.  Yet this year, there is a twist.  Each of the six concerts is headlined by an established choreographer who in turn selected one or two emerging choreographers to join the bill.  The result is a sumptuous spread of Israeli contemporary dance featuring both the field’s most acclaimed artists and some of its freshest rising stars.

Nimrod Freed’s Subtext.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Nimrod Freed of the Tami Dance Company chose both Anat Grigorio and Dafi Altebab to join him in Curtain 1 because they are “authentic, passionate and creative in an unusual way.”  Freed’s Subtext, Grigorio’s Daydream, and Altbeb’s Under the Rug all imaginatively uncover and probe the hidden sides of life.

Noa Wertheim’s Mana.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Curtain 2 is enlivened by the electrifying energy of Vertigo Dance Company and its younger division, the Vertigo Ensemble.  Performed against a strikingly geometric black-and-white set, Noa Wertheim’s new Mana explores the essential differences between men and women. Danced with verve by the Ensemble, Elad Shechter’s Roni casts a broader gaze at the dynamics of control in contemporary life.

Yasmeen Godder’s Love Fire. Photo by Tamar Lamm.

Yasmeen Godder was a frequent presenter in Curtain Up during the early 2000s, but her premiere in Curtain 3 marks a dramatic departure from her previous works.  LOVE FIRE, a duet danced to classical waltzes, reconsiders romanticism and includes a “performative installation-based response” by visual artist Yochai Matos.  Iris Erez, who regularly collaborated with Godder as a dancer, unleashes her own choreographic power in the trio Numbia.

Ya’ara Dolev’s BLOSSOM.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

The clean lines, precise angles and graceful curves of the body take center stage as the Tel Aviv Dance Company performs two works in Curtain 4.  Waves of movement wash over the dancers in BLOSSOM, a premiere by the company’s co-artistic director Ya’ara Dolev.  Guest choreographer Michael Miler also displays what Dolev describes as a predilection for “pure, clean movement in space” in his Number 6.

Noa Dar’s Us.  Photo by Tamar Lamm.

When Noa Dar selected Maya Brinner and Irad Mazliah for Curtain 5, the three choreographers talked about uniting their program with a common theme. Dar says that Brinner’s Red Ladies, Mazliah’s Unter den linden, and her own Us deploy unique perspectives on “difference versus conformity and stillness or stuck positions versus mobility and change.”

For Curtain 6, the team of Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor joined forces with dancer/choreographer Keren Levy to produce Big Mouth.  Using their personal relationships to Israeli society as a jumping off point, the trio investigates the conflicting desires of belonging to a group while maintaining one’s self-expression.  The program is rounded out by Noa Shadur’s Into the Night, which compares the reality of death with its melodramatic theatrical representation.

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

Traditionally, Curtain Up hosts an additional program by a well-known group, and this year’s guest concert is guaranteed to make a big splash.  Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Trout, which premiered in 2008 in Norway, floods a black-box stage with water to create an otherworldly setting where dancers mix with musicians from the experimental Kitchen Orchestra.  It’s a magical way to cap off Curtain Up’s celebration of creativity.

More Information

Curtain Up runs from November 24 to December 7 at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv and from December 8-14 at the Rebecca Crown Auditorium in Jerusalem. Tickets (100 NIS for most shows) are available at 03-5105656 (Suzanne Dellal Center) and 02-5605755 (Rebecca Crown Auditorium).

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

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Israeli Dance: What’s Happening in November
• What is Israeli Dance? Two Festivals Hold Some Clues
• Curtain Up 1: Nimrod Freed Hosts Anat Grigorio and Dafi Altebab
• Curtain Up 2: Vertigo Dance Company and Noa Wertheim Host Elad Shechter
• Curtain Up 3: Yasmeen Godder Hosts Iris Erez
• Curtain Up 4: Tel Aviv Dance Company and Yaara Dolev Host Michael Miler
• Curtain Up 5: Noa Dar Hosts Maya Brinner and Irad Mazliah
• Curtain Up 6: Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor Host Noa Shadur
• Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Trout

Related Links

• Suzanne Dellal Centre
• Jerusalem Theatre
• Nimrod Freed
• Vertigo Dance Company
• Yasmeen Godder
• Michael Miler
• Noa Dar
• Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor
• Inbal Pinto Dance Company

Video: Maria Kong’s Fling

As usual, there are lots of dance performances happening in Israel’s dance scene this month – but as I looked at the calendar, I realized that October is packed with several extra-special events.  Below are some teasers for premieres, festivals, foreign tours, online contests, and more.  For additional information about the following events and other performances, please visit the Dance In Israel Calendars.

Israeli Dance at Home

The members of Maria Kong.  Photo by ASCAF.

Four former Batsheva dancers – Anderson Braz, Leo Lerus, Ya’ara Moses, and Talia Landa – make up Maria Kong, a new company which debuted fling last month to sold-out crowds.  Now in its second run at the Nachmani Theater in Tel Aviv until October 10 and with a third set of shows planned for November 9-15, fling is clearly here to stay.  3-D projections, stunning costumes, and a striking score of both live and recorded music set an otherworldly mood for the work, but it’s the group’s supremely dynamic movement and supercharged stage presence which gives fling a lasting impact.

Shlomit Fundaminsky in La Divina. Photo by Aviv Zemer.

In honor of Tmuna Theater’s 29th anniversary, this month’s performances at the Tel Aviv institution are priced at a mere 29 shekels (that’s roughly $8!).  Participating choreographers and dance groups include Shlomit Fundaminsky, Hagit Yakira, Ensemble Maya and Tomer, Acco Dance Center, Anat Shamgar, Efrat Reuven, Benyamin Yagendorf, Elad Ben-Sasson, Inbal Shachar, Tzachi Cohen, Shai Faran, Aviv Eveguy, and Maya Brenner.  Hear about Shlomit’s work in Shlomit Fundaminsky: An Interview about Improvisation and Israeli Life.

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

Yossi Berg and Oded Graf are presenting their new 4 Men, Alice, Bach and the Deer at the Lab in Jerusalem on October 14-15 and at the Inbal Theater in Tel Aviv’s Suzanne Dellal Center on October 16-17.  This often humorous exploration of the idealized man won rave reviews when it premiered this summer in Germany and Poland, and now the choreographers have revamped their work with a cast of standout Israeli dancers: Hillel Kogan, Irad Matzliach, and Yossi Berg and Oded Graf themselves.

Barak Marshall’s Rooster premieres in Tel Aviv Dance 2009.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

October means it’s time for the Tel Aviv Dance festival!  This festival brings some of the hottest names in dance from around the world to the Suzanne Dellal Center and the Tel Aviv Opera House.  Stay tuned to Dance In Israel for more on Tel Aviv Dance 2009, which runs from October 16 through November 13 – and if you’re nostalgic, you can reread my preview of Tel Aviv Dance 2008.  Last year Barak Marshall’s Monger was a big hit when it opened Tel Aviv Dance, and this year, his new work Rooster will close the festival.

In partnership with the Israeli hotel chain Isrotel, the Batsheva Dance Company is presenting the 6th Phaza Morgana Festival in Timna National Park, Eilat from October 22-24.  This year’s festival includes Take Two, a program featuring choreography by Ohad Naharin and Sharon Eyal; Anaphaza, one of Ohad Naharin’s iconic works; and a special appearance by the Idan Raichel Project.  Check out my most recent article on Batsheva, Batsheva Dance Company: From Graham to Gaga, for background on the company and a list of other related articles about the group.

Israeli Dance Abroad

Whether you’re in Europe, the United States, or Asia, there’s something coming your way this month . . . .

Barak Marshall’s Monger. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Barak Marshall’s production of Monger kicked off this month with a trip to Seoul and Daego, South Korea; the final performance of this tour is October 7th.

Video: Yossi Berg and Oded Graf’s Heroes.

Besides presenting their 4 Men, Alice, Bach and the Deer in Israel, Yossi Berg and Oded Graf are taking Heroes to the N.O.W. Festival in Saarbrucken, Germany on October 10.  The pair returns to Staatsheater Kassel, Germany for an October 25 showing of a new creation, Fairy Tales, which has its official world premiere in December.

Iris Erez in Arkadi Zaides’s Solo Colores.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

From October 11 until the 25, Arkadi Zaides is touring with Solo Colores and Solo Siento in Asia.  After showing Solo Colores at the Shanghai Dance Festival in Shanghai, both works will be performed in Taipei at the Kuan Du Arts Festival and then in Tokyo.  For more about these works, check out my article Arkadi Zaides: Community Connections and Stunning Solos.

Yasmeen Godder’s Singular Sensation.  Photo by Tamar Lamm.

Yasmeen Godder’s Singular Sensation will be performed in Prague on October 11-12 as part of 4+4 Days in Motion, and on the 28th-29th, the work will be part of TANZ IN BERN in Bern, Switzerland.  Read more about Yasmeen’s work in Close Encounters Series: Yasmeen Godder.

Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Hydra.  Photo by Seto Hidemi.

The Inbal Pinto Dance Company takes Hydra to the Dance Umbrella Festival in London on October 18-19.  The creators talked about the development of Hydra in my podcast Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak: An Interview on Imagination.

Gilat Amotz’s Empty Room.  Photo by Lucky Trimmer, Berlin.

Gilat Amotz’s solo Empty Room will be performed in Masdanza, the  International Contemporary Dance Festival of the Canary Islands.  Empty Room is one of only 10 solos which were selected for this competition, which runs from October 17-24.  Gilat’s choreography was also chosen to be included in the Masdanza Tenerife Festival at the Teatro Victoria in Santa Cruz in Tenerife from October 25-26.

As part of Nextbook’s Jewish Body Week, the Foundation for Jewish Culture is presenting an evening titled Contemporary Israeli Dance and the Reinvention of the Jewish Body at the JCC in Manhattan on October 22.  Choreographers Deganit Shemy, Andrea Miller of Gallim Dance, and Saar Harari of LeeSaar: The Company will show excerpts of their work and participate in a panel discussion moderated by dance writer Elizabeth Zimmer.  Read a bit about Deganit Shemy’s premiere of Arena at DTW last spring in From Writing to Talking about Dance, and find out about Andrea Miller’s connection to Israeli contemporary dance in Gallim Dance at Jacobs Pillow: Waves of Influence.

Rachel Erdos’s Alma. Photo from Gvanim Be’machol 2007.

Rachel Erdos is headed to the United States to set Alma on the Washington D.C.-based troupe CityDance Ensemble.  Her work will be performed at the Kennedy Center as part of CityDance’s “Latitude” program on October 29-30.  CityDance toured the Middle East last spring, and I caught up with them in east Jerusalem; read about their visit in CityDance in Jerusalem: Exploring the Gaps Between American and Israeli Dance.

Israeli Dance Online

Video: Michael Miler’s Speed of Light

Michael Miler’s Speed of Light is one of 10 finalists in the Sadler’s Wells Global Dance Contest 2009.  The winning entry will be performed at Sadler’s Wells in London in January 2010 as part of the program Sadler’s Wells Program.  Like Speed of Light?  Vote for it! Speed of Light caught my eye when it premiered at the Shades of Dance Festival last March; read my impressions in Behind the Scenes at Gvanim: Shades of Dance Festival.

* * *

For a calendar including these events and other performances, please visit the Dance In Israel Calendars.  Know of some other exciting event relating to Israeli dance in Israel or abroad?  Leave a comment below with the details!

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Batsheva Dance Company: From Graham to Gaga
• Shlomit Fundaminsky: An Interview about Improvisation and Israeli Life (Podcast)
• Close Encounters Series: Yasmeen Godder
• Arkadi Zaides: Community Connections and Stunning Solos
• Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak: An Interview on Imagination (Podcast)
• From Writing to Talking about Dance
• Gallim Dance at Jacobs Pillow: Waves of Influence
• CityDance in Jerusalem: Exploring the Gaps Between American and Israeli Dance
• Tel Aviv Dance 2008
• Behind the Scenes at Gvanim: Shades of Dance Festival

Related Links

• Maria Kong
• Tmuna Theater
• Yossi Berg and Oded Graf
• Tel Aviv Dance 2009 English Program
• Batsheva Dance Company
• Barak Marshall
• Arkadi Zaides
• Yasmeen Godder
• Inbal Pinto Dance Company
• Gilat Amotz
• Gallim Dance
• LeeSaar The Company
• Deganit Shemy
• Jewish Body Week
• Foundation for Jewish Culture
• Michael Miler

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

Barak Marshall’s Monger.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

This summer has already been so packed with festivals and performances that I have barely had time to reflect, but I figured it’s high time that I post an article I wrote at the end of Suzanne Dellal’s Big Stage.

I’ve been to numerous festivals since moving to Israel, but the Big Stage stands head and shoulders above many others in my mind.  There was something magical about the festival’s outdoor setting, and each impressively large-scale performance brought its own theatrical marvels to the already enchanting space.  Further adding to my enthusiasm about the festival was the dual reason for its existence: Tel Aviv’s centennial and Suzanne Dellal’s 20th anniversary.  It’s pretty hard to top that!

I first published the article below as “Big Performances” in the Forward on June 19, 2009.  Read on to get a sense of what this spectacular festival was like – or to refresh your own memories of this momentous event.

* * *

Big Performances

An eager crowd took its seats high above the Suzanne Dellal Center’s plaza for the opening of the three-week festival Habama Hagdola — The Big Stage.  Two majestic palm trees framed the large outdoor stage, and the center’s main building provided a picturesque backdrop.  A glance around revealed the impressive scenery of the first century of Tel Aviv: quaint red-roofed homes of the Neve Tzedek neighborhood overtaken within a few blocks by modern skyscrapers.

But it was the action onstage that captured the audience’s gaze.  Rooted in a wide stance, five women grabbed their heads and raised their arms in exasperation.  Rocking vigorously in place, they performed a series of intricate gestures. Even the smallest motion — a lift of the hip, a tilt of the chin — was delivered with attitude.  The movement grew, the pace quickened, and the tension built as five men approached the women.

This nuanced, lively dance — Barak Marshall’s Monger — was only part of the excitement onstage.  The popular band Balkan Beat Box lent its infectious rhythms and hypnotic vocals to the choreographic excerpts.  As the dance and live music mixed, Marshall recounted, “the energy on the stage was explosive and surprising.”

Balkan Beat Box.  Photo by Yariv Alter.

In some ways, though, this synergy might have been predicted: Here were two massive hits performing together.  BBB’s fusion of musical influences has won the group a devoted following, and Monger, with its theatrical vitality, was a big success during Israel’s most recent dance season.

Monger follows 10 characters who serve the domineering (but never visible) Mrs. Margaret.  Marshall combines text, an eclectic sound score, clever visual tricks and an expressive physical language into a well-seasoned dramatic stew.  Some rhythms and gestures seem Middle Eastern, others European, and still other elements — especially vintage radio ads for Hebrew National and Manischewitz products — provide a taste of Jewish New York in the early 1900s.  This blend of cultural flavors has endeared Monger to audiences at home and abroad.

The Big Stage marks Suzanne Dellal’s 20th anniversary, and Marshall attributes much of his own success to the center.  “Simply put, I would not be a choreographer if it weren’t for the Suzanne Dellal Center,” Marshall said.  “[Suzanne Dellal director] Yair Vardi discovered me, challenged me and pushed me to challenge my limits.”  The center also produced Monger.

Marshall is not alone in benefiting from Suzanne Dellal’s support.  The choreographer further credits the center with the larger “renaissance of dance in Israel,” thanks to numerous yearly festivals that “discover new choreographers and catapult young Israeli creators into the international dance scene.”

The center’s extensive programming is made possible by its remarkable facilities. Suzanne Dellal boasts three theaters for productions large and small, traditional and experimental.  Both the Batsheva Dance Company and the Inbal Pinto Dance Company call the center home, and the complex’s studios host other choreographers’ activities.  Imagine New York City’s Lincoln Center devoted exclusively to dance.  Add some visionary leadership, and you have a sense of the Suzanne Dellal Center — the reason that Israeli dance is increasingly a global force.

According to Vardi, who has steered the institution since its founding, Suzanne Dellal is “definitely the major dance center in Israel.”  Besides possessing this national distinction, Suzanne Dellal has thoroughly integrated itself into the fabric of Tel Aviv.  Vardi proudly outlines the center’s many contributions to the city, affirming, “By now, we’re a very important part of Tel Aviv’s culture scene.”

The Big Stage celebrated not only the Suzanne Dellal Center’s birthday, but also Tel Aviv’s centennial.  Accordingly, the festival reflected the city’s artistic treasures.  Besides BBB, major Israeli musical acts, including Chava Alberstein, Ehud Banai, and the Idan Raichel Project, rocked the house. The Orna Porat Theater for Children and Youth, which is in residency at Suzanne Dellal, charmed a family audience.

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Photo by Robert Etcheverry

Yet it was the dance concerts that revealed the essence of the Suzanne Dellal Center.  Spain and Canada have been particularly supportive of the center, so Vardi invited Madrid’s Compañía Nacional de Danza and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal to perform.

The rest of the dance programming exhibited some of the best that Suzanne Dellal has offered throughout its history.  The acclaimed Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company presented Rami Be’er’s 1994 masterpiece, Aide Memoire.  Choreographer Ido Tadmor revived Cell and Sima’s Pot with cameo appearances by legendary dancers Rina Schenfeld and Talia Paz.

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

Another collaboration paired Vertigo Dance Company with the Tararam Group, which fuses dance and percussion.  Vertigo’s tribe of daring dancers threw themselves into Noa Wertheim’s 2008 White Noise.   As the troupe charged toward the audience and tore across the stage, Tararam’s drummers increased the electrifying intensity.  Tararam’s performance also received a fresh twist with an acrobatic solo by one of Vertigo’s dancers.

No celebration of Tel Aviv and the Suzanne Dellal Center could be complete without the Batsheva Dance Company.  Together with the Batsheva Ensemble, Israel’s oldest modern dance company performed excerpts from some of Ohad Naharin’s most beloved repertory.  The dancers’ bodies rocketed into deep arches to the chorus of “Echad Mi Yodea” (“Who Knows One”) and repeated jointed, rhythmic patterns during a synthesized version of Ravel’s “Bolero.”

Dressed in black suits and hats, the Batsheva dancers pulled audience members onstage to a techno rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”  The unsuspecting performers gamely grooved with their professional counterparts; some even hammed it up on the Big Stage.

The crowd rooted wholeheartedly for Batsheva, for Suzanne Dellal’s home team and for the most recognizable emblem of Israeli contemporary dance.  Too soon came the end of the festival, but all left assured that Tel Aviv is still moving with grace and purpose as it begins its second century.

The Big Stage.  Photo by Ariel Besor.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Tel Aviv’s 100th + Suzanne Dellal’s 20th = The Big Stage
• The Holocaust in Modern Dance: Rami Be’er on Aide Memoire

Related Links

• Barak Marshall
• Batsheva Dance Company
• Ido Tadmor
• Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company
• Suzanne Dellal Center
• Tararam
• Vertigo Dance Company

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

“Oyster” by Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak.  Photo by Eyal Landesman.

I’ve already seen Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Oyster twice, but I leaped at the chance to see it again at the Suzanne Dellal Center last week.

This time around I brought my partner, Tal.  Tal never went to dance performances before meeting me, but in the last year, he’s been to his fair share of concerts.  Yet after Oyster, he did something he’d never done before: he leaned over and whispered mournfully in my ear, “Is that it?  It’s over?”

Like me, Tal fell in love with this magical work, and in doing so, he confirmed my suspicion that this is one of those few productions that nearly everyone – devoted dance lovers and novice viewers alike – should see.  Israeli audiences may need to wait a little while longer to watch Oyster again, but this week they can catch the company’s captivating performances of Shaker at the Suzanne Dellal Center.

The article below was first published in the Jerusalem Post as “Can’t Shake Oyster”

* * *

Can’t Shake Oyster

It’s not every dance that can boast 10 years of consistently packed concerts.  But Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Oyster is one of these rare, beloved works.  Having surpassed the 400th performance mark earlier this year, Oyster is now celebrating its tenth anniversary with performances by the Inbal Pinto Dance Company at the Suzanne Dellal Center.

“Oyster” by Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak. Photo by Eyal Landesman.

Pinto and Pollak are consummate explorers of the imagination, tracing the glimmer of a new idea into the unknown and then bringing it to life onstage.  Magicians in their use of stagecraft and costuming, the couple combines movement, music and visual design to build their invented worlds.  It’s this creation of an alternative reality far from our own which lends all of their dances, including Oyster, a special timelessness.

What makes Oyster so uniquely appealing though, is its endearing characters and carnivalesque atmosphere. An extra-tall two-headed man, a leggy redheaded ballerina with a stool attached to her behind, and a squat older figure serve as guides to a series of surreal sideshows.

Typical circus attractions like contortionists and strong women are joined here by more unusual creatures: women with their hands and feet connected by red rods, tuxedoed armless men and a pair of tutu-clad women scuttling crab-like across the floor.  Some scenes are humorous, others sweetly touching.  Each is a surprise, a delight, a shiny new pearl inside a shell.

“Oyster” by Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak. Photo by Eyal Landesman.

Besides Oyster, Pinto and Pollak’s Shaker will also be featured this month at the Suzanne Dellal Center.  Shaker transports the viewer under the glass dome of a snow globe.  This make-believe world is populated by another cast of eccentric characters whose sweeping movements create swirling patterns in the carpet of snowflakes.  A more recent production, Shaker too has deservedly attracted an enthusiastic following with its striking visual spectacle.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak: An Interview on Imagination (Podcast) – Listen to my conversation with the couple

Related Links

• Inbal Pinto Dance Company
• Suzanne Dellal Center

(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.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Dance In Israel’s International Exposure coverage – full series
• “Tel Aviv Dance 2008″ (re: Barak Marshall)
• “Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak: An Interview on Imagination” (Podcast)
• “The Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company: Travel Journal”

*Podcast with Sahar Azimi, Renana Raz, and Barak Marshall coming soon

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

Other Useful Links

• Dance In Israel’s Links page – links to companies, choreographers, and more
  
• Suzanne Dellal Center

(Video: Kolben Dance in Amir Kolben’s “Interface”)

What’s a visit to Israel without a journey to Jerusalem?  Today, attendees of the International Exposure Festival are making the one-hour trip from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Our visit will start with Kolben Dance Company’s performance of Amir Kolben’s Interface.  After a tour of the city, we’ll return to Tel Aviv for a farewell reception.  The festival closes with the Inbal Pinto Dance Company in Hydra by Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak.  Hydra packed the theater when I saw it at the 2008 Israel Festival.   I’m guessing that though we might be tired after 6 days of dance watching, we’ll flock to the Suzanne Dellal theater one more time for this performance!

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak: An Interview on Imagination (Podcast)”

Links to Choreographers and Companies

• Inbal Pinto Dance Company
• Kolben Dance

Other Useful Links

• Dance In Israel’s International Exposure coverage – full series
• Israel Festival
• Dance In Israel’s Links page – links to companies, choreographers, and more
  
• Suzanne Dellal Center

(Hillel Kogan’s “Everything” will premiere in the 2008 Curtain Up Festival)

* * *

“Another Op’ning, another show
In Philly, Boston, or Baltimo’
A chance for stage folks to say hello
Another op’ning of another show.”
-Lyrics by Cole Porter for the musical Kiss Me Kate

It’s time for another op’ning of another show – again, and again, and again (and again) – in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem this month. The 2008 Curtain Up Festival will bring 4 programs worth of premieres by independent choreographers to the Suzanne Dellal Center and The Lab (HaMaabada) during December.  Michael Getman, Maya Levy, Rachel Erdos, Tomer Sharabi, Maya Stern, and Hillel Kogan will each present new works, as will the collaborative teams of Sahar Azimi and Odelya Kuperberg; Yossi Berg and Oded Graf; and Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor with the participation of Ronit Ziv.  The entire festival opens at Suzanne Dellal on December 3 with a special presentation of Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak‘s Shaker, which recently toured the United States.

For a listing of this year’s Curtain Up performances in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, please visit Dance In Israel’s Events page.  You can read both Helen Kaye’s preview and Ori J. Lenkinski’s preview of the festival in the Jerusalem Post and view the Suzanne Dellal Center’s Hebrew program of Curtain Up.  Finally, I’ll leave you with “Another Op’ning, Another Show,” which I wrote for my own website on November 20, 2007 after attending last year’s Curtain Up Festival.  Make sure to click below and view the rest of the post; there’s another video to whet your appetite!

* * *

(Hillel Kogan’s After the Bolero was a highlight of the 2007 Curtain Up Festival.   Kogan, who is also the rehearsal director for the Batsheva Ensemble, performed in the work along with Ariel Freedman and Iyar Elezra, who recently moved from the ensemble to the main company.)

Right now in Tel Aviv, it’s another opening of another show every night at the Suzanne Dellal Center. Along with the wintry weather (rain and 60-something degree days), November brings the Curtain Up Festival (הרמת מסך), a showcase of fully produced works by young Israeli choreographers. This year there are three separate bills, each featuring 2-3 pieces; each program runs twice at Suzanne Dellal before touring to Jerusalem at the end of the month. The mood has been suitably carnival-like, with a lively 14-piece brass band ushering the full crowd into the theater prior to some of the concerts (though on Friday night during Shabbat, the pre-show entertainment consisted of a much quieter quartet of dancers shifting stones around the plaza).

The entire extravaganza kicked off on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 with Vertigo Dance Company’s Vertigo and the Diamonds (ורטיפו והיהלומים) by Noa Wertheim (נעה ורטהיים). Wertheim and Adi Sha’al (עדי שעל), Vertigo’s directors, had presented work at the Curtain Up festivals when they were beginning their careers, so they came full circle with this performance. With lively music performed onstage by the Diamonds and six remarkably athletic dancers, Wertheim’s work – exploring the dynamics within human relationships – was a crowd pleaser. The audience also enjoyed the onstage dance party at the end.

Over the course of the next three evenings, I saw seven works by the next generation of Israeli choreographers: Ronit Ziv (רונית זיו), Oded Graf and Yossi Berg (עודד גרף ויוסי ברג), Aviv Eveguy (אביב אבגי), Michal Herman (מיכל הרמן), Hillel Kogan (הלל קוגן), Odelya Kuperberg (אודליה קופרברג), and Maya Levy (מאיה לוי). All the works featured casts of three to four dancers, though Kuperberg’s work included an extended cast of pedestrians who entered and exited the stage space throughout the performance.  Like Vertigo and the Diamonds, most of the dances explored human relationships in varying contexts, with the dancers manipulating each other in intricate partnering patterns.

While such a rigorous schedule of dance-watching was a bit tiring, thankfully the works were generally well-constructed and all of the performers were spectacularly committed and engaging.  I found Ziv’s contribution – with a title meaning “Mirror” in Hebrew, but written with reversed lettering – particularly compelling, with a marvelous usage of props including a mirror and teacups.   Meanwhile, the zany humor in Kogan’s After the Bolero (אחרי הבולרו) was a welcome addition to the serious tone of the second Curtain Up program.  As a tall, headless man in a suit attempted to speak – and then, as four highly energetic performers blurted out wild dance phrases punctuated with vernacular dance movements – I laughed and cheered along with the rest of the audience.

*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.

Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Shaker completes its U.S. tour at New York City’s Joyce Theater this week.  Photo by Eyal Landesman.

This is the first in a series of podcasted interviews with dance professionals in Israel.

You can listen via the player embedded in this post or subscribe to this podcast for free by visiting our podcast feed and using the iTunes software ((You can subscribe to the podcast feed by searching the iTunes directory for “Dance In Israel”)). This podcast was initially produced for Israel Seen, and the text below was written for The Winger.

* * *

The very first work I saw at the Suzanne Dellal Center last year was Shaker, by Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak.  Despite my jet lag, I realized that Inbal and Avshalom’s visually stunning work was special – and when I later saw the Inbal Pinto Dance Company in Oyster (twice!) and Hydra, I knew that my initial assessment of these creators was correct.  Want more proof of this couple’s exceptional talent and ability to win over audiences with their artistry?  Several hundred performances after its premiere, Oyster still fills the house at Suzanne Dellal, and the Israel Festival had to add a third performance of Hydra this June because of the demand for tickets.

Avshalom Pollak and Inbal Pinto.  Photo by Asaf Ashkenazyn.

In between rehearsals for their new production and tours of their existing repertory, I caught up with Inbal and Avshalom in the spring of 2008 to learn how this imaginative couple concocts such unique creations.   You can learn more too if you tune in to our podcast!

For more pictures, videos, and links, read the rest of my post below:

Hydra, the newest work by Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak. Photo by Seto Hidemi.

Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Oyster. Photo by Elazar Harel

Video: A clip from Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s Shaker.

I’ll leave you with one more treat:

Video: Excerpts from Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak’s What Good Would the Moon Be.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Inbal Pinto Dance Company: Oyster and Shaker

Other Podcasts on Dance In Israel

• Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor: An Interview with Dramatic Dancemakers
• Interview with Yair Vardi: A View of Israeli Concert Dance from the Top
• Renana Raz: Choreographing Israeli Culture and Beyond
• Sahar Azimi Speaks about Choreography and Contemporary Dance
• Shlomit Fundaminsky: A Conversation on Improvisation and Israeli Life
• Noa Dar Discusses Her Dance Career
• Andrea Miller: From Gaga to Gallim Dance

Related Links

• Inbal Pinto Dance Company’s website
• “Dancing a Dream” – Nick Johnstone’s interview with Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak, from the Jewish Chronicle

*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.