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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other Podcasts on Dance In Israel:

• Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak: An Interview on Imagination
• Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor: An Interview with Dramatic Dancemakers
• Interview with Yair Vardi: A View from the Top
• Renana Raz: Choreographing Israeli Culture and Beyond
• Shlomit Fundaminsky: A Conversation on Improvisation and Israeli Life

Related Links:

• Sahar Azimi’s bio (in Hebrew)
  

*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.

Excertps from Barak Marshall’s new dance, Monger.

Tel Aviv Dance 2008 is bringing companies from all over the world to stages throughout the city from October 23 to November 22. This weekend is the premiere of Barak Marshall’s highly anticipated Monger at the Suzanne Dellal Center.  The L.A.-based Marshall – who has lived in both Israel and in the U.S., where he most recently has been affiliated with UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures – stopped choreographing 8 years ago after an injury. His choreography in the 1990s generated a major buzz in Israel and garnered several awards, so devoted dance-goers here will likely flock to the theater for this event.

I too am eager to attend a performance of Monger.  Many people recommended Marshall’s work to me last year, but I could only see a few snippets of his choreography at the Dance Library of Israel.  These videos and the frequent mentions of his name piqued my interest.  I was also intrigued by the fact that Marshall was the son of Margalit Oved, a choreographer and key dancer with the Yemenite dance troupe Inbal in its heyday.  After reading Helen Kaye’s preview of Monger in the Jerusalem Post, I’m looking forward more than ever to seeing Marshall’s choreography.

If you are reading this in Israel and want to go to the theater – or if you’re somewhere else in the world and just want to know more – there are a few online resources about Tel Aviv Dance and Barak Marshall’s new work.  The Suzanne Dellal Center has an English-language schedule for Tel Aviv Dance 2008 with descriptions of the concert offerings, bios, and photos.   There is also an article about the Tel Aviv Dance festival by Ori J. Lenkinski in the Jerusalem Post, with special mention both of Barak Marshall and of the visiting American company Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.  Cedar Lake has performed Ohad Naharin’s Decadance in the U.S., and they will include some excerpts of this piece in their program this week at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center (the opera house).