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!

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(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.

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Hydra by Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak closed International Exposure.  Photo by Seto Hidemi.

Most visitors to this year’s International Exposure were festival directors, arts presenters, diplomats, or critics.   I, however, came as a researcher.   With this festival – as with my other research activities – I sought to discover, to interpret, to understand.  I searched for old connections and new pathways.

Featuring over 40 works, International Exposure was exactly the right place to look for the threads which tie together this country’s concert dance scene.  The festival is a like a yearbook for Israeli dance.  The offerings by each choreographer serve as the album’s individual portraits.   Mixed bills drawn from some of the country’s other festivals (Curtain Up; Machol Acher/Other Dance Project) hint at the structure of the dance community, just as club pictures reveal a school’s cliques and groups.  And with the 20+ concerts clustered together in a mere six days, it’s possible to see the trends which characterized much this year’s artistic output. (( It should be noted, though, that some choreographers were missing from this year’s International Exposure.  Some well-established artists including Nimrod Freed, Anat Danieli, and Adama’s Nir Ben-Gal and Liat Dror did not present work at the festival.  Meanwhile, younger independent choreographers are far greater in number than those represented onstage. ))

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(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!

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(Video: Vertigo Dance Company in Noa Wertheim’s White Noise)

There is no rest for the weary.  In Israel, Saturday is Shabbat, the day of rest – but International Exposure is not letting us sleep in this morning.  The schedule looks good, though, so I’m not too upset!

Today we start at 11:00 a.m. with Vertigo Dance Company in Noa Wertheim’s full-length White Noise.  Then we’ll leave Suzanne Dellal and head across Tel Aviv to Tmuna Theater.  At this smaller space, we’ll see part of Tamar Borer’s butoh-influenced Bardo as well as Noa Shadur’s Hunting Rabbits in the North.

After a reception in the evening, we finish our day with a mixed bill: Rina Schenfeld’s Dance Me to the End of Love; Tirza Sapir’s High Tide, Low Tide (performed by Rikudnetto/DanceNet Group); Idan Cohen’s Joy Ride; and excerpts from Yoram Karmi’s Pulcinella (performed by the Fresco Dance Company).

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