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 The first program features Rushes, which was originally made for the American company Pilobolus.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

Rina Schenfeld in Angels.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Earlier this summer, I published a guest post by Gdalit Neuman about Rina Schenfeld’s Angels.  Neuman, a dancer in Schenfeld’s company, gave an inside look at the making of this new work, and a few weeks ago, I got to provide a different perspective for the Jerusalem Post.  This article was originally published in the newspaper as “In The Arms of an Angel” on August 3, 2009.

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In the Arms of an Angel

“A new dance is like cooking. You have to put in a little bit of salt, a little bit of sugar, a little bit of everything,” reflects Rina Schenfeld about her choreographic process.

Schenfeld first made a name for herself as a powerhouse dancer with the Batsheva Dance Company from its inception in 1964 until 1979.   But from a young age, she was already fascinated by choreography.  Prior to studying at the prestigious Juilliard School, an 18-year-old Schenfeld created a prize-winning solo for herself.  She went on to choreograph many dances for Batsheva, eventually retiring from the company in order to further pursue her own work.

Over decades of choreographic exploration, Schenfeld experimented with objects, fabric, video and a range of music.   Now, she remarks, these elements are “all combining together in the cooking of a new evening.”

After a yearlong process, Schenfeld is presenting her latest work, Angels, this week at the Suzanne Dellal’s SummerDance2009 festival and the Karmiel Dance Festival.  Inventive costumes by Inbal Liblich, a video by Yuval Cohen featuring photographs from Schenfeld’s childhood and family, and a variety of props fill the stage with heavenly and earthly visions.  The dance’s eclectic, ear-catching score includes music by Laurie Anderson, Nina Simone, Hadara Levin and Arvo Part.

The urge to create Angels struck Schenfeld after a successful run of Dance Me to the End of Love, which was set to the songs of Leonard Cohen.  That evening-length dance had been a departure for Schenfeld, who was accustomed to working with longer musical compositions rather than a series of four-minute songs.  She decided to keep this new structure for her next piece and found inspiration in Anderson’s music.  At the same time, Schenfeld recounts of her process, “movement came out without connection to the music.  And later on, it [started] to build itself.”

Indeed, Angels unfolded organically as the choreographer joined members of the Rina Schenfeld Dance Theater in her studio. The other dancers, most of whom had collaborated with Schenfeld before, responded creatively to her prompts for improvisation.  When Schenfeld brought tall metal poles into rehearsal, she remembers, “My dancers and I, we were absolutely hypnotized by the idea to climb and do acrobatics . . . They couldn’t stop, and I couldn’t stop either!”

Perched high above the stage on these poles and wearing magnificent wings designed by Liblich, the dancers achieve a striking resemblance to angels.

Yet Angels isn’t simply a dance about heavenly beings.  Schenfeld explains, “It’s not only angels from up above, from the sky. Angels can be people.”

This is one of the essential ideas in a touching duet between Schenfeld and Hemi Goldin which forms the centerpiece of the full-length work.

Rina Schenfeld and Hemi Goldin in Angels. Photo by Gadi Dagon.

Of Goldin, a 26-year-old dancer and aspiring lawyer, Schenfeld says, “Hemi is a real angel who came to my studio about two years ago, and he gives me a lot of inspiration. The fact that he’s here with me, it changed my work, because for many years – 20 years, maybe more – I didn’t do a dance about relationship and love . . . But now, when Hemi came and also something changed within me, I decided I want to talk about duets and relationships and love between ‘she’ and ‘he.’”

Schenfeld notes that these figures of a man and a woman can also be symbolic rather than literal, and the relationships which she explores can extend beyond romance. While a lot of young choreographers often focus on the turbulence in relationships, Schenfeld asserts, “The way I do it is I think from another angle, because of my age and my experience.”

And in her touching duet with Goldin, the layered relationship between the two often shifts, with each dancer serving as the other’s angel. It’s a theme that surfaces throughout the dance in the pairings of other dancers – and in life. “Sometimes you are my angel,” reflects Schenfeld, “and sometimes I am your angel.”

* * *

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• Rina Schenfeld Dance Theatre: About “Angels”
• Maholohet: SummerDance2009 at Suzanne Dellal Center
• More on Maholohet: A Hot Summer of Dance Continues

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

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

Rina Schenfeld in her new work, Angels.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

This article is a guest post by Gdalit Neuman.  Enjoy!

* * *

About Angels

By Gdalit Neuman

Tel Aviv native Rina Schenfeld is one of Israel’s most celebrated artists.  After studying at the world famous Julliard School in New York in her early twenties, Rina returned home and became a founding member and principal dancer of the Batsheva Dance Company from 1963-1979.  There she danced historic roles in works by none other than Martha Graham, Glenn Tetley, and John Cranko, to great acclaim.

After leaving Batsheva, Schenfeld embarked on a highly successful international career as principal dancer and choreographer of her own company, Rina Schenfeld Dance Theatre, which is based in Tel Aviv.  She is the recipient of countless distinguished international awards and in 1997 was honored with the Na’amat  lifetime achievement award in the realm of dance.  The New York Times hailed Schenfeld as “one of the most important artists of our generation.”

Now Rina Schenfeld has done it again. After the tremendous success of her last work Dance Me to the End of Love (ריקדי לקצה האהבה), she will present her latest full length evening entitled Angels (מה לך מלאך?) at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv on June 23rd.  Angels is a journey into this first lady of dance’s wild and wonderful imagination.  Using songs by Laurie Anderson as inspiration, Schenfeld paints a colorful canvas of images, movement, sound and screen that tempt the pallet and are sure to satisfy.  Images of suspended angels, darkness and light, the Garden of Eden, and past and present speckle the stage.

Rina Schenfeld’s Angels.  Photo by Gadi Dagon.

The first half of Angels, featuring Schenfeld herself alongside company dancer Hemi Goldin, takes us on a whimsical journey of Hansel and Gretel, among other things, and culminates with a dramatic and tender duet to Nina Simone’s “Wild is the Wind.”  The company then joins Schenfeld and Goldin in the second half of the evening, where our story continues.  As in Dance Me to the End of Love, here too Schenfeld uses video to draw the audience intimately closer to her world.  A highlight is old family photographs that tell not only her story, but each and every one of ours as well.

As a dancer in the company, I had the great delight of seeing Angels develop from its bare bones to a living, breathing organism that is recreated but never replicated twice on stage.  Rina’s mastery of creating, composing, and editing but never dictating during this process allowed for a plethora of ideas to come to life, blossom, and bloom.  For all of us who were active collaborators in the creation of the new production, Angels signifies a unique and ongoing journey of self-discovery, relationships and ideas.

Credits for Rina Schenfeld’s Angels

Dancer/Choreographer: Rina Schenfeld
Dancers/collaborators: Gali Aizenman, Hemi Goldin, Tamar Weisman, Gdalit Neuman, Joanna Offer, Lilach Raz, Shimrit Sha’ar, Aviv Chalfon
Video: Yuval Cohen
Stills: Gadi Dagon
Costumes: Inbal Liblich
Music: Laurie Anderson, Nina Simone, Hadara Levin, Arvo Part

More Information

Angels will premiere on June 23 at 9 p.m. at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv.  It will also be performed at the Karmiel Dance Festival on August 5.  Angels returns to Suzanne Dellal during the Machol Lohet Festival on August 12-13.

Rina Schenfeld Dance Theatre also hosts open dance classes for the public (beginner to advanced levels) where Schenfeld herself teaches.  For more information, please call 03-6046745.

About the Author

Gdalit Neuman is a company member of Rina Schenfeld Dance Theatre.  She is a writer, teacher, choreographer and lover of all things that move.

Related Links

• Suzanne Dellal Center

Photo of the Big Stage by Ariel Besor.

Something big is about to happen.  It’s the biggest cultural draw in town from May 14 until June 6th.  And fittingly, it’s titled Habama Hagdola: The Big Stage.

This isn’t the first time that the plaza of the Suzanne Dellal Center has been turned into a massive, open air theater.  The pictures in this post show a previous transformation from a few years ago.  But this time around, the construction of the Big Stage is marking something truly huge: the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv and the 20th anniversary of the Suzanne Dellal Center, Israel’s premiere center for dance.

To celebrate both of these occasions, the Big Stage (sometimes translated as the Great Stage) will present some of Israel’s top dance companies and musical groups as well as world-renowned troupes from abroad.  The opening night combines both art forms in a special performance by Balkan Beat Box, with excerpts from Barak Marshall’s “Monger” that are set to music by the popular Israeli band.  As part of the festivities, Yair Vardi, Suzanne Dellal’s director, will receive an award from the Foreign Ministry for his contribution to the field of Israeli dance.

Photo of the Big Stage by Ariel Besor.

In a land whose recorded history stretches back thousands of years, it’s a bit mind-boggling to realize that Tel Aviv is a mere century old.  Consider for a moment the ages of some other major cultural centers in the West: Paris.  Rome.  London.  New York City.  Tel Aviv is but an infant next to these metropolises, but despite its relative youth, the city has developed a world renowned arts scene.

There was certainly concert dance in Tel Aviv prior to the founding of the Suzanne Dellal Center.  Even before the country of Israel was formed, the city absorbed immigrants who had trained in the German expressionist style and laid the foundation for Israel’s modern dance scene.   In 1964, the Batsheva Dance Company opened in town, and the Bat-Dor Dance Company debuted a few years later.  Over the next two decades, Israeli choreographers started to strike out on their own, and they centered their activity in Tel Aviv.

But what really put Tel Aviv on the international map of dance was the Suzanne Dellal Center.  Finally, the city – and indeed, the country – had a complex of world-class theaters and studios devoted almost entirely to dance.  The center became a home for the quickly expanding field of contemporary dance, and its multiple stages and festivals spurred more and more choreographers to create work.  It’s hard to imagine that Israeli contemporary dance would have grown so much and risen to such prominence over the last twenty years without the support of the Suzanne Dellal Center.

With its key place in the city’s cultural arena – and its role in revitalizing Neve Tzedek, the first Jewish neighborhood built outside of Jaffa – it seems fitting that Suzanne Dellal will play a central part in Tel Aviv’s 100th anniversary celebrations.  With the Big Stage up and ready to go, let the party start!

The Big Stage Schedule

• May 14, 9 p.m. – Balkan Beat Box and excerpts from Barak Marshall’s Monger (Music and Dance)
• May 16, 9 p.m. – Vertigo Dance Company and Tararam (Dance)
• May 18, 9 p.m. – Ido Tadmor and Friends, with Rina Schenfeld and Talia Paz (Dance)
• May 19, 9 p.m. – Chava Alberstein (Music)
• May 21, 9 p.m. – Batsheva Dance Company (Dance)
• May 22, 9 p.m. – Mosh Ben Ari (Music)
• May 23, 9 p.m. – Rita with special guest Shlomi Shaban (Music)
• May 26-May 27, 9 p.m. – Compania Nacional de Danza (from Spain) (Dance)
• May 28, 4:30 p.m. – Orna Porat Children and Youth Theater (Theater)
• June 1-2, 9 p.m. – Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal (from Canada) (Dance)
• June 3, 8:30 p.m. – Idan Raichel Project (Music)
• June 4, 8:30 p.m. – Ehud Banai (Music)
• June 5, 4:30 – The Apples (Music)
• June 6, 9 p.m. – Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (Dance)

For more details in English on the dance performances, please check the Events page of Dance In Israel.  Tickets can be bought at Suzanne Dellal’s box office, 03-5105656.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Interview with Yair Vardi: A View of Israeli Concert Dance from the Top” (Podcast)

Related Links

• Suzanne Dellal’s page about the Big Stage (in Hebrew)
• Tel Aviv-Yafo Centennial Home Page

(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).

Here are two more glimpses of what we’ll see in the last concert of the day:

(Video: Idan Cohen’s A Year in a Fish Life)

(Video: Fresco Dance Company in Yoram Karmi’s Pulcinella)

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• “Vertigo Dance Company: Art, Environment, Community”

*Podcast with Noa Wertheim coming soon!

Links to Choreographers and Companies

• Tamar Borer
• Idan Cohen
• Fresco Dance Company
• Rikudnetto/Dance Net
• Noa Shadur
• Rina Shenfeld
• Vertigo Dance Company

Other Useful Links

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