“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”

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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

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.

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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.