Liat Dror.  Courtesy of Nir Ben-Gal and Liat Dror.

(This podcast was initially produced for Israel Seen in 2008.  You can subscribe to this podcast using the iTunes software by clicking this link to the podcast feed.)

The several hour trek south from Tel Aviv to Mizpe Ramon in the Negev desert is tiring, but at the end of the journey is a refreshing oasis: Adama, an extraordinary dance center created by Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal.   I first experienced the magic of Adama during a two-day visit in January 2008 and was thrilled to return in April 2008 for some more dancing and an interview with each of these choreographers.

I interviewed Liat after she taught a dance class for the Adama school’s students, the company members, a group of photography students visiting from Sderot, and a few “tourists” like myself who had dropped in for a few days.  The mixture of people was as unique as Adama itself.  Intrigued?  Join us as Liat talks about how she and Nir forged a new path in Israeli contemporary dance, moved to the desert, and developed an innovative approach to healthy, healing movement.

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To catch a glimpse of Liat and Nir’s groundbreaking and prize-winning Two Room Apartment (1987), which we discuss in our interview, check out the first minute of this video.  The rest of the video focuses on Nir and Liat’s current work in the desert, offering an inside look at Adama and scenic views of Mizpe Ramon.



Video: Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal

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Adama’s dancers rehearsing in April 2008.

Adama is currently gearing up for a busy summer: the company runs a summer course from July 12-17 and a teachers’ course from July 25-28.  Visitors may also enjoy Adama’s Magic Summer Night from July 16-17, which includes a performance of the company’s latest work.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• A Closer Look at Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal’s Adama
• Dance in the Desert: Shavuot at Adama
• “Then and Now” Brings Old and New Together at Shades of Dance

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
• Sahar Azimi Speaks about Choreography and Contemporary Dance
• Shlomit Fundaminsky: An Interview on Improvisation and Israeli Life
• Noa Dar Discusses Her Dance Career
• Andrea Miller: From Gaga to Gallim Dance
• Interview with Barak Marshall: Dancing between Israel and America (Part 1)
• Vertigo Dance Company: A Conversation with Choreographer Noa Wertheim

Related Links

• Adama

*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.

Video: An excerpt from Airfield, Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal’s latest creation

Nir Ben-Gal and Liat Dror first burst onto the stage with Two Room Apartment in 1987, and they continued to create a stir with their choreography throughout the 1990s.  But when I got to Tel Aviv last year, the couple was nowhere to be found.

It’s not that Nir and Liat disappeared from the country’s dance scene.  They just carved out a non-traditional space for themselves in Mizpe Ramon, a small desert town a few hours southeast from Tel Aviv.  There, in a place they call Adama (“earth”), they live, teach, and create.

Occasionally the pair still brings their company to Tel Aviv for performances.  After months of hearing a bit about Nir and Liat, I finally got to see their Prince Charming in November 2007 at Tmuna Theater.  But to find out more about Adama, I decided to venture into the desert for a visit in January 2008.  And then again in April 2008.  And, well, again in June 2008.

I first wrote the article below for The Winger after my second stay at Adama.

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My Visit to Adama (April 2008)

One of the spectacular views in Mizpe Ramon, in Israel’s Negev Desert.

The entrance to Adama, an old industrial hangar in Mizpe Ramon which has been converted into a dance center.

The grounds at Adama, complete with a garden tended by the dancers.

Indoor tepees for sleeping at Adama.

The lounge area near the large studio at Adama.

The dance jam session on Saturday night in the large studio at Adama.

I just returned from a brief trip to a magical place in the middle of the Negev desert.  Situated in the town of Mizpe Ramon, the site of an enormous and beautiful crater, Adama (which means “earth” in Hebrew) is hands down the most unique dance center I have ever visited.   Acclaimed choreographers Liat Dror and Nir Ben Gal left Tel Aviv in 1999 to forge a new path in the south of Israel, where they renovated an abandoned industrial hangar.  Today, Adama has beautiful studios, welcoming lounges, communal sleeping spaces as well as more private indoor tepees and rooms made of mud, a vegetarian kitchen, a garden, and more . . .

Besides transforming the physical space around them, Liat and Nir have developed an approach to dancing which, coming from inside, is potentially healing for the body.   When I took class from them on Sunday and Monday, I spent a lot of time with my eyes closed, tuning into my breath and weight. Liat prefaced a lot of her directions with “Very gently . . .,” while Nir frequently reminded us to move without effort and instructed us to walk softly, using the image of placing our heart in our feet.  Although I was quite sore and tight at the end of last week, I have to say, I feel great now!

Like other visitors – the center often attracts individuals who drop in throughout the year as well as groups who come for special workshops – I was able to participate fully in the Adama school’s activities, which run from Sunday to Tuesday.  Classes range from contemporary technique, yoga, flamenco, African dance, and aerial dance to reflexology and basket weaving (I got to watch a class on my first visit in January!).  Sunday evenings always include an open dance jam, while Monday evenings often feature showings and discussions.

Before classes begin in the morning, everyone works on a variety of projects in the garden and on the grounds (this morning I lashed branches to a wooden structure to create some shade).  Company dancers are also in residence on these days, taking and teaching classes as well as rehearsing for new productions.  There’s a wonderful exchange of information and energy among all the people in this community – and indeed, with group meals, many inviting communal areas, and cozy on-site sleeping spaces, Adama feels very much like a community despite the ever-shifting makeup of its inhabitants.

I could go on and on about this marvelous place and my experience there, but I’ll stop for now.  On this trip, I interviewed Liat and Nir for my podcast series, and soon I’ll post the audio here so you can hear them reflect about Adama themselves.

Many thanks to Liat, Nir, Reut, Etty, and everyone else at Adama for an unforgettable start to my week!

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Upcoming Events at Adama

Adama is holding both a summer workshop (July 13-17) and a teachers’ course (July 26-30).  Read more about these events at Adama’s website.

Related Articles on Dance In Israel

• ” ‘Then and Now’ Brings Old and New Together at Shades of Dance” – a bit about Two Room Apartment
• “Dance in the Desert: Shavuot at Adama”

Related Links

• Adama

*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.

Video: Then: Ronit Ziv’s Rose Can’t Wait, from the 1999 Shades of Dance Festival

On my way home from “Then and Now,” a special opening program of the Shades of Dance (Gvanim) festival, J.S. Bach’s Air on the G String played on my iPod.  Immediately, images from a black-and-white film of choreographer Doris Humphrey’s Air for the G String flashed through my mind. Humphrey’s dance has not only been immortalized on film but stayed alive in reconstructions from Labanotation score; it’s a powerful reminder that choreography doesn’t need to be shelved a few years or even many decades after its premiere.

This was an appropriate vision after a concert which not only celebrated the new but paid tribute to the old.  Opening a festival devoted to emerging choreographers, “Then and Now” featured excerpts of four dances which, in the days when the festival doubled as a competition, won the coveted first prize.  Selections from Nir Ben Gal and Liat Dror’s Two-Room Apartment (1987), Noa Wertheim and Adi Sha’al’s Vertigo (1992), Barak Marshall’s Aunt Leah (1995), and Ronit Ziv’s Rose Can’t Wait (1999) shared the stage with excerpts from the choreographers’ latest dances.

These works were met with an extremely warm reception, and I’m sure that the choreographers’ own performances contributed to the excitement.  The prolonged unison and matter-of-fact manners of Nir Ben Gal and Liat Dror, the high-speed actions and reactions of Noa Wertheim and Adi Sha’al, and the daring physicality of Ronit Ziv and fellow dancer Noa Rosenthal were riveting to watch – especially because, in the case of Nir & Liat and Noa & Adi, these choreographers no longer perform on a regular basis. (( Barak Marshall, who is now based part-time in L.A., was not in Israel for this performance. ))

Yet part of the thrill was the return of these older works to the stage. Other than Aunt Leah, which was restaged at the Inbal Dance Theater in autumn 2008, these dances are not in active repertory.  Some devoted, longtime dance-goers may have remembered these works, but for many audience members, this was the first chance to see the highly original and even audacious dances which propelled these choreographers into the upper echelon of Israeli contemporary dance.  The showing was also an extraordinary opportunity for me to reflect on the trademark styles and artistic development of these choreographers, to better understand their more recent works which have graced the stage in the last two seasons.

There simply aren’t enough occasions to see older works here in Israel.  A few of the larger groups like the Batsheva Dance Company and the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company have happily shown some repertory from decades past (albeit sometimes in excerpt form, as when Ohad Naharin recombines parts of various pieces in Deca Dance).  Yet most choreographers who work outside of these institutions are primarily putting their most recent works onstage, perhaps because of more limited resources and a series of festivals which spur the creation of new works.  If the choreographers themselves don’t mount their earlier dances, no one else will.  The country does not have an established repertory company whose mission is to celebrate Israeli-made choreography both past and present.  Nor is there a network of university dance departments which might reconstruct earlier dances or invite choreographers to set their older repertory on students, as there is in the U.S.  (( There are many fine high school dance departments in Israel and they do often bring in independent choreographers, but these departments are rarely if ever staging older works from the 1980s and 1990s. ))

If this system continues unchanged, the early – and in some cases significant – works by Israel’s contemporary choreographers may be lost.  But I believe this is avoidable.  While modern dance’s roots in this region stretch as far back as the 1920s, the real blossoming of Israeli contemporary dance is not that distant.  It is far easier to unearth a dance made twenty years ago than one created eighty years ago.  Indeed, the Israeli artists who, during the 1980s and 1990s, triumphed in establishing a thriving independent dance scene are still active in the field and capable of setting their early choreography given the opportunity.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m certainly in favor of celebrating the new.  The constant push for creation advances the art form forward; to only perform older work would lead to stagnation.  Yet I believe that the field could benefit from the revival and repeated performance of earlier works, which can educate and inspire audiences and dance professionals alike.

I hope that Shades of Dance will make this opening performance of old and new works a tradition so that we can witness the power of choreographic breakthroughs firsthand.   Twenty years from now, perhaps audiences will be treated to another viewing of Shaked Dagan’s We Are Going Back, Michael Miler’s The Speed of Light, or Ronen and Tami Yitzhaki’s This Time, which premiered in this year’s festival and caught my eye.   And I wish that more support – be it through festivals, dance departments, or other funding mechanisms – will enable choreographers to restage their acclaimed earlier repertory sooner rather than later.   Dances which merit a place in history also deserve to live in the bodies of dancers and the eyes of viewers.

Video: Now: Ronit Ziv’s La Femme A, La Femme B

Related articles on Dance In Israel:

• Behind the Scenes at Gvanim: Shades of Dance Festival
• Vertigo Dance Company: Art, Environment, Community
• Tel Aviv Dance 2008 (about Barak Marshall’s Monger)