This past week, the Israel Festival kicked off one month of shows and events in
Jerusalem. Now celebrating the 50th anniversary of the festival’s inception,
this year’s line-up is more grandiose, more varied and more exciting than in any
previous year.
The festival is a complete cultural frenzy, with a wide
range of events from theater and music to dance and art. For the dance
lover in particular, this year’s festival offers a few unique opportunities to
see some one-time-only events.
The opening night of the festival brought
the Israeli Ballet to the Jerusalem Theater, with distinguished guest performers
from Russia’s renowned Bolshoi Ballet. Then on Wednesday night, Ohad Naharin
presented the long-awaited premiere of his newest opus for the Batsheva Dance
Company,
Sadeh21. The final performance of
Sadeh21 under the umbrella of the
Israel Festival will take place tonight at the Jerusalem Theater’s Sherover
Hall.
This evening, as well as tomorrow evening, local choreographer
Nimrod Freed will unveil his newest piece, which features live music alongside
his signature movement. As part of the Premiere in the Studio series initiated
by the festival directors, Freed’s work
La will present three dancers, two
singers and one accordionist. Freed has come to be known for creating
intimate spaces, into which the audience gets a special peek. His work
Peep
Show, which encloses two dancers in a small cell surrounding by eyeholes for viewing, received rave reviews from the
New York
Times among others.
In the third and fourth weeks of this year’s
happenings, internationally celebrated dancers and choreographers will overrun
the streets of Jerusalem.
The Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s visit to
Israel is of particular note, as this engagement will be their last in the
country, and one of their last anywhere. As laid out in the late Cunningham’s
will, the company, which has been a major player on the modern dance scene since
the 1950s, will dance their last show on New Year’s Eve 2011. With only a few
stops left on what has been coined The Legacy Tour, the troupe is at its best,
charged with emotion and nostalgia. MCDC will present one performance at the
Jerusalem Theater, as well as five events at the Israel Museum. These events
will highlight both the sophisticated choreography of Cunningham, as well as the
awe-inspiring art surrounding the dancers.
Their staged performance is a
veritable collage of Cunningham’s best pieces. Though the famed artist passed
away two years ago, his fellow collaborators have painstakingly preserved his
work. This is, without a doubt, the final chance to see MCDC live in
Israel.
Another not-to-be-missed performance is that of the Danish Dance
Theater, which will enjoy its Israeli premiere during the Israel Festival. DDT
is a truly unique company, whose name has been uttered with great frequency
recently thanks to artistic director Timothy Rushton’s boundary-breaking
choreography. Rushton’s work is both deeply theatrical and shockingly
physical.
For those who remember and loved Adi Amit, the finalist in
Israel’s
Born To Dance, these shows present a chance to follow up on her career.
Amit joined DDT at the beginning of the 2010-2011 season and has already
received several featured roles in the company’s repertoire. DDT will perform
three times during the festival, including the premiere of Rushton’s newest
work, Love Songs.
The tail end of the festival will bring a new work by
local duo Oren Laor and Niv Shenfeld. Entitled Ship of Fools, the piece is
danced by the two choreographers and three other talented performers. Laor and
Shenfeld aim to get the audience out of their seats long before they can even
think about a standing ovation. By activating their crowd, Laor and Shenfeld
share the feelings of uncertainty and risk with their viewers. Upon completing
their engagement in Jerusalem, Laor and Shenfeld’s Ship of Fools will set sail
for the 2011 Dance Festival in Montpellier, France.
For tickets or more
information, visit www.israelfestival.org.il