Allow me to introduce myself

Noa Dar turns inwards to create a retrospective of ten years worth of choreography.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI
If you ever meet Noa Dar, you will not forget her. She is one of those individuals whose energy is so powerful, she creates a forcefield around herself. And if Dar's presence is commanding in person, she is twice the beacon on stage. In her newest creation, Arnica, Dar turns inwards to create a retrospective of ten years worth of choreography, in which she is the centerpiece. Starting last night and for the next two weeks, Noa Dar Dance Group will perform Arnica in Tel Aviv, Haifa and the Kinneret. At the age of 18, Noa Dar joined The Batsheva Ensemble. After a stint abroad with a grant from Merce Cunningham, Dar returned to Israel and helped to found The Tamar Dance Group where she first choreographed. In the years since, Dar has presented work on numerous stages around the world for The Batsheva Ensemble, Beer Sheva Theater, Mooza Dance Company and others. She is also an active member of the Union of Choreographers. Dar made a name for herself as a grounded and innovative talent through original pieces for her ensemble and Israel dance festival pieces. The physicality of her movement vocabulary, combined with an incredible sense of composition and balance, marked her as an important force in the dance community. Her works are also somewhat timeless as last month Noa Dar Dance Group celebrated the one hundredth performance of Tetris, created in 2006. Arnica is a collage of seventeen solos, each between one and five minutes in length, performed by three women. The work was created exactly one year ago for The Israel Festival 2007. For Arnica, Dar took a walk down memory lane by revisiting many of the pieces she composed. In the recent hit Tetris, Dar broke down conventional barriers by inviting audiences into her studio in central Tel Aviv, where they viewed her daring choreography through holes in the floor of the stage. Whereas in Tetris, Dar tested the boundaries between the performer and audience member, Arnica is an observation of the fluctuating connection between the world of the mind and the reality outside of it. The result is an intensely personal and intimate work which highlights the expertise of three experienced, mature and phenomenal dancers. Joining Dar on stage are Michal Mualem and Coralee Ladam, who have shared long working relationships with her. Mualem returned to Israel after several years working with well-known choreographer Sasha Waltz in Berlin. Ladam immigrated to Israel from France three years ago and was an integral part in the creation of Tetris. The final live element of Arnica is electric guitarist Uri Frost, who has also worked with Dar in the past creating scores for Tetris and In A Black, Black Land. Arnica in Tel Aviv from Dec 11-13 at Noa Dar Studio (03) 695-4440; Haifa on Dec 16&17 at the Rappaport Theater (04) 838-2001; and, the Kinneret on Dec 18 at Beit Gavriel (04) 604-0575.