Choreographing the cure

She’s conquered cancer, now acclaimed local choreographer and dance teacher Ania Brud-Tal is ready to reclaim the stage.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI
‘TELEDOLL’ is choreographer Ania Brud-Tal’s latest dance piece. (photo credit: SIGAL BLEYER GAT)
‘TELEDOLL’ is choreographer Ania Brud-Tal’s latest dance piece.
(photo credit: SIGAL BLEYER GAT)
For more than two decades, doctors around the globe have worked tirelessly to find a cure for cancer. There are countless theories about how to best detect, disarm and dispense with the fatal disease. While some turn to diet, others employ alternative therapies such as Reiki and acupuncture. For Ania Brud-Tal, overcoming cancer meant going back to her home away from home, the dance studio.
A celebrated performer, choreographer and dance teacher, Brud-Tal completed her recovery by doing what she loves to do: moving. This evening, she will reveal her newest and largest work to date, entitled Teledoll, at the Arison Auditorium in Tel Aviv.
“The roots of this work go back to a miniature piece, Schoolinka, which I choreographed for the Bat Dor Dance Company’s winter workshop in 1995,” explained Brud-Tal in a recent interview with The Jerusalem Post. “Some of the movement themes have developed in my imagination since then. I started pre-production about a year ago and began working with the dancers in mid-April.”
Trained at the School of American Ballet in New York City, Brud-Tal began her career with the Dance for Washington Company. Back in Israel, she performed with Batsheva Dance Company, the Israeli Ballet and as a soloist with Bat Dor Dance Company. It was for Bat Dor that Brud-Tal created the majority of her choreographies. In 1999 she received the Culture and Sport Minister’s Choreography Award. Brud-Tal currently serves as an artistic adviser to the America-Israel Cultural Foundation as well as for the Aluminum Show.
While she has remained present in the dance community as a teacher and expert, April marked the end of Brud-Tal’s hiatus from choreography.
“Working on movement is the heart of my choreographic process,” she said. “The movement material in Teledoll is inspired by different kinds of telecommunication technologies. For example, a record is flat and moves circularly, repeating again and again the same recorded material. It may get scratched and loop itself but it also a very nostalgic tool. I worked with the dancers on movement development, then selected the most suitable moves and composed it in connection to the character’s line of action.”
Teledoll was created in collaboration with dancers Naomi Nissim, Na’ama Crystal, Harel Kay, Adi Ben-Shoshan, Shmulik Halfon, Sharon Chova and Shira Plotkin. Didi Erez composed an original score for the work.
When embarking on the journey to make this piece, Brud-Tal called on several past collaborators to join her in the process.
“There are several circle closures gathered into one production.
I loved working with the artistic and performing team,” said Brud-Tal.
The past several weeks, usually the most critical in a creation process, have been overshadowed by the current political situation. Rehearsals have been interrupted or canceled and the entire team’s focus has been pulled away from the task at hand. As the tension grew, Brud-Tal accepted that she could not keep the outside from seeping into Teledoll.
“Current events have certainly had an affect on the process,” she said. “We all feel the tension and the sadness from the overall situation and we turn to each other for support. While working and dancing together in this situation, I feel a very strong unity with my team.”
Unlike many of her peers, Brud-Tal has opted not to postpone the premier.
“I thought about it but since people have begun buying tickets, I feel we should go ahead with the premier as a token of the continuation of our being here for the good and the bad.” As a show of solidarity, Brud-Tal has decided to invite residents of the south of Israel to see the premier of Teledoll free of charge.
Teledoll will be presented tonight at the Arison Auditorium in Tel Aviv and on August 7 at the Center Stage Auditorium in Ganei Hatikva.
For tickets, visit www.kupatbravo.co.il/announce/21081.