'Curtain Up' offering 9 works this year

There are nine works in the Curtain Up 2008 dance celebration, all by local independent choreographers.

By HELEN KAYE
dance review 88 (photo credit: )
dance review 88
(photo credit: )
There are nine works in the Curtain Up 2008 dance celebration, all by local independent choreographers, some making their debuts at Curtain Up, some returning. This is the event's 19th year, and "in retrospect," says Arts and Culture Authority dance department head Nili Cohen, "the aim of Curtain Up has been achieved - that of promoting original work by choreographers of already proven potential." The nine dances were chosen from among 45 submissions, "and the choice was difficult," says Curtain Up artistic director Micki Gurevitch, adding that time and budget (some NIS 1 million) dictated the number chosen. Two making their Curtain Up debut are Rachel Erdos and Michael Getman. Erdos immigrated from the UK in 2002. Since then, her work has been seen at Shades of Dance, Intimadance and at festivals abroad. To Curtain Up she brings It's Raining Inside, three people, four walls and frustration. Getman's duet, Monday, explores connection. Getman, a former Batsheva dancer, has received prizes for his choreography. Among those returning: the very original Maya Levy with Lifeline, which asks questions about dependence and independence. Her Sun Plexus appeared at Curtain Up last year. Post Martha by Niv Shenfeld and Oren Laor pits romance against the prosaic. Tomer Sharabi's Monk is essentially about love, and Maya Stern, who worked with Sharabi for 20 years, brings to Curtain Up her own The Black Sea, on women trying to rid themselves of interior dross. The other choreographers are Yossi Berg and Oded Graf with Bloody Disco and Odelia Copperberg and Sahar Azimi with Reversi. Last year, by inviting Vertigo, Curtain Up started to host companies that evolved from the festival. This year it's Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak with Shaker at Suzanne Dellal on December 3. The dances, each performed three times, are divided into four "curtains," at Suzanne Dellal in Tel Aviv from December 3-13, and at The Lab in Jerusalem from December 14-18. Curtain Up will also go to the new Beersheba PAC and to Ga'aton in the North.