Dance Review: 'Monger'

Barak Marshall's new creation, Monger, is a bright and fun-filled theatrical dance creation.

By ORA BRAFMAN
dance review 88 (photo credit: )
dance review 88
(photo credit: )
Barak Marshall Monger Suzanne Dellal October 25 Though we never lay an eye on Mrs. Margaret or get a glimpse at her quarters upstairs, we see enough through the eyes of her 10 oppressed "servants" who are stuck downstairs in Barak Marshall's new creation, Monger - a bright and fun-filled theatrical dance creation, which can also be interpreted as a sharp social comment. Marshall infiltrated the local dance scene a decade ago with no prior dance background and lit it up with his explosive talent and a measure of hutzpa. A couple of seasons later, this maverick disappeared and now, after eight years of a self-imposed hiatus, he is back with a bang. This tongue-in-cheek wild dance is a beauty, bursting with energy and human passions. It employs a unique vocabulary that synergizes ethnic spirit with contemporary perceptions of the body. More than once, the spirit of the Inbal dance theater from its earlier days - starring Marshall's mother, Margalit Oved - hovered on stage. It was the animated faces, the numerous hand gestures and the ease with which the dancers acted out emotions, almost pantomiming without apologizing, that did it. Monger benefited from a wonderful group of dancers who still need to tighten up their act on occasion, but even without perfect unison when it should have been there, they were vivaciously charming, funny and touching - and crude when called for. Most of all, the dance owes its lively spirit to the gypsy music that monopolized the musical collage. Marshall is hugely gifted with natural talent and has good odds to grow even better. We shouldn't have to wait eight more years to see this unique cactus bloom again.