The Jerusalem Post dance critic was enthralled when 'Shaker' premiered last March. It plays again this week.
By ORA BRAFMANshaker 298.88(photo credit: Courtesy)
Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak's latest work, Shaker, is so beautiful and touching, that it hurts, like a poem that strikes the right chords. It's definitely one of their best theatrical dance works ever. It is a mature and cohesive creation that comes through as pure, unscathed, with no extra frills or exaggerated visual efforts. Yet it maintains the characteristic rich imagination of its creators that thrives on the theatrical and surreal.
The work contains the illusion of innocence which invites you to enter a make-believe magical world with its alluring beauty and mystery, like a shaker - that glass ball full of snowflakes that swirls when shaken.
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The stage is covered with small white flakes and, with its grayish backdrop, austere lighting, sounds of wind blowing and the right music, it produces a sense of Nordic landscapes. Pinto and her partner had designed the lighting, set and costumes, as well as the musical collage that ranges from an aria by Purcell to Japanese covers for pop of the Fifties. It's always a pleasure to see the different elements fall into place and serve to layer the work in subtle ways.
The group sections, as well as few trios, are innovative and occasionally produce new insights into Pinto's inner world. The world on stage and the toy's world both reflect the craving for a protected, contained fantasy that can take one on an imaginary journey that is very real in emotional terms. Watching Shaker has a cathartic effect.
Sunday through Tuesday at the Suzanne Dellal center, Thursday at the Jerusalem Theater , and next Sunday at Beit Shean's Kimeron Hall
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