If these walls could talk

The Inbal Pinto Dance Company presents two new pieces at the Itim Ensemble Theater in Tel Aviv.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI
Dance 521 (photo credit: Gadi Dagon)
Dance 521
(photo credit: Gadi Dagon)
How much does a working space affect the work itself? It is a known fact that artists are very particular about where they work and how. Some need fresh air, others silence, some decorate their studios with inspirational material, while others need the starkness of bare white walls.
For the past several years, the Inbal Pinto Dance Company has comfortably created their nostalgic masterpieces within the four walls of Studio A at the Suzanne Dellal Center. When in Israel, their premieres were held only a few meters away, on the center’s main stage.
This week, breaking from their norm, the Inbal Pinto Dance Company will present a new evening at the Itim Ensemble Theater on Nahmani Street. For the past several months, the seven dancers of the company, along with actor Zvi Fishon, have made the historic theater their home. Taking what is said to be a breather from Suzanne Dellal, Pinto and Pollack have set up shop entirely on stage, conducting rehearsals in the actual performance space. The evening will be composed of two pieces, one by Pinto and Pollack entitled Toros, the other a solo by Talia Beck.
The evening will open with Beck’s minimalist solo Ma’atzama, danced by Shir Medvetsky. This gripping piece, which features a beautiful woman seated at a desk with windblown hair and hundreds of precise gestures, was first shown alongside Trout in last year’s Curtain Up festival. It was the second piece Beck had done for the company, the first being Saudade, a work for five women.
Last year, Beck showed 10 minutes of the piece. Now she will present the fuller expression of the work.
Toros is a relatively short work for Pinto and Pollack, standing at about 30 minutes in duration. The piece is performed by six women and one man and uses bits of music, from classical piano to Polish tango. As always, the duo has toyed with props to enhance the theatricality of the work.
Though the two works were created separately, Pinto and Pollack are certain they will make for a cohesive evening. “I see a strong connection between the works,” said Pollack. “If you go to a gallery and see two paintings next to each other, they create a dialogue. Of course, because Talia’s piece is first, it will affect the feelings of the audience when they view our piece,” said Pinto.
Working in unconventional spaces is a new hobby for the company. In 2008, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollack were invited to create a new work in Stavager, Norway. It was the first time the couple had attempted to choreograph outside of a conventional dance studio, drifting into the murky waters of site-specific dance. In the middle of a cold winter, in a beer factory outside of Norway’s metropolis, the company found that unusual spaces render fantastic results. Changing the three walls of their rehearsal and performance space had a powerful effect on the so-called fourth wall in Trout, a dark piece set on a watery stage with sound-boarded walls.
“When we were bringing Trout to Israel, we thought about doing it here,” explained Pollack. “The space we used in Trout really informed the creation. It was a space that spoke to us. We were looking for something like that here,” continued Pinto.
The departure from creating in the studio suits Pinto and Pollack just fine, they explained at a press conference earlier this month. “This space provides a welcome change of atmosphere,” said Pollack. “It has a special feel and we really like it here.”
“I have a lot of nostalgia in this space, even though I have no memories here,” Pinto interjected.

Toros and Ma’atzama will run from December 8 to 11 at the Itim Ensemble Theater. Shows will be held at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., with a matinee on December 10 at 2 p.m. For tickets, visit www.ticketnet.co.il.