Dance: Waltzing into a new role

Nearly three decades after saying goodbye to Kibbutz Lehavot Habashan for New York, Neta Pulvermacher returns to J'lem.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI
Neta Pulvermacher 521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Neta Pulvermacher 521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
In the ’80s, when Neta Pulvermacher left Israel for New York, she had no idea the circumstances under which she would return. Bound for the Juilliard School, Pulvermacher said goodbye to Kibbutz Lehavot Habashan to begin her career as an international dancer and choreographer.
Now, nearly three decades later, she is again packing her bags – and heading for Jerusalem.
Pulvermacher has been appointed the dean of the dance faculty at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.
Pulvermacher is a known name in the New York City dance community. Her troupe, the Neta Dance Company, is a regular at Manhattan performance spaces such as the Joyce SoHo.
Among others, Pulvermacher has choreographed for Ballet New England and Vertigo Dance Company. Her choreographies weave together text, technology, movement and memory; her acclaimed work Five Beds/Children of the Dream is a homage to her kibbutz childhood.
In 2006, Pulvermacher founded the A.W.A.R.D.
Show! (Artists With Audiences Responding to Dance). The revolutionary forum invites audience members to vote for one of four dance pieces presented on a given evening, and write comments explaining their decision.
These comments as well as the unveiling of the audience favorite serve as the jumping-off point for dialogue, while the emerging choreographers compete for $10,000. The platform quickly caught on and is currently produced by the Joyce Foundation in a number of American cities.
To the academy, Pulvermacher brings a muchneeded new perspective on dance education and discourse. Under her guidance, the academy will offer a master’s degree in choreography and performance, an unprecedented opportunity in Israel.
“As far as my plans for the academy in the next year,” Pulvermacher told In Jerusalem, “what I would like is to really work with the faculty, the president and the administration to create together. My vision... is to reimagine, rethink and reenvision what a dance school or an arts school could be in the 21st century.”
Pulvermacher is an energetic woman with an upbeat speaking voice; her years in the States have nearly eliminated her Israeli accent. She strongly believes in the importance of higher learning in the life of an artist.
“I want to start by asking the questions to find out what the dance program we really want and feel we should have is... What is the role of the academy in terms of the dance scene in Israel and the world? It is really important for me to empower the faculty and the students to go after what they want to do and what they are interested in.
“I think that just like in an orchestra where you have a flute and a violin, drums, bass drums, piano, we have different strengths and timbres. I’d like not to be in the center, rather to decentralize, not to foster anarchy but to allow people to have their own ideas and identities.”
Pulvermacher’s arrival coincides with a growing buzz in the Jerusalem dance community, with young choreographers increasingly setting up shop in the capital. She plans to utilize the academy’s facility to continue the initiative.
“I want a place that is buzzing with activity and noise. I don’t like to be in a place that is too orderly,” she explained. “I like places that are wildly diverse and have, by design, a lot of contradictions. One of the aspects that I would like to develop is to always have a guest working in the academy. I want to raise the money for creating a kind of choreographic lab that would allow local and foreign choreographers... to come to the academy, as a laboratory to explore choreographic projects... I intend to create another thriving center for creativity and dance.”
After so many years in New York, Pulvermacher feels ready for a change of scenery. “It’s a big move but it comes at the right time in my life...
I’m envisioning that there’s a lot to be gained in keeping presence here and working on both coasts. I’m excited because I feel like I want to work with a lot of people who have been friends and colleagues for many years... Also, my dad is 93 and I’m looking forward to spending time with him.”
At the same time, the academy is preparing to open its doors to prospective students. This week, auditions will be held for the upcoming school year.
“I want to be able to offer choices and help students to make them... It’s not my role to offer them how to choose, rather to allow them to practice choosing in all sorts of ways. It goes into writing, dance… by making choices you clarify who you are. It’s having agency. It’s taking responsibility for living in the 21st century,” she beamed.