Retracing their steps

Innovative approaches to dance and performance will be featured in Jaffa next week.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI
Innovative approaches to dance and performance will be featured in Jaffa next week (photo credit: PR)
Innovative approaches to dance and performance will be featured in Jaffa next week
(photo credit: PR)
Like many parents-to-be, Maya Levy and Hanan Anando Mars left the crowded streets of Tel Aviv for greener, quieter pastures, where they planned to raise their twin daughters.
The two made their way to Pardes Hanna, where they set up shop in a small caravan in the middle of a field.
It was from that grassy, wind-swept environment that Levy and Mars created their last several works, including Net Work and the Trans.
Parent project. A few years later, Levy and Mars, with their two toddlers in tow, packed up and retraced their steps.
This weekend, during the eighth edition of the Choreographer Association’s Artists Curate Series at Warehouse 2 in Jaffa, Levy and Mars will unveil the film version of their return to Tel Aviv. Entitled Pardes Hanna- Tel Aviv, the movie documents the family’s journey on foot from the suburbs to the city. The screening of the film is one of many events to take place over the threeday weekend at Warehouse 2.
When curating the weekend, Levy and Mars set out to present artists and works that display new and innovative approaches to dance and performance. Opening night will feature a program of four short pieces created by dancers who have collaborated with Levy and Mars.
Shani Ben-Haim and Takanori Kawaharada will present Salt; Aharon Manor will show his solo Stained Glass; David Marquez will unveil his new solo KIN; and Takanori Kawaharada will perform Mr. Gadget.
On Friday night, three graduates of the School of Visual Theater, where Levy is a teacher, will show works that seek to redefine the concept of performance. Galit Criden’s BodySpeak is a duet for dancers Natalia Gomez and Uri Levanon. Noam Sendel will perform Part 3 with Batel Dotan and Eve Crystal. Yuval Binshtock and Hodaya Gabay will perform Matar Pershitz’s You Look A Bit Disturbed.
On Saturday afternoon, Levy and Mars will teach a workshop for anyone interested in being part of a creative process. During the 90-minute session, participants will be encouraged to explore physical, mental and emotional states through movement and discussion.
Then, on Saturday evening, Levy and Mars will screen Pardes Hanna- Tel Aviv. For the two artists, the film marks a key moment in their lives and a sentiment that is at the heart of their work: that no decision is final or irreversible.
Finally, following the premiere of the film, Levy and Mars will bid farewell to their most recent live, evening-length work. Renaissance premiered in 2013 to a wide range of reviews. For starters, the poster for the piece featured a single-file line of six dancers shot from behind.
The clincher, and what kicked up a fuss, was that the dancers were nude. Indeed, the six dancers of Renaissance – Shani Ben-Haim, Asher Lev, Takanori Kawaharada, David Marquez, Stav Marin and Iris Nais – perform completely naked.
The point of the piece, however, was not to provoke or put off by using nakedness but rather to explore the impact of nudity on movement. During many months of rehearsals, the entire creative team, including Levy and Mars, shed their clothing upon entering the studio.
After the giggles and embarrassment died down, what was left was a very human, vulnerable and intimate level of communication. This delicacy is a major player in the dancers’ and the audience’s experience of Renaissance.
In spite of the ruckus prior to the premiere of Renaissance, the piece has been performed many times throughout Israel. Levy and Mars have vowed that the absolute last show will take place next weekend.
Maya Levy and Hanan Anando Mars’s Artists Curate Weekend will take place at Warehouse 2 on August 28, 29 and 30.
For more information, visit www.choreographers.org.il.