The new language of the Tmuna festival

The Tmuna/Poland series looks at national (cultural) and emotional identity and how each contributes to the structure of the individual.

By HELEN KAYE
A SCENE FROM ‘The Art of Sperm’ (photo credit: GADI DAGON)
A SCENE FROM ‘The Art of Sperm’
(photo credit: GADI DAGON)
The 2014 Tmuna Festival, which runs from October 17-26, embraces some 20 events that include theater, dance, performance and music, each piece reflecting the very individual language of its creators. Incorporated into the festival is the Polish Israeli Dance Platform, the initial collaboration of a three-year project between Tmuna and two major dance institutions in Poznan, Poland: Art Stations Foundation and Stary Bowar.
Speaking on the festival, Tmuna founding artistic director Nava Zukerman says that “the festival is a way to pause and look at what we’re doing; to make sure that we don’t stray from our original purpose which is to give voice to independent creativity, to seek a new language and to remain true to process rather than aiming for results.”
The Tmuna/Poland series looks at national (cultural) and emotional identity and how each contributes to the structure of the individual.
The pieces include Polska, created and performed by Agata Maskiewicz, that takes a look at how we react to what we experience; Israelika, created and performed by Rotem Tashach, that he describes as “glitches which then create a national choreography”; and Insight, created and performed by Janusz Orlik that takes on alienation.
The Israeli section has two premieres. DeathTerror, written and performed by Nitzan Cohen, bills itself as an irrepressible comic monologue on all kinds of fears. Goldberg Variations, by eminent Hungarian- born playwright George Tabori (1914-2007), is set in a theater in which God is rehearsing his cast for Creation.
Other shows include Conception and Birth, a spoken-word riff on women and matriarchal myths, a performance piece by Michal Dvir whose title starts with “Embarrassing Happenings, The Art of Sperm...” in which three ladies takes us on a marketing tour of a sperm bank, and 1948, a searing and different look at the War of Independence based on the book by Benny Morris.