It's a whole different playground," Ruby Edelman says of Jerusalem's dance scene. Tel Aviv is typically recognized as the hot spot for concert dance in Israel but Edelman and his partner Ofra Idel are injecting new energy into Jerusalem's fledgling scene with Machol Shalem. Edelman recalls, "The initiation of Machol Shalem started in 2002, [with] me and some other independent dancemakers in Jerusalem who were looking for a place to continue [our] creation." Initially, the organizers invited young choreographers to present their work on a single evening and each year, the group's activities expanded. Eventually they founded a multi-day festival called SHALEM - The Jerusalem Dance Festival and established a home base with a studio in Jerusalem's Musrara neighborhood. Now, with three days of inventive workshops and cutting-edge performances by both Israeli and foreign artists, SHALEM is easily one of Israel's most adventurous dance festivals. SHALEM's progressive programming flies in the face of conservative stereotypes that characterize both Jerusalem itself and the city's arts scene. Indeed, Edelman affirms that the festival's mission is "to present an alternative channel to what modern, contemporary, independent dance can be at this time . . . to search for things which are not obvious and which present variations of what dance can be about." Running from December 29-31, SHALEM 2009 advances this search for bold, experimental approaches to dance with what Edelman calls an emphasis on "unique, fresh collaborations of new dance and new media." Efrat Rubin joins forces with animation artist Osnat Wald to create her latest work, Yom. Meanwhile, Copenhagen-based Israeli choreographer Esther Wrobel performs while hanging on a rope against the backdrop of Marlene Nielson's video projections in CRUST. Even Splash, a work for young audiences by Australian-born, Jerusalem-based choreographer Joel Bray, includes an interactive video along with live dance. Video and an exploratory spirit also play a prominent part in Edelman's work, a co-production of Machol Shalem and Tanzhaus Zurich with Swiss dancemaker Christina Gehrig Binder and German filmmaker and choreographer Sascha Engel as creative collaborators. The trio, graduates of the Rotterdam Dance Academy and frequent artistic partners, embarked on a road trip throughout Israel that was filmed by Seffy Hirsch. Then the three choreographers built a series of duets based on their experiences during this journey. The resulting work, called Less Mess, includes clips of the video as reference points. Technology plays an even more active role during the performances of a few innovative works to be showcased in SHALEM 2009. During Or Marin's new Origami, a real-time recording of the work will be projected while the dancers perform. Berlin-based choreographer Efrat Stempler is also working with real-time recording and projection in her evening-length Shu Shu. In this trio, the dancers are outfitted with miniature surveillance cameras that monitor the other performers and expose them by screening images in all directions throughout the space. SHALEM 2009 also features Entr'acte, a duet by Holland's dance theater cabaret group Gato Bizar that was a previous success in the festival. The shows are rounded out with excerpts from the Jerusalem-based Kolben Dance Company's latest production, Amir Kolben's Min-hara, and a new solo by former Kolben dancer Evelin Ifrach. While SHALEM's exciting programming should be enough to attract crowds from outside Jerusalem into the city, the festival is also catering to Tel Aviv's committed dance audience by bringing both Less Mess and Shu Shu to the Opera House's rehearsal room from January 1-2. Machol Shalem's purpose may be to strengthen dance in Jerusalem, but with its daring curatorial vision, it is enriching the entire country's cultural scene. Machol Shalem's performances run from December 29-31 at the Gerard Behar Center in Jerusalem and from January 1-2 at the Opera House in Tel Aviv. Tickets are available at www.bimot.co.il or 02-6237999.

Daring dance in Jerusalem

Daring dance in Jerusale