A new heart

The newly formed L.E.V. dance company takes audiences into naughty territory.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI
The evening will consist of three pieces by Eyal and Behar (photo credit: HOUSE (Gady Dagon))
The evening will consist of three pieces by Eyal and Behar
(photo credit: HOUSE (Gady Dagon))
Since the beginning of her choreographic career, Sharon Eyal has managed to turn dance audiences into voyeurs, clinging to the walls at a sleazy nightclub as sultry events unfold.
The combination of booming bass, nearly nude costumes and Eyal’s slithery movements draws the crowd out of their comfortable seats and into the underworld.
Perhaps it is the invitation to take part in something naughty that has attracted the attention of dance lovers and catapulted Eyal into the epicenter of the international dance scene.
This weekend, Eyal and her lifeand- work partner Guy Behar will once again extend a hand to audiences to escape into the night with their new company L.E.V. The festivities began last night and will continue through Saturday. The performances will take place at the north Tel Aviv music venue Reading 3.
L.E.V. has recently returned from a tour in the United States, where the company was presented as part of the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow summer season. The engagement proved successful for Eyal and Behar, bringing in a slew of new invitations to perform around the world through the end of 2014. In the midst of all the global attention, Eyal and Behar decided to return to their home base to show their fans what they have been up to.
The evening will consist of three pieces by Eyal and Behar: Bill, House and Sara.
Bill is the oldest of the three works, having premiered in 2010.
The work was originally created while Eyal was a house choreographer for the Batsheva Dance Company. Though Bill was not her first piece for the troupe, it stands out as a clarifying moment for Eyal’s aesthetic. Dancers clad in nude unitards with slicked-back hair and freakishly light contact lenses gyrated on stage to the pounding music of Ori Lichtik’s soundtrack.
This will be the first performance of Bill since Eyal left the Batsheva Dance Company.
For the performances at Reading 3, Eyal and Behar have adapted sections of the work to suit their new company.
Sara is the result of the latest collaboration of Eyal, Behar and Lichtik. The three artists began with a song by Swedish pop group The Knife. Lichtik went to work extending the song to a 14-minute version, to which Eyal and Behar added their signature forceful movements. The piece was originally created for Netherlands Dance Theater II.
The final piece in this evening is an updated version of House, L.E.V.’s key work.
Not only is House a perfect example of the duo’s choreographic statement, but it also marks Eyal and Behar’s journey to establish a creative home for themselves.
Eyal and Behar created the first version of House for the Batsheva Dance Company as part of a two-part program they shared with Yasmeen Godder’s The Toxic Exotic Disappearing Act. Shortly after the premiere, Eyal and Behar left the company, taking with them a number of veteran dancers from the troupe. The new ensemble went to Sweden, where they continued to work while in residency at the Goteborg Opera Dance Company. Several months later, they returned to Israel to present Housen, a reworked edition of the same piece, at the International Exposure Festival.
As a result of this engagement, L.E.V. was invited to perform multiple times in a number of locations abroad.
In the newest incarnation of House, L.E.V. will host the new group Loco-Hot, which is made up of local musicians Gilad Kahana of the band Giraffot and Tamir Muskat of Balkan Beat Box.
The performances will offer a limited number of seats and plenty of standing room. Audience members who prefer to sit down are encouraged to arrive early.
Doors, as well as the bar, will open an hour before each performance.
L.E.V. will perform at Reading 3 on October 25 and 26. For more information, visit www.eventim.co.il.