A sense of place

Mekomi, a dance, film and music program, will be presented in Jaffa.

By ORI J. LENKINSKI
Mekomi, a dance, film and music program, will be presented in Jaffa (photo credit: TAMAR LAM)
Mekomi, a dance, film and music program, will be presented in Jaffa
(photo credit: TAMAR LAM)
Next weekend, choreographer Maya Brinner will present Mekomi, a three-day program at Jaffa’s Warehouse 2. The event is the seventh in the Artists Curate series hosted by the Choreographer’s Association, an initiative that asks dance makers to don the programmer’s hat.
Previous artists that took part in this series include Noa Dar and Yasmeen Godder.
At the core of Brinner’s program is the notion of place or origin. All the pieces presented throughout the weekend are related to the concept of home, belonging and identity. Over the course of the weekend Brinner, as well as a number of guest artists, will present dance, video and music in the various spaces of the warehouse.
At the beginning of each of the three programs, the audience will be presented with Flag, created by Brinner during a residency in Nottingham, England, as well as Home, a film by Raida Adon.
In Flag, Brinner walks slowly around a flag, evoking images of soldiers or schoolchildren. The deliberate nature of each step gives a sense of a timeless ritual, one that holds great meaning for the performer and perhaps for the audience as well. At the same time, the slow repetition of simple movements calls into question the real significance of symbols such flags and their bearing on our lives.
Following Flag, actress and filmmaker Raida Adon will screen her film Home. A native of Acre, Adon is seen walking through the streets of old Jerusalem with a house on her head. This film is one of Adon’s first video creations.
On Thursday night, Shira Eviatar will reflect on the impact of family on identity in her solo Bedek Bayit. Perhaps the most influential people in our lives are the ones we can’t choose. Eviatar created this work during her studies at the Kelim School for Choreography.
The main stage will host a twopart program including a renewed version of Brinner’s solo piece Forest, danced by Shuli Enosh, and I See Them Getting Closer by Meirav Dagan. A screening of Vered Nissim’s film A Desert within a Town will follow the main performances.
Friday’s program will feature the premiere of Einat Ganz’s In the End We Asked for Everything. Ganz began her process with a phrase from the Israeli national anthem “to be a free nation in our land.”
Within this notion are two main sentiments – to be free and to possess land. Ganz asked herself many questions about the desire for these two things such as “What is the price of pursuing the vision of establishing a home, be it a nation, a family or at all?” and “Is belonging to a place necessary for freedom?” In this solo piece, Ganz tries to bring together dream and reality.
Ganz’s premiere will be followed by Brinner’s Forest. In the foyer, there will be a vocal improvisation by the Abra Group.
Following the live performances, Itay Marom’s The Measurers will be screened. The film follows a group that has set out to measure the Namib Desert in Africa. In an attempt to geographically map out the space, the group loses themselves in the vast expanse of sand.
On Saturday night, the trio Big Mouth by Niv Schenfeld and Oren Laor, as well as Brinner’s trio Red Ladies will be performed. Both pieces premiered during the Suzanne Dellal Center’s Curtain Up Festival and have gone on to be presented throughout Israel and abroad.
The evening will close with a screening of Dani Rosenberg and Yoav Gross’s film Susya. On their way to visit their abandoned village, a 60-year-old Palestinian man and his son arrive at the archaeological site of Susya, a Jewish settlement from the Roman era.
Mekomi will take place at Warehouse 2 on August 14, 15 and 16. For more information, visit www.choreographers.org.il.