Talia Beck’s Ma’atzama

The black box of the Yaron Yerushalmi Hall, always an intriguing venue for dance performances, has undergone a sea change. Still in essence a black box, it has been fitted with sound wired walls and a special floor containing two centimeters of water provides the setting for Trout,  which will be performed through December 12th by the Inbal Pinto Avshalom Pollak Dance Company. There is no curtain in this hall; everything that takes place onstage is out in the open, exposed. Into this space, Talia Beck, a dancer in the company, brings an excerpt from her new choreographic work Ma’atzama, a word in Hebrew which comes from the root word for power (otzma) and means nation or sovereign power, yet the sound creates an association with the Hebrew word for self: atzma.

Ma’atzama brings a table, small lamp and standing fan into the front right corner of the stage. The table lamp provides the only light onstage and in its glow, the face of dancer Shir Medvetsky (formerly in the Pinto/Pollak Company). Only her face and hands are visible, the energy of the motion above the surface hints at the forces that lie beneath.

Beck made her debut as a choreographer with Saudade, which premiered in April 2009. Although the current work was not originally intended to be performed in water, Beck feels that it “worked out perfectly.” Describing the piece, she says, “She’s there alone, but also creating this richness. She creates her own movie, she creates a world, and she has her own internal light source, her own emotional strength. She is self-maintained, like an island.”

A ten minute excerpt of the 25 minute Ma’atzama is presented immediately after Trout as part of International Exposure 2009 at the Suzanne Dellal Centre.

Yaron Yerushalmi Theatre, Suzanne Dellal Centre, 5 Yechieli Street, Tel Aviv
December 10 at 20:00, December 11 at 21:00, December 12 at 14:00 & 20:00
Tickets: 03-5105656, www.suzannedellal.org.il