Curtain Up is a contemporary dance showcase for independent choreographers. Now in its 27th edition, the annual festival nurtures emerging choreographers, not only providing a venue, but supporting them through the creative process and in all aspects of production. Co-Artistic Directors are Itzik Giuli and Hillel Kogan, each selecting choreographers to develop their work in the context of Curtain Up. Itzik Giuli selected Sahar Damoni, Shira Eviatar, Tami Leibovits, Asaf Aharonson and Michal Samama. Hillel Kogan selected Stav Marin and Merav Dagan (co-creators), Andrea Costanzo Martini, Adi Boutrous, and Nadar Rosano. Performances will take place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Dimona and the Dance Village in Kibbutz Gaaton of the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company.
Curtain Up 2016:
Curtain 1
Michal Samama – Andarta LaTarnegolet (Monument to a Chicken)
This work finds its origin in the tension between the living, moving, eroding, body and the monument – an eternal, static body. Samama reflects on the monumental qualities of the body and the physicality of the monument; the body as sculptural object and the sculpture as a living breathing body.
Choreography and performance: Michal Samama; Music and sound design: Amit Gilutz.
Tami Leibovits – The Calling
A musical performance that ventures into an obscure landscape whose borders are unknown. Its agents are a group of five performers, from different generations, who dance the future that is to come. Together they present a performance whose passion is to burn, and always keep moving. As in previous works, Leibovits deals with iconic images and figures.
Choreography: Tami Leibovits; Performers: Or Avishay, Or Ashkenazi, Maya Weinberg, Moshe Schecter Avshalom, Tami Leibovits; Light design: Omar Sheizaf.
Curtain 1 Performances:
Saturday, November 5th at 20:00 – Zakhri Hall, International Dance Village, Kibbutz Gaaton.
Thursday, November 10th at 20:00 – Beit Mazie, Jerusalem.
Wednesday, November 9th at 21:00 – Suzanne Dellal, Tel Aviv.
Friday, November 18th at 22:00 – Suzanne Dellal Tel Aviv
Curtain 2
Adi Boutrous – Tamid Ze Kan (Always is Here)
Boutrous situates the body at the center of this work to express its natural choice to move in open space.
Choreography: Adi Boutrous; Performers: Adi Boutrous, Avshalom Latucha
Andrea Costanzo Martini – SCARABEO, Angles and the Void
This duet is an investigation of a journey in which codes of physical and extreme movement are merged. The work responds to the desire to treat the body of the performance as an object (of the audience’s gaze/pure material) in a duel.
Choreography: Andrea Costanzo Martini; Performers: Avidan Ben Giat, Andrea Costanzo Martini; Light design: Yoav Barel
Curtain 2 Performances:
Thursday, November 3rd at 20:00 – Dimona Theatre.
Wednesday, November 9th at 20:00 – Beit Mazie, Jerusalem.
Thursday, November 10th at 21:00 – Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv.
Saturday, November 19th at 21:00 – Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv.
Curtain 3
Merav Dagan and Stav Marin – Titkarvi (Come Closer)
This is the first joint project of Stav Marin and Merav Dagan, childhood friends who first met in a dance studio. In this work they attempt to map out the conditions for the coming into being of victim and victimizer in the context of woman; bringing this to the space of the stage, with the rules of the stage, and the composition of a frontal performance.
Choreography: Stav Marin, Merav Dagan; Performers: Merav Dagan, Stav Marin, Alona Daniel.
Nadar Rosano – Behind the Mountain
This work relates to the feeling that something in the familiar environment has become foreign and different. The strangeness in the familiar is a source of anxiety and fear. These contrasts are intertwined so that sometimes it is difficult to know if we are living in the past or the present: “the place remains as it was and we move in it, looking for a place to set our body down, redefining the personal and social spaces in which we act and placing a mirror before the environment in which we grew up.”
Choreography: Nadar Rosano; Performers/co-creators: Stav Struz, Roni Brandshtater, Zuki Ringart; Light design: Amir Castro.
Curtain 3 Performances:
Tuesday, November 8th at 20:00 – Zakhri Hall, International Dance Village, Kibbutz Gaaton.
Monday, November 11th at 20:00 – Beit Mazie, Jerusalem.
Friday, November 11th at 22:00 – Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv.
Thursday, November 17th at 21:00 – Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv.
Curtain 4
Shira Eviatar – Zorhot (Shining)
This work investigates the body and identity, in particular Mizrahi identity, a theme that has been explored by Evyatar in previous works.
Choreography: Shira Evyatar; Performers: Shira Eviatar, Anat Amrani.
Sahar Damoni – Pirg’in برجين
Through this work Sahar examines her relationships with the men in her life, with attention to the cultural influences and their impact on her life. She dances the social norms, the boundaries placed on her as a woman and dancer in a conservative culture and critiques these boundaries, with daring use of her dancing body to music taken from the typical world of the man in her culture.
Choreography and performance: Sahar Damoni.
Asaf Aharonson – Ma Shemagia (Whatever Comes)
A solo hosting several participants in which the single body divides into five bodies who alternate in their actions. The main inspiration for this work is the book Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson.
Choreography: Asaf Aharonson; Performers: Asaf Aharonson, Yoav Admoni, Zohar Weiman-Kelman, Bar Altaras; Light design: Nadav Barnea
Curtain 4 Performances:
Tuesday, November 8th at 20:00 – Dimona Theatre.
Sunday, November 13th at 20:00 – Beit Mazie, Jerusalem.
Saturday, November 12th at 21:00 – Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv.
Wednesday, November 16th at 21:00 – Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv.
Curtain Up 2016 Symposium will be hosted by the Batsheva Dance Company on Friday, November 11th from 11:00 – 14:00, in the Varda Studio, Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv.
Tickets are 50 NIS, and may be ordered from:
Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv website, or call: 03-5105656.
Dimona Theatre website, or call: 08-6551782
Beit Mazie, Jerusalem website, or call: 02-6230002, Sunday through Thursday from 17:00 – 22:00.
Zakhri Hall, International Dance Village, Kibbutz Gaaton website, or call: 04-9859737.
A project of the Ministry of Culture and Sport Dance Department, headed by Keren Carmel, Curtain Up is produced by the Israel Festival whose director is Eyal Sher, with Miri Manirev producing the festival.
*Performance descriptions are my translation of information provided by the festival. Where titles were provided in Hebrew the transliteration appears, followed by my translation of the literal meaning in parentheses.
