Gvanim BeMahol 2011 (Shades of Dance) will take place from September 7 – 10, 2011 at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. New Artistic Director Idit Herman, co-founder of Clipa Theatre, selected 16 choreographers from among the 90 who attended the first audition. Working in a diverse range of styles and themes, Herman said that the choreographers she interviewed expressed a common “desire to effect change, they wanted a kind of revolution.” Ultimate, says Herman, those she selected were the “brave, the ones who wanted to go all the way.”
Gvanim will have five programs, each with a different perspective on dance.
Program Aleph – Pure Dance – will include choreographers who “work within the rules of choreography,” said Herman, “There will be lots of virtuoso movement.” Choreographers: Gil Carlos Harush – Takana; Smadar Goshen – Urbania; Sharon Vaisvaser – 42 Inch.
Program Bet – Dream Big – Herman characterized this group as “daring artists with chutzpah, who break every possible convention.”
Choreographers: Idan Yoav – Almost Human; Ran Ben Dror – Agassi Palace; Lee Meir – Translation in the Body of the Text; Yuval Goldstein – Expensive Shit.
Program Gimel – The Future is Now – “If there is such a thing as Futuristic Dance, then this is it,” said Herman, “employing movement that I, at least, have not seen before.”
Choreographers: Meytal Blanaru – Aurora; Moran Yitzhaki Abergel – Over me; Lilach Livneh – Monday Larissa.
Program Daled – Forbidden Fruit. This is the one Herman calls “sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll” featuring works that she says are “very provocative.”
Choreographers: Yoni Soutchy – Ben; Merav Cohen – And When the Beast Returned; Amit Zamir – Buba (Doll).
Program Heh – A Rare Animal. In this group are choreographers who Herman says have “researched deeply the physical border between human and animal, they are performers of rare physical abilities, almost beyond human.”
Choreographers: Liron Ozeri – Caravan; Ido Batash – Bread and Circuses Blood; Artur Astman – Foosho.
Mark your calendars! Further information is available on the Suzanne Dellal Centre site, and tickets may be ordered online, or call: 03-5105656.
Held once every two years, Gvanim has launched the careers of many prominent Israeli choreographers, including: Liat Dror and Nir Ben Gal, Tamar Borrer, Inbal Pinto, Barak Marshall, Yasmeen Godder, Emanuel Gat, Ronit Ziv, Shlomi Bitton, Anat Danieli, Renana Raz, Noa Wertheim and Adi Sha’al, Itzik Galili, Sally Ann Friedland, Yoram Karmi and Yossi Yungman. Gvanim began in the city of Ramleh in 1986 as a joint initiative of Omanut La’am and Israel Discount Bank cultural projects, and from there the festival moved to the Duhl Centre in Tel Aviv. With the establishment of the Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance in 1989, the festival found a permanent home. The festival’s past directors have been Elida Gera, Naomi Perlov and Hanoch Ben Dror.
