Maor Zabar Creates Moving Color for Kamea Dance

Maor Zabar is putting the final touches on costumes for Kamea Dance Company’s “Srul,” which premieres Tuesday, January 19th at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv. Described by choreographer Tamir Ginz as an album composed of scenes of personal memories and a longing for the simple, purity of childhood, interwoven with the complexity of relating to the more collective, Israeli reality. The visual aspect of the work has a very strong presence, underscoring the theme.

Zabar described his inspiration for the costumes: “I drove to rehearsals in Beer Sheva with Shira and the seamstress to take the dancers’ measurements for costumes. At that point we didn’t have a particular concept in mind. While driving I noticed the gradual difference in the landscape: here everything was green and as we drove the green gradually disappeared, the colors change and by the time we were in Beer Sheva everything was yellow. I thought: I know what I want to do.

The dancers begin dressed in white and color gradually appears in their costumes as light touches. As the dance progresses they go from faded hues to the full saturated color. I had to find the right places in the dance to introduce the costume changes. The effect is of a gradient change in color. The characters all change, except the central figure that remains in white.

He remains in a world of memory. The characters come to life, like a person’s face suddenly flushes with color. In my interpretation, he is dead. He remains in the memories of the other characters. The color white is considered a color of mourning in Japan, and that was also part of my connection to the use of white in this piece. It’s also like a white blank page to which you begin to add other elements.”

Looking at the costumes in Zabar’s studio one can see the way this theme has been developed in the costumes. A white dress acquires a faded purple collar and a light wash of purple on the buttons, in the full color version the collar is a rich purple, as is most of the dress, alternating with some light purple. A man’s shirt begins with plaid stripes on a white background, then orange and brown stripes on the same white background, ending up as a warm orange with brown stripes. The costumes were all originally designed for “Srul” and four versions of each were made to create the gradient color effect, with a total of 100 costume elements.

Zabar graduated from The Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in 2003 and has been creating costumes for the stage ever since. He has designed costumes for The Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Fresco Dance Company and recently created the costumes for Rooster by Barak Marshall. A gallery of photos can be seen on Zabar’s website. He approaches each work from a fresh perspective, creating a unique look and feel that expresses and enhances the thematic elements.

Says Zabar, “In making the costumes for Srul I focused on the cut and style of the period. I tried to suit the costumes to the bodies of the individual dancers, and find colors to suit each person. In choosing the scale of colors I didn’t want to bring the work too far into the present. It’s more of a 70s color scheme – yellows, greens, reds. I didn’t use blues. I wanted the colors to be warm. The colors correspond to the characters to a certain extent. The mother and father are in purple and a red-orange. The dancers who portray the same couple in the past are dressed in similar colors.”

Kamea Dance Company was founded in 2002 by Tamir Ginz, resident choreographer of the company and co-artistic director with Daniella Schapira. This moving rainbow of memories will premiere in Tel Aviv, with subsequent performances in Beer Sheva, Kiryat Motzkin, Givatayim and Herzliya.

Srul
January 19 & 20 at 21:00, Suzanne Dellal Centre, Tel Aviv, 03-5105656
February 4 at 21:00, Performing Arts Center, Beer Sheva, 08-6266400
Information: www.kameadance.com