Often it’s hard for her and Daniela to say goodbye after spending a full, fun Saturday together. At the end there’s always drama and tears; they don’t want to go home. They say they’re sisters. When they were younger, they used to say “sisterses.”
Daniela and Yaara are both only children. Alona is also an only child, and you feel her struggle as an only child facing the world, changing moods during the show, and the voice of the tree asking her to give up the leaf she considers as hers.
Next time, we mothers can remind them of that moment in the show. Not so there will be less drama, but maybe the memory of Alona parting from the leaf will help them see separation a bit differently.Read more
The greatness of a personal work, in my eyes, lies in its ability to touch even those who are far from its direct contexts. Podium does this wisely, and invited me to examine my relationship with rules, with the constant search for the firm hand and for excellence that are paired together in my imagination.Read more
Throughout the work, the four performers repeatedly toy with the idea of transmuting thoughts into language; of expressing dance with words and vice versa; of making their inner and private dialects not only heard but understood by others — be it a dancer interpreting the choreographer’s score, a dancer reacting to a fellow dancer on stage or a dancer communicating her sensations and thoughts with the audience through words or movements.
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The casual, come-as-you-are approach may pry open elitist doors for audiences who would otherwise find the ballet too stuffy, but I wonder about the cost. When you can buy popcorn or cotton candy at intermission, does everything become one big circus? Have we excused ourselves from dressing up and behaving politely because it is easier not to? Just because it is hard for children to sit quietly through a show, does that mean they should not be required to? And when we let ourselves off these hooks, do we miss out on the magic of the experience or ruin it for others?Read more
First Things by Michael Getman, performed with virtuosity by Ariel Gelbart, is a fascinating, deep, and multi-layered work. Fragments of textual and musical information meet a distilled choreography, and together they ask the most fundamental question: what is the human experience?Read more
In a sense, this opening image encapsulates the work as a whole, with both its strengths and its shortcomings: NONA creates a highly precise and aesthetically refined world, within which an entire ensemble operates, yet in too many moments leans on a single standout soloist.Read more
…it seemed that together, the four embodied in their bodies and movements the nomadic, hybrid spirit so characteristic of flamenco’s history. This was precisely because the four insisted on integrating — alongside typical Spanish gestures and sounds —movement languages and imagery external to flamenco, whether through the use of Hebrew, plastic objects, or references to modern dance.Read more
Tula Ben Ari, a singer of Yemenite and Polish descent, decided to step into the very large shoes of Ofra Haza and did so with great success in this performance.
She did not try to imitate Ofra Haza’s singing. Her voice was deep, strong, present, enveloping the entire space with its power and resonating into the fibers of the soul.Read more
This gap between the two, between Shamgar’s certainty and Shafir’s searching, creates the backbone of the performance. It is an intriguing gap, full of potential. At times, their meeting feels like a dialogue interrupted between sentence and sentence. Rather than producing conceptual unity or emotional fusion, the separateness remains clear, and as a viewer I felt it strongly.Read more
Everything about this production was thoughtfully designed and executed by Poda.
A true Renaissance man. Accompanied by my 6 year old daughter, I felt so fortunate that this was her introduction to the magic realm of opera. I was charmed by her questions throughout the piece, especially “Ima, when will they stop singing?!” Poda made this ancient world of Carthage, shipwrecks, Gods and witches so sumptuous, the aesthetics alone could hold the attention of a young art lover. Read more